Day 17--17/501General Musings: Today, after 9 hours of meetings and 2 projects that are ghastly in scope, I was in a bookstore and I was craving a new book but I am disciplined and will persevere with my prescribed reading. However, I bought my niece a great book--the graphic novel Persepolis about a girl's coming of age in revolutionary Iran. My niece goes to a French language school and although I have an English edition I hope she considers the original French version or the film that followed the same language course of the book. My prediction is that she doesn't read it or see the film--no vampires or werewolves and worse, her friends haven't heard of it.
Running Page Count: 4,609
Today's Title (Classic Fiction): Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness
Preface: Originally published in three parts in Blackwood's Magazine in 1899 the novella was later published in a book with his story Youth in 1902. Heart of Darkness is often considered to be the most important novella/novel in the English language and at the very least it figures in the English canon in seemingly every must read list--including ours. It is a story within a story (and sometimes within another story yet again) and remarkable piece of colonial literature. Conrad used elements of his own experience aboard a steamship in the Congo to frame the story of egomania fueled African exploitation and genocide. It does have its detractors namely Chinua Achebe (also of 501 Must Read Books [Things Fall Apart] fame) who feels it is a proto-neo-colonial novel typical of European stories that make Africa exotic and is condescending in its treatment of natives.
The Book: Marlow is on deck a ship on the Thames with a group of men and tells a story about his time in Africa as a steamship captain. Flashing back we learn Marlow's mission is to go up the Congo river and find an important company man. Kurtz is a legend in Africa getting more ivory than any other agent. Marlow's trip is fraught with danger and he slowly learns of the unorthodox methods and bizarre tales about Kurtz. Suffice to say Kurtz has "gone native" and trouble abounds in the aftermath of Marlow's mission. Kurtz's final words "The horror! The horror!" reflect a clarity of self, mission, and empire that epitomize the cryptic and damning novel that shows imperialism at its worst.
Grade: A+
Observations: Holy cow! This guy learned English as an adult! Can you imagine? An unbelievable work of genius. I've read the book a half dozen times and each time I'm blown away by it. Next time some Pollyanna tells you about the upside of colonialism remember the horror, the horror.
Segues: Maybe you heard about a little film called Apocalypse Now? In case you haven't you should watch the original, the redux and the Academy Award winning documentary on the film entitled (ahem) Heart of Darkness. There are film versions of Conrad's Heart of Darkness but none of them are any good--read the book! Conrad wrote dozens of novellas and novels that have figured highly in literature studies but Heart of Darkness is in a class by itself.
Tomorrow's Book (Science Fiction): John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids 18/501
