Reviews of Nkrumah's 'Consciencism' and Coetzee's 'Youth' added to the Library 2.0
3 January 2008
Article on the 'Ideas of Anarchism' rewritten and an RSS feed of this 'Latest Updates' list made available (see bottom of this box)
17 December 2007
The RSS-feed for my blog is finally available for subscription!
9 & 13 December 2007
A quite thorough update of the Library 2.0
31 October 2007
Introduction to Anarchism updated and a review of U2's Pop added to the Library 2.0
22 October 2007
Started the work on updates to the anarchist section. Articles on modern anarchism and origins of anarchism updated.
Subscribe by RSS
Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' is commonly considered a part of the Western canon -
among the finest examples of Western literature. Indeed, Conrad's lead of the English
language is masterful (ironically, since it is his thrid language) and the themes and
ideas forwarded in the novella were highly relevant to his times and still are to ours.
The use of framing is a main feature of the story, though it seems to me to have limited
impact: the story is told not by the fictional narrator, but by a sailor on a ship anchored
near the Thames. Marlow's story begins as he leaves Europe to travel up the Congo River
towards the area called by Stanley 'The Dark Heart Of Africa'. Soon, Marlow aims to meet
Kurtz as he takes great interest in the man and his abilities and Marlow's quest becomes
an introspect and personal one, about exploring and understanding the ideas of a great man.
When, after a long and strugglesome journey up the river, Marlow and his crew arrives by
Kurtz's Inner Station, Marlow first meets a seemingly insane Russian - Kurtz's greatest fan.
Soon, however, Marlow meets Kurtz, a sick and weary man and is permitted to bring him down
the river on the steamer. Before they reach Western civilization Kuirtz dies, mumbling his
famous last words: 'The horror! The horror!'
Marlow's story is closely related to Conrad's own. Conrad led a ship on the Congo river in
1890 and is known to have experienced many of the events described in the novel. Probably,
some of the descriptions of he cruelty and inhumanity throughout the novel are Conrad's
personal and first-hand accounts. It is strange, therefore, when a noted author like Chinua
Achebe criticizes Conrad as a "thoroughgoing racist" dehumanizing Africans and describing
Africa as "a metaphysical battlefield devoid of all recognizable humanity, into which the
wandering European enters at his peril". Indeed, there is no doubt that Conrad uses Africa
and its inhabitants merely as a backdrop for his story of white men, but that alone is not
racism. On the contrary, it seems evident to me that Conrad - unlike his contemporary Kipling
who penned the poem 'The White Man's Burden' in 1899 - must have taken a stance away from
colonialism and surpression: 'Heart of Darkness' is full of descriptions of the inhumanity
of European presence in Africa.
It would in any case have been unfortunate to use the term 'racist' about Conrad because
he lived before the existene of such an idea. In the void of an idea, criticizing
non-conformity to it is simply logical breach.
Overall, however, the debate about Conrad's racism has taken some focus away from the most
important aspects of the book: experiences and personal development. When Marlow decides
not to tell Kurtz fiancée the truth about his last words ("It would have been too dark -
too dark altogether ..."), that underlines the insight he got while in Africa; perhaps
the same insight as Conrad himself got while in Africa, but which he could not explain
outside its full context, outside a novel. No matter how, 'Heart of Darkness' remains an
important work on the more sinister aspects of the human mind, whether manifested in
physical cruelty or depressing insight.
Bjornthegreat.com has been tested and is working on most browsers (Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer 6 & 7).
The best result, however, was achieved using Firefox.
Bjornthegreat.com is labeled with ICRA - click logo for more information.
Disclaimer and Copyright:
Please look through the relevant sections of the meta-document before citing this website as a source or using images from this website
Joseph Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' is commonly considered a part of the Western canon -
among the finest examples of Western literature. Indeed, Conrad's lead of the English
language is masterful (ironically, since it is his thrid language) and the themes and
ideas forwarded in the novella were highly relevant to his times and still are to ours.
The use of framing is a main feature of the story, though it seems to me to have limited
impact: the story is told not by the fictional narrator, but by a sailor on a ship anchored
near the Thames. Marlow's story begins as he leaves Europe to travel up the Congo River
towards the area called by Stanley 'The Dark Heart Of Africa'. Soon, Marlow aims to meet
Kurtz as he takes great interest in the man and his abilities and Marlow's quest becomes
an introspect and personal one, about exploring and understanding the ideas of a great man.
When, after a long and strugglesome journey up the river, Marlow and his crew arrives by
Kurtz's Inner Station, Marlow first meets a seemingly insane Russian - Kurtz's greatest fan.
Soon, however, Marlow meets Kurtz, a sick and weary man and is permitted to bring him down
the river on the steamer. Before they reach Western civilization Kuirtz dies, mumbling his
famous last words: 'The horror! The horror!'
Marlow's story is closely related to Conrad's own. Conrad led a ship on the Congo river in
1890 and is known to have experienced many of the events described in the novel. Probably,
some of the descriptions of he cruelty and inhumanity throughout the novel are Conrad's
personal and first-hand accounts. It is strange, therefore, when a noted author like Chinua
Achebe criticizes Conrad as a "thoroughgoing racist" dehumanizing Africans and describing
Africa as "a metaphysical battlefield devoid of all recognizable humanity, into which the
wandering European enters at his peril". Indeed, there is no doubt that Conrad uses Africa
and its inhabitants merely as a backdrop for his story of white men, but that alone is not
racism. On the contrary, it seems evident to me that Conrad - unlike his contemporary Kipling
who penned the poem 'The White Man's Burden' in 1899 - must have taken a stance away from
colonialism and surpression: 'Heart of Darkness' is full of descriptions of the inhumanity
of European presence in Africa.
It would in any case have been unfortunate to use the term 'racist' about Conrad because
he lived before the existene of such an idea. In the void of an idea, criticizing
non-conformity to it is simply logical breach.
Overall, however, the debate about Conrad's racism has taken some focus away from the most
important aspects of the book: experiences and personal development. When Marlow decides
not to tell Kurtz fiancée the truth about his last words ("It would have been too dark -
too dark altogether ..."), that underlines the insight he got while in Africa; perhaps
the same insight as Conrad himself got while in Africa, but which he could not explain
outside its full context, outside a novel. No matter how, 'Heart of Darkness' remains an
important work on the more sinister aspects of the human mind, whether manifested in
physical cruelty or depressing insight.
