De ce să citești această carte
Recomandăm această ediție cititorilor care doresc să înțeleagă rădăcinile modernismului literar și complexitatea etică a colonialismului. Dincolo de narațiunea fascinantă a lui Marlow, câștigați acces la o serie de analize critice care explică de ce acest text rămâne fundamental în canonul vestic. Este o lectură esențială pentru cei care apreciază proza densă, simbolică și interogarea profundă a naturii umane.
Despre autor
Joseph Conrad, născut Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, a fost un scriitor polonezo-britanic recunoscut ca unul dintre cei mai mari stiliști ai limbii engleze, deși a început să o vorbească fluent abia la maturitate. Experiența sa vastă în marina franceză și britanică i-a oferit materia primă pentru romane ce explorează încercările spiritului uman într-un univers adesea impasibil. Operând la granița dintre realism și modernism, Conrad a folosit contextul imperiului colonial pentru a sonda psihicul uman, influențând generații de scriitori prin personajele sale anti-eroice și tehnica narativă inovatoare.
Textul de pe ultima copertă
Although Polish by birth, Joseph Conrad (1857 1924) is regarded as one of the greatest writers in English, and "Heart of Darkness, " first published in 1902, is considered by many his "most famous, finest, and most enigmatic story." "Encyclopaedia Britannica." The tale concerns the journey of the narrator (Marlow) up the Congo River on behalf of a Belgian trading company. Far upriver, he encounters the mysterious Kurtz, an ivory trader who exercises an almost godlike sway over the inhabitants of the region. Both repelled and fascinated by the man, Marlow is brought face to face with the corruption and despair that Conrad saw at the heart of human existence.
In its combination of narrative and symbolic power, masterly character study and acute psychological penetration, "Heart of Darkness" ranks as a landmark of modern fiction. It is a book no serious student of literature can afford to miss."
Descriere
Descriere de la o altă ediție sau format:
In Conrad's haunting tale, Marlow, a seaman and wanderer, recounts his physical and psychological journey in search of the enigmatic Kurtz. Traveling to the heart of the African continent, he discovers how Kurtz has gained his position of power and influence over the local people. Marlow's struggle to fathom his experience involves him in a radical questioning of not only his own nature and values but the nature and values of his society.
Descriere scurtă
High quality, trade paperback edition. From Wikipedia: Heart of Darkness (1899), by Joseph Conrad, is a short novel, presented as a frame narrative, about Charles Marlow's job as an ivory transporter down the Congo River. In the course of his commercial-agent work in the Congo Free State (1885-1908), the seaman Marlow becomes very interested in and investigates Mr Kurtz, an ivory-procurement agent, a man of established notoriety among the native Africans and the European colonials. The story is a thematic exploration of the savagery-versus-civilization relationship, and of the colonialism and the racism that make imperialism possible. Originally published as a three-part serial story, in 'Blackwood's Magazine', the novella Heart of Darkness has been variously published and translated into many languages. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Heart of Darkness as the sixty-seventh top-novel of the hundred-best-novels in English of the twentieth century; 1] and is included to the Western canon. The Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was at rest. The flood had made, the wind was nearly calm, and being bound down the river, the only thing for it was to come to and wait for the turn of the tide. The sea-reach of the Thames stretched before us like the beginning of an interminable waterway. In the offing the sea and the sky were welded together without a joint, and in the luminous space the tanned sails of the barges drifting up with the tide seemed to stand still in red clusters of canvas sharply peaked, with gleams of varnished sprits. A haze rested on the low shores that ran out to sea in vanishing flatness. The air was dark above Gravesend, and farther back still seemed condensed into a mournful gloom, brooding motionless over the biggest, and the greatest, town on earth. The Director of Companies was our captain and our host. We four affectionately watched his back as he stood in the bows looking to seaward. On the whole river there was nothing that looked half so nautical. He resembled a pilot, which to a seaman is trustworthiness personified. It was difficult to realize his work was not out there in the luminous estuary, but behind him, within the brooding gloom. Between us there was, as I have already said somewhere, the bond of the sea. Besides holding our hearts together through long periods of separation, it had the effect of making us tolerant of each other's yarns-and even convictions. The Lawyer-the best of old fellows-had, because of his many years and many virtues, the only cushion on deck, and was lying on the only rug. The Accountant had brought out already a box of dominoes, and was toying architecturally with the bones. Marlow sat cross-legged right aft, leaning against the mizzen-mast. He had sunken cheeks, a yellow complexion, a straight back, an ascetic aspect, and, with his arms dropped, the palms of hands outwards, resembled an idol. The Director, satisfied the anchor had good hold, made his way aft and sat down amongst us. We exchanged a few words lazily.
Recenzii
"This small novel is written with intense clarity - sentence for sentence it is still more unsettling than many unpleasant books that have been written since" -- Anne Enright "Conrad's narrative arsenal is awesome... Conrad deals in profundities if he deals in anything, but it is just his ability to clip his own wings in midflight, to puncture his ponderously magnificent dirigibles, that make him such an impressive literary performer" Sunday Times "Still the debate rages: is Conrad's novella an incisive critique of colonialism, or does it reinforce the very racist values it claims to unmask? Either way, his shrouded account of Marlow's journey into the "god-forsaken wilderness" of the Congo demands to be read. At its core lies the enigmatic, awesome Kurtz, and civilisation itself. "And this also," said Marlow suddenly, "has been one of the dark places of the earth" Guardian "Demands to be read" Guardian "Conrad broadened the descriptive range of the English language (his glowing and luxuriant delight in words, the haunting decor of the tropics, all that maritime terminology) more than any of his contemporaries" Independent
Notă biografică
Joseph Conrad was a Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is considered as one of the best authors in the English language, despite the fact that he did not speak English effectively until his twenties. He became known as a master prose stylist who introduced a non-English sensibility into English literature. He authored novels and novellas, many of which take place at sea, about crises of human identity in what he perceived as an indifferent, incomprehensible, and amoral world. Conrad is regarded as a literary impressionist by some and an early modernist by others, while his works also incorporate elements of nineteenth-century realism. His storytelling style and anti-heroic characters, such as Lord Jim, impacted a number of authors. Writing near the peak of the British Empire, Conrad drew on his native Poland's national experiences-during nearly all of his life, parcelled out among three occupying empires-as well as his own experiences in the French and British merchant navies, to create short stories and novels that reflect aspects of a European-dominated world, including imperialism and colonialism, and that profoundly explore the human psyche. Apollo took his kid to the Austrian-controlled region of Poland in December 1867, which had enjoyed significant internal freedom and self-government for the previous two years. After seeing Lwow and numerous smaller towns, they relocated to Krakow (Poland's capital until 1596), which is also in Austrian Poland, on February 20, 1869.
Cuprins
List of maps; Acknowledgements; Introduction; A note on the text; Select bibliography; Chronology; Abbreviations and note on editions; Heart of Darkness; Appendices; Notes; Glossary of nautical terms.