Thursday, June 17, 2021

"Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad

Well, that was weird.

At least now I know where the line "Mistah Kurtz, he dead" from the beginning of "The Hollow Men" by T. S. Eliot comes from, though.  That was literally the most interesting part of the book, for me -- I hit that line and went, "Wait!  I know that!  So this is what that's from!"  That's one of my favorite poems, so it was a really fun moment for me.  I think the title of it might be a reference to this book too, actually, coming from the second quotation below.  Nifty.

So, reading all 72 pages wasn't a total waste of time, I guess.  I do like knowing what little referential things are from.

Particularly Good Bits:

"The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much" (p. 4).

"But the wilderness had found him out early, and had taken on him a terrible vengeance for the fantastic invasion.  i think it had whispered to him things about himself which he did not know, things of which he had no conception till he took counsel with this great solitude -- and the whisper had proved irresistibly fascinating.  it echoed loudly within him because he was hollow at the core" (p. 53).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-16 for a lot of use of the n-word, some creepy stuff, violence, and general weirdness.


This was my 22nd book read and reviewed (sorta) for my 3rd Classics Club list, and my 28th for #TheUnreadShelfProject2021.

2 comments:

  1. It is a movie...sort of. Apocalypse Now, is a modern adaptation of Heart of Darkness. The film is better. Nostromo is lesser know, but better novel by Conrad IMO.

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    Replies
    1. Joseph, yeah, I saw Apocalypse Now like 15 years ago. I did not like it at all either. But it did have the one small virtue of having Harrison Ford in it ;-)

      I wouldn't mind reading something else by Conrad. Lord Jim, maybe.

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