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Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
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Heart of Darkness

and Selections from The Congo Diary

Introduction by Verlyn Klinkenborg

and Selections from The Congo Diary

By Joseph Conrad
Introduction by Caryl Phillips

By Joseph Conrad
Introduction by Caryl Phillips

By Joseph Conrad
Introduction by Verlyn Klinkenborg

By Joseph Conrad
Introduction by Verlyn Klinkenborg

By Joseph Conrad

By Joseph Conrad

By Joseph Conrad
Introduction by Caryl Phillips

By Joseph Conrad
Introduction by Caryl Phillips

Best Seller

Part of Modern Library 100 Best Novels

Part of Everyman's Library Classics Series

Paperback $11.00

Aug 10, 1999 | ISBN 9780375753770

Hardcover $24.00

Oct 26, 1993 | ISBN 9780679428015

Ebook $1.99

Aug 12, 2014 | ISBN 9781551997469

Ebook $5.99

Oct 31, 2000 | ISBN 9780679641247

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    Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
    Paperback $11.00
    Aug 10, 1999 | ISBN 9780375753770

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      Aug 10, 1999 | ISBN 9780375753770

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    • Hardcover $24.00

      Oct 26, 1993 | ISBN 9780679428015

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      Aug 12, 2014 | ISBN 9781551997469

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    About Heart of Darkness

    Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time • Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

    Introduction by Caryl Phillips
    Commentary by H. L. Mencken, E. M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway, Bertrand Russell, Lionel Trilling, Chinua Achebe, and Philip Gourevitch

    Originally published in 1902, Heart of Darkness remains one of this century’s most enduring works of fiction. Written several years after Joseph Conrad’s grueling sojourn in the Belgian Congo, the novel is a complex meditation on colonialism, evil, and the thin line between civilization and barbarity. This edition contains selections from Conrad’s Congo Diary of 1890—the first notes, in effect, for the novel, which was composed at the end of that decade. Virginia Woolf wrote of Conrad: “His books are full of moments of vision. They light up a whole character in a flash. . . . He could not write badly, one feels, to save his life.”

    About Heart of Darkness

    In a novella which remains highly controversial to this day, Conrad explores the relations between Africa and Europe. On the surface, this is a horrifying tale of colonial exploitation. The narrator, Marlowe journeys on business deep into the heart of Africa. But there he encounters Kurtz, an idealist apparently crazed and depraved by his power over the natives, and the meeting prompts Marlowe to reflect on the darkness at the heart of all men. This short but complex and often ambiguous story, which has been the basis of several films and plays, continues to provoke interpretation and discussion.

    Heart of Darkness grew out of a journey Joseph Conrad took up the Congo River; the verisimilitude that the great novelist thereby brought to his most famous tale everywhere enhances its dense and shattering power.

    Apparently a sailor’s yarn, it is in fact a grim parody of the adventure story, in which the narrator, Marlow, travels deep into the heart of the Congo where he encounters the crazed idealist Kurtz and discovers that the relative values of the civilized and the primitive are not what they seem. Heart of Darkness is a model of economic storytelling, an indictment of the inner and outer turmoil caused by the European imperial misadventure, and a piercing account of the fragility of the human soul.

    About Heart of Darkness

    Widely regarded as one of the greatest English novels, Heart of Darkness follows Charles Marlow on his journey down the Congo River and into the heart of Africa.

    The book moves fluidly between poignant psychological introspection and insidious horror as Marlow moves through an alien landscape. It has been the subject of considerable analysis and criticism for its treatment of British imperialism, particular with regards to colonialism and racism. It was the basis of the Vietnam war film Apocalypse Now, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, and Robert Duvall.

    Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.

    About Heart of Darkness

    Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time • Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

    Introduction by Caryl Phillips
    Commentary by H. L. Mencken, E. M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway, Bertrand Russell, Lionel Trilling, Chinua Achebe, and Philip Gourevitch

    Originally published in 1902, Heart of Darkness remains one of this century’s most enduring works of fiction. Written several years after Joseph Conrad’s grueling sojourn in the Belgian Congo, the novel is a complex meditation on colonialism, evil, and the thin line between civilization and barbarity. This edition contains selections from Conrad’s Congo Diary of 1890—the first notes, in effect, for the novel, which was composed at the end of that decade. Virginia Woolf wrote of Conrad: “His books are full of moments of vision. They light up a whole character in a flash. . . . He could not write badly, one feels, to save his life.”

