Published in 1902, Heart of Darkness is a novella by Joseph Conrad and his most famous work, based on his own terrifying experiences of working on the Congo. In the context of Post-Colonial theory, it charts the brutality and moral degradation of colonialism on both the ruler and the subject peoples. It can be read as a deeply pessimistic journey into the depths of the human psyche, from the obvious brutality inflicted on the black workers in the beginning of the book to the demise of the individual's soul and integrity in Kurtz.
The story is set on the Congo, in the heart of Africa. Marlow the narrator is working on a cargo boat travelling up the river. He is disgusted by the greed of the ivory traders and the brutal exploitation of the indigenous African peoples. Later he hears of the company's most successful agent Mr Kurtz who is stationed in the very heart of the ivory country. Marlow makes an arduous trek to join the steamboat he is going to command but discovers that his trip is being delayed and sabotaged. Travelling up the dark motionless river with ever growing dread, Marlow finally meets Kurtz who rules almost as a local god, surrounded by the tributes of ritual dancing and human sacrifice in his name. Kurtz tries to justify his barbaric actions by claiming he has seen into the very heart of things. He dies crying out “The horror! The horror!” The novel provided the inspiration for the film Apocalypse Now (1979) directed by Francis Coppola and set in Vietnam.
Critics argue that Conrad's attitude towards imperialism was ambivalent. Marlow suppresses his experiences and lies to Kurtz's fiancée, claiming he died with her name on his lips, therefore maintaining a myth of white valour and integrity. The novel still carries the imprint of colonial sympathy, so common of the time. For Marlow darkness is associated with ‘primitive' peoples, with the jungle and the lands apparently needing the light of white civilization and enlightenment. The inherent racism of this symbolism is problematic for the African landscape is read as degenerative and a journey up the Congo aligned to a metaphorical journey into psychological savagery. Arguably, the novel counterpoises various versions of white civilization against each other, at home a myth, a ‘lie' is sustained but the practice of colonialism reveals the ugliness, brutality and sinister heart of the imperialistic enterprise.