Dark allegory describes the narrator's journey up the Congo River and his meeting with, and fascination by, Mr. Kurtz, a mysterious personage who dominates the unruly inhabitants of the region. Masterly blend of adventure, character development, psychological penetration. Considered by many Conrad's finest, most enigmatic story.

This is an updated edition of Conrad Totman's authoritative history of Japan from c.8000 BC to the present day. The first edition was widely praised for combining sophistication and accessibility. Covers a wide range of subjects, including geology, climate, agriculture, government and politics, culture, literature, media, foreign relations, imperialism, and industrialism. Updated to include an epilogue on Japan today and tomorrow. Now includes more on women in history and more on international relations. Bibliographical listings have been updated and enlarged. Part of The Blackwell History of the World Series The goal of this ambitious series is to provide an accessible source of knowledge about the entire human past, for every curious person in every part of the world. It will comprise some two dozen volumes, of which some provide synoptic views of the history of particular regions while others consider the world as a whole during a particular period of time. The volumes are narrative in form, giving balanced attention to social and cultural history (in the broadest sense) as well as to institutional development and political change. Each provides a systematic account of a very large subject, but they are also both imaginative and interpretative. The Series is intended to be accessible to the widest possible readership, and the accessibility of its volumes is matched by the style of presentation and production.

The story of Marlow travelling upriver in central Africa to find Kurtz, an ivory agent as consumed by the horror of human life as he is by physical illness, has long been considered a classic, and continues to be widely read and studied. This edition, edited by one of the leading figures in ‘the Conrad controversy,’ includes an introduction and explanatory notes, as well as a fascinating variety of contemporary documents that help to set this extraordinary work in the context of the period from which it emerged. The introduction and bibliography have been updated, and two new appendices have been added; the second of these is a selection of Alice Harris’s extraordinary but little-known photographs documenting the horrors of colonialism in turn-of-the-century Congo.

In Conrad's haunting tale, Marlow, a seaman and wanderer, recounts his physical and psychological journey in search of the enigmatic Kurtz. Travelling 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.

Joseph Conrad's 1904 adventure novel, set amid the mist-covered mountains of a fictional South American republic, spins a colorful tale of capitalist exploitation and rebellion. The story begins halfway through the revolution, employing flashbacks and glimpses of the future to depict the lure of silver and its effects on men — corrupting and destroying some, revealing the strengths of others. Conrad's deep moral consciousness and masterful narrative technique are at their best in Nostromo, one of his greatest works.

Presenting Heart of Darkness (Large Print Edition) by Joseph Conrad. This classic is part of The Great Books Series by Golding Books. An allegorical novel (or precisely a novella) like no other, Heart of Darkness is a masterpiece of psychological fiction and one of many classic sea stories from Joseph Conrad, though the action predominantly takes place on the Congo River. Charles Marlow captains a steamboat for an ivory trading company, and grows obsessed with ivory trader Kurtz, who has turned himself into a charismatic demigod of the local tribes. Heart of Darkness examines what it means to be civilized, and in asking questions about imperialism and racism it suggests much about who people at the time called "savages" and who is the cause of darkness. It is one of the most gripping and incisive of dark classics, and is also an excellent introductory point to classic and complex short novels or more serious literature (including its suitability as young adult literature). Golding Books' Great Books Series, along with its Essential Series, comprises a wide variety of classic, influential and important books. These two series aim to champion not only remarkable and recognized literary achievements, but also to highlight the meaningful and significant works of lesser-known authors. Get your copy of the titles through convenient online purchase as an eBook or in paperback (including some Large Print editions). Joseph Conrad was born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski in the Russian Empire (now Ukraine, and once part of the Kingdom of Poland) in 1857. Because of his father's attempts at farming and political activism, the family moved repeatedly (such as to Warsaw, Vologda, and Chernihiv) and Conrad was home-schooled. An aloof and often depressed man, 20-year-old Conrad attempted suicide by shooting himself in the chest with a revolver. Born a Russian subject, he was granted British nationality in 1886 after joining the British merchant marine in 1878, and eventually settled in Kent, England. About half of his 19-year merchant marine career was spent at sea; he achieved captain's rank after working in numerous crew roles. His most popular novels include The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' (1897), Heart of Darkness (1899), Lord Jim (1900), Typhoon (1902), Nostromo (1904), and The Secret Agent (1907). After suffering throughout his life from issues with his physical and mental health, Conrad died of a likely heart attack at the age of 66.

Heart of Darkness (1899) is a novella by Polish-British novelist Joseph Conrad, about a voyage up the Congo River into the Congo Free State, in the heart of Africa, by the story's narrator Marlow. Marlow tells his story to friends aboard a boat anchored on the River Thames, London, England. This setting provides the frame for Marlow's story of his obsession with the ivory trader Kurtz, which enables Conrad to create a parallel between London and Africa as places of darkness. Central to Conrad's work is the idea that there is little difference between so-called civilised people and those described as savages; Heart of Darkness raises important questions about imperialism and racism.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 of the hundred best novels in English of the twentieth century.

Heart of Darkness is a novella written by Polish-born writer Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski). Before its 1902 publication, it appeared as a three-part series (1899) in Blackwood's Magazine. It is widely regarded as a significant work of English literature and part of the Western canon.This highly symbolic story is actually a story within a story, or frame narrative. It follows Marlow as he recounts, from dusk through to late night, his adventure into the Congo to a group of men aboard a ship anchored in the Thames Estuary.The story details an incident when Marlow, an Englishman, took a foreign assignment as a ferry-boat captain, employed by a Belgian trading company. Although the river is never specifically named, readers may assume it is the Congo River, in the Congo Free State, a private colony of King Leopold II. Marlow is employed to transport ivory downriver; however, his more pressing assignment is to return Kurtz, another ivory trader, to civilization in a cover up. Kurtz has a reputation throughout the region.