    Read An Excerpt

    Also in Everyman’s Library Classics Series

    Byron's Travels
    Novels, Tales, Journeys

    Also by Joseph Conrad

    Victory
    The Secret Agent
    Youth
    Heart of Darkness
    Under Western Eyes
    See all books by Joseph Conrad

    Also by Joseph Conrad

    Victory
    The Secret Agent
    Youth
    Heart of Darkness
    Under Western Eyes
    See all books by Joseph Conrad

    Also by Joseph Conrad

    Victory
    The Secret Agent
    Youth
    Heart of Darkness
    Under Western Eyes
    See all books by Joseph Conrad

    Also by Joseph Conrad

    Victory
    The Secret Agent
    Youth
    Heart of Darkness
    Under Western Eyes
    See all books by Joseph Conrad

    About Joseph Conrad

    Joseph Conrad was born in Berdichev, Ukraine, in 1857. After both of his parents died of tuberculosis, Conrad went to live with his uncle in Switzerland. After attending school in Kraków, he joined the French and then the British merchant marines,… More about Joseph Conrad

    About Joseph Conrad

    Joseph Conrad was born in Berdichev, Ukraine, in 1857. After both of his parents died of tuberculosis, Conrad went to live with his uncle in Switzerland. After attending school in Kraków, he joined the French and then the British merchant marines,… More about Joseph Conrad

    About Joseph Conrad

    Joseph Conrad was born in Berdichev, Ukraine, in 1857. After both of his parents died of tuberculosis, Conrad went to live with his uncle in Switzerland. After attending school in Kraków, he joined the French and then the British merchant marines,… More about Joseph Conrad

    About Joseph Conrad

    Joseph Conrad was born in Berdichev, Ukraine, in 1857. After both of his parents died of tuberculosis, Conrad went to live with his uncle in Switzerland. After attending school in Kraków, he joined the French and then the British merchant marines,… More about Joseph Conrad

    Product Details

    Category: Classic Fiction | Suspense & Thriller | Historical Fiction

    Paperback | $11.00
    Published by Modern Library
    Aug 10, 1999 | 176 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780375753770

    Category: Classic Fiction | Suspense & Thriller | Historical Fiction

    Hardcover | $24.00
    Published by Everyman’s Library
    Oct 26, 1993 | 144 Pages | 5 x 8 | ISBN 9780679428015

    Category: Literary Fiction

    Ebook | $1.99
    Published by McClelland & Stewart
    Aug 12, 2014 | 94 Pages | ISBN 9781551997469

    Category: Classic Fiction | Suspense & Thriller | Historical Fiction

    Ebook | $5.99
    Published by Modern Library
    Oct 31, 2000 | 176 Pages | ISBN 9780679641247

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    Praise

    This small novel is written with intense clarity – sentence for sentence it is still more unsettling than many unpleasant books that have been written since—Anne Enright

    Conrad’s narrative arsenal is awesome… Conrad deals in profundities if he deals in anything, but it is just his ability to clip his own wings in midflight, to puncture his ponderously magnificent dirigibles, that make him such an impressive literary performer—Sunday Times

    Still the debate rages: is Conrad’s novella an incisive critique of colonialism, or does it reinforce the very racist values it claims to unmask? Either way, his shrouded account of Marlow’s journey into the “god-forsaken wilderness” of the Congo demands to be read. At its core lies the enigmatic, awesome Kurtz, and civilisation itself. “And this also,” said Marlow suddenly, “has been one of the dark places of the earth”—Guardian

    Conrad broadened the descriptive range of the English language (his glowing and luxuriant delight in words, the haunting decor of the tropics, all that maritime terminology) more than any of his contemporaries—Independent

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