Heart of Darkness - Almayer's Folly - The Lagoon

by Joseph Conrad

Book by

Genres: Literary Fiction, Fiction, Africa

Paperback

First published January 1, 1899

About the author

Joseph Conrad was a Polish-British novelist and story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language and, although he did not speak English fluently until his twenties, he became a master prose stylist who brought a non-English sensibility into English literature. He wrote novels and stories, many in nautical settings, that depict crises of human individuality in the midst of what he saw as an indifferent, inscrutable, and amoral world.
Conrad is considered a literary impressionist by some and an early modernist by others, though his works also contain elements of 19th-century realism. His narrative style and anti-heroic characters, as in Lord Jim, for example, have influenced numerous authors. Many dramatic films have been adapted from and inspired by his works. Numerous writers and critics have commented that his fictional works, written largely in the first two decades of the 20th century, seem to have anticipated later world events.
Writing near the peak of the British Empire, Conrad drew on the national experiences of his native Poland—during nearly all his life, parceled out among three occupying empires—and on 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.

Reviews

[Michelle]

Probably one of the most racist and sexist things I’ve ever read. Yes, there’s lots of very complex, high-level figurative language that qualifies it as a classic with universal appeal. But even if Conrad was trying to subvert the pro-colonial narrative of his time, quite a lot of the metaphor at the beginning is constructed by passages on the image of natives as not human, but rather a poor, muddled mass of disease and labor. Of the “white patch” of “unspoiled wilderness” being disrupted once there were (European) names added to geologic features. The reason why Marlow wants to explore the Congo is because it peters off into “darkness” (away from the light of European knowledge). Not to mention the absolute trashing of women. I also couldn't really find myself caring about the core character of the piece. I recognize that differentiates me from the reactions of many other readers, but I can't call it masterful if the supposedly masterful emotional and literary flourishes are doing nothing for me, despite trying to lean into the theme. Yeah it's a "product of its time," but the literary complexity of that product was staked entirely on the highly prejudiced perspective of not just the main character but the author, which permeated nearly every page. Maybe I’ll read the other two stories in this anthology someday, but it would be mostly for a too-close historical understanding of the European colonizer’s mentality during this period, as well as a writer's best attempts at nuance on a topic with which he is restricted to a biased worldview.

[Peter]

Such story telling such character development. Such a grasp of heart and soul. So progressive and compassionate are Conrad's insights that the reader encounters outrageously retrograde comments on Malay and Arab character and assumes Conrad wrote with irony, satire, or disdain for the prejudices endemic to nineteenth century Europe.

In truth, the text doesn't make a strong enough case to support Conrad's mind being more progressive than those of his characters. One knows he traveled around the world severally; observed; and started writing relatively late in life. His command of of structure, exposition, and psychological in depth analysis would induce the reader to assume him open-minded, but I don't know. I just don't know.

What I know beyond a shadow of a doubt is the value of the three novellas herein. The heart of darkness, an old warhorse I had to read many times in school, exposes in excoriating detail the twin perils of absolute power and hubristic certainty of one's immortality.

Almayer's Folly, a morality okay about myopic dreams, cultural imperialism, and unchecked avarice, rebids the heart with cascading treachery and woe.

In Lagoon, the final tale, also features treachery and woe, but finds no redemption in the Self-awareness attained by Arsat, a Malay who has stolen his rajah's prized woman (Concubine? Conrad leaves her role a bit vague) and let his brother sacrifice his life that Arsat and Daimilen, his conquest, might escape scot free. How much this costs Arsat emerges as he relates the take to a white mercenary who comes to visit.

Together with an introduction by Albert j guerard, these three stories reveal more of Conrad's brilliance than I had ever credited him with possessing, and the discovery has proven a treat. I strongly recommend this volume.