Heart of Darkness pdf

Heart of Darkness is an 1899 novel by Polish-British author Joseph Conrad in which  sailor Charles Marlowe tells his audience the story of his work as the captain of a steamship for a Belgian shipping company deep in Africa. 

The novel is generally seen as a critique of European colonial rule in Africa, but it also deals with themes of power relations and morality.  Conrad does not name the river in which much of the story takes place, but at the time of writing, the Congo Free State, home to the large and economically important Congo River, was a private colony of Belgian King Leopold II. Kurtz is  an ivory trader working in a trading post up the river, who becomes the target of Marlowe's expedition "out there". Central to Conrad's work is the idea that there is little difference between "civilized" and "savage" people. Heart of Darkness implicitly comments on imperialism and racism.

The novel's setting provides the backbone for Marlow's  fascination with the prolific ivory trader Kurtz. Conrad draws parallels between London ("the greatest city in the world") and Africa as places of darkness.

Heart of Darkness was originally published as a three-part serial  in Blackwood's Magazine to celebrate the magazine's 1000th issue.

 It has been frequently republished and translated into many languages. It was the inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 film Apocalypse Now, and in 1998 Heart of Darkness was ranked 67th in The Modern Library's list of the 100 best English-language novels  of the 20th century.

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