Heart of Darkness

Published in 1902, Heart of Darkness is a short novel by Joseph Conrad. The narrator, Marlow, describes a voyage down the Congo into Africa for a British ivory company, in search of a renegade company man named Kurtz. The novel is notable for its extraordinary denseness and the richness of the allusions and imagery created by Conrad.

Imperialist Criticism

Heart of Darkness has been interpreted variously as a criticism of European imperialism or in casual support of it; the subject is not treated with any directness in the novel. Marlow acts with casual racism and a typically unconscious European attitude as he ventures deep into the center of Africa - the titular "heart of darkness" by way of being the dark continent, the center of the unknown, and being filled with people with dark skin. Famed African writer and critic Chinua Achebe argued that the novel dehumanizes the people of Africa, treating them as animals and scenery rather than characters in any real respect.