Heart of Darkness

Deep in the Congo, Kurtz, a once respected and adored expert on primitive peoples has given into the darkness within him. Mad with power and the way of the flesh, he has installed himself as a god in one of the local tribes. Marlowe, a steamboat captain for the same trading company that sent Kurtz into the jungle for ivory, is on a mission up-river to bring Kurtz and his ivory. The darkness of the river and the jungle match the darkness Marlow faces in Kurtz and in himself.

Joseph Conrad was a master – deftly writing in a wide range of milieus, always with a keen eye for the deeply complex and conflicted state of the human heart. None of his works provide a more poignant examination of the battle between light and dark, good and evil, than his novella [Heart of Darkness]. But the battle is not between opposing characters or forces; it plays out in the hearts of Kurtz and Marlow. One an idealistic and beneficent champion for the primitive people of the jungle, corrupted to the point of madness with power and lust, and the other, faced with his own conflicted feelings, must choose between the ugly truth or a kind cover-up.

Inspired by his own experience as a steamboat captain on the Congo, Conrad’s story reads like a Gothic ghost story – a testament to the flexibility of his talent.

Bottom Line: Another keen examination of the corruptibility of the human soul, written with the flavor of a Gothic suspense tale.

5 bones!!!!!
A favorite for the year.
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The Secret Agent-

Shortly after writing [Nostromo], his classic tale of South American revolution, Joseph Conrad discussed the 1894 bombing of the Greenwich Observatory with a friend. Conrad wrote of the terrorist attack, “outrage could not be laid hold of mentally in any sort of way, so that one remained faced by the fact of a man blown to bits for nothing even most remotely resembling an idea, anarchistic or other.” When Conrad expressed these thoughts to his friend, the man replied, “Oh, that fellow was half an idiot. His sister committed suicide afterwards.” These few words inspired [The Secret Agent].

With [The Secret Agent], Conrad proves that even a novel of mystery or political intrigue can offer a deep exploration of human behavior and social values equal to the most hallowed literary works. Adolph Veduc, a corpulent and apparently innocuous man, leads a secret life as a informant and agent provocateur for the French embassy in London. A newly appointed embassy administrator directs Verloc to enlist his anarchist and terrorist associates in bombing the Greenwich Observatory, hoping to create national unrest and fear. Though reluctant to carry out such a desperate act, Verloc worries that refusing the order will bring his contented life to an abrupt end. The attack is carried out, though the identity of the suspect remains in doubt because the bomb mangles the man beyond recognition. Chief Inspector Heat, the morally equivocal lead investigator, seems more focused on how to manipulate the events to his benefit than discovering the bomber’s identity. When the suspect and the underlying conspiracy are revealed, the thin thread of reason knitting several lives together fatally unravels.

The reasoning underlying marginal human behavior is elusive at best. And even in attempts to cast aside reason and values, as with the professed anarchists in Conrad’s tale, an alternative social system still exists that governs behavior. Conrad noted the phenomenon in a 1920 introduction to the novel by saying, “Perverse unreason has its own logical processes.” Conrad cuts to the heart of such abnormal human psychology by examining the close ties in origin between acceptable and unacceptable behavior.

[The Secret Agent] depends upon carefully and deeply constructed character studies to carry Conrad’s theme. But apart from the delivery of Conrad’s message, his characters are among the richest and most diverse found in literature. The Professor, an explosive expert convinced of his chaotic superiority; The Doctor, a philandering and self-serving thief; and Stevie, Verloc’s pure and loving brother-in-law, are among a cast of well-rounded, complicated characters that both build on Conrad’s theme and lend an aspect of credible reality to the story.

Bottom Line: A classic study of motive and the origin of abnormal behavior, grounded firmly in rich and real characters.

5 bones!!!!!
A new addition to the all-time favorite list!

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One of the most gifted writers ever! ( )

Odd, huge collection - a lot of things too short to be novels. Mostly sea stories but a couple latin-style pieces. "The Shadow-Line" is my favorite, much better than that "Heart .." junior high simple seaman stuff.