In this final episode of the Slow Read of Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, we reach the end of the story. We hear the final words of Kurtz horrified at the dark heart of his civilization.
“He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision - he cried out twice, a cry that was no more than a breath - “The horror! The horror!”
Conrad, Heart of Darkness, p. 100
The final passage of Heart of Darkness is stunning writing, and I found that slowing down to read it aloud to you was a wonderful way to appreciate Conrad’s prose.
Yet the end of the novel raises many questions about how deeply Conrad saw into his own heart of darkness, his treatment of women as trapped in the domestic illusions of civilization, and whether Conrad shared our experience of the globalised world.
“I remembered a phrase repeated mantra-like throughout Lord Jim: “He was one of us.” For better or for worse, Joseph Conrad was one of us: a citizen of a global world.”
Jasanoff, The Dawn Watch, p. 12
But was Conrad