Poor, wretched Marlow. He is our hero. He is the good of humanity's soul. He is civiliztion's only hope compared with the monstrosity in which Mr. Kurtz has become. What is this book about? What is this book about?




It is about savagery; not nifty, innocent, dance-around-a-cauldron savagery that could have easily been found and analyzed (and had been) from any European's snug chair in his favorite smoking jacket, reading some treatise on colonial Africa. Not that kind of savagery at all. Conrad, bless his cynical soul, has hit on the idea that all civilization is merely an elaborate illusion. Even Western civilization. If you take away this illusion, peel it off like Conrad has done in his case study, Mr. Kurtz, then what you have is something surely animalistic, but somehow lower than even animals.




This is the horror of the book, and it is not something to be taken lightly. Civilization is not real. How easy it is to put those words aside and go on with my day when there is a Starbuck's around the corner, and a police station a few blocks further. But, when push comes to shove, Conrad shows us that politics, religion, even art are just elaborate constructs that can crumble as easily as a house of cards in the wind. Humanity's soul is madness and despair.




Marlow's journey is just that: a dark voyage into the "Heart of Darkness," into humanity's soul, into the grim reality of Mr. Kurtz.

Horrified. Horror writers today can dance about their dark dreams, but I've never seen one, even with the crutch of the fantastic at their side, come close to the utter despair of "Heart of Darkness." It is as if Conrad was showing us that every goodness, every purity, every light in the this world was an empty illusion. If you are interested in horror, you must read this book.

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Created Feb 05, 2002 at 11:12am • Submit your own review...