Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

     I was slightly disappointed in this book. Perhaps it was just me, but I felt that this story had little narrative. From what I have gathered is that the story was not about the retrieval of Mr. Kurtz per se, but about how the people around Marlow act and respond to given circumstances, and the description of the general atmosphere and layout of the setting in which Marlow experiences. In taking this, I agree, from his description of his experiences, that the whole thing was him “trying to tell you a dream- making a vain attempt, because no relation of a dream can convey the dream sensation…” Like when he introduced a new character: the character did not seem human, but a machine or animal, unpredictable and having no rationality to it. The descriptions of the landscapes and settings, they too had a surreal feeling to them. “[A] touch of fantastic vanity which fitted well with the dream-sensation that pervaded all my days at that time.”

                Along with the dreamscape, I felt that what added to the lack of narrative was the lack of tension and release. Some instances I found particularly singular were when Marlow was waiting for his boat to be repaired and when there was the difficulty along the river with the natives. For the ship, he first describes his problem in waiting for days for just some rivets to arrive. Yet he never explains when they do come, he just suddenly jumps into being on the river, without any transition between. In addition, when Marlow is describing the fight, and the doubt that Mr. Kurtz is dead, he immediately jumps into his experience in the future describing Mr. Kurtz, in try to console himself of the possibility of not meeting him. The only time I felt in the whole book of a tremendous pulling and then a satisfying release was when he went to Mr. Kurtz’s Beloved, and gave her the letters. There, the climax was tangible and, I felt, most willing to be taken with and “sucked in”.

                So yes, this book was fine, but I have certainly read more profound books dealing with Human Character or in Jungle Adventure, or whatever one interprets as the purpose of the book.