Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

Conrad's novella about an ivory trading and agent extraction mission in the Congo Free State during the 19th century is a critically acclaimed tale of one man's physical and metaphysical journey into the unconscious. I first read it as a literature undergraduate and wasn't too impressed by the oppressively overwrought style, philosophical babbling and glaringly unsubtle symbolism. Most niggling of all were the factual slurs; Conrad mistaking crocodiles for alligators when, being well educated and far travelled, he really should have known better. With these trite complaints buried behind years of what I hope have been at least somewhat conducive to a more informed critical understanding, I revisited the book prepared to do it the justice I repeatedly hear it deserves. My verdict however, disappointingly remains unaltered.

With its evocatively brutal images of Imperial rule and enslavement, the book is an obvious favourite in post-colonial studies. It also bears up well from a psychoanalytical approach, as the text is figuratively dripping with Jungian notions of otherness and introspection. The central character, Marlowe, recounts his voyage to a group of sailors in the Thames estuary, a scene which frames the narrative at both ends. Throughout the telling, one is increasingly hyped up to meet a renegade ivory dealer, missionary, and 'universal genius' Kurtz. Seduced by the savagery of his environment, he has abandoned protocol, deified himself to the natives, and is assumed mad by the trading company. When we finally get to him in the third and final chapter, he turns out to be a feeble disappointment. There's a big show about foiled expectations but I found the venture too much in awe of the message it was failing to convey, namely that there's a darkness in us all as unfathomable as Time. Very deep and very dark, but just a trifle wearisome.
 
Rating: 2/5