Episode 13: Heart of Darkness

We follow one of literature’s least-impressive boats up the Belgian Congo in our discussion of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1899). It’s yet another magazine novella, this time about how our “hero” Charles Marlow journeys up the Congo seeing some truly horrifying effects of European colonialism, and how he encounters the ivory trader and Big Thoughts Guy Kurtz. We talk about empire, space, doubling, gender, and Marlon Brando.

We read the Norton Critical Edition edited by Paul B. Armstrong. Although it certainly shows its years, it’s always illuminating to read Edward Said’s “Two Visions in ‘Heart of Darkness’” from Culture and Imperialism.

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