Classic fiction

Heart of Darkness

by Joseph Conrad

188 pages · First published 1899

Charles Marlow travels into the Congo as captain of a European trading company’s steamer and becomes increasingly fascinated by the mysterious ivory agent Kurtz. The journey upriver exposes the brutality, greed, and hypocrisy beneath European claims of bringing civilization to Africa. Kurtz’s reputation grows larger as Marlow approaches him, turning the man into a disturbing symbol of what happens when power is freed from restraint. Joseph Conrad’s novella is a foundational work of literary modernism and a fierce critique of imperial exploitation, while its depiction of Africans and Africa has also generated enduring criticism about racism and narrative perspective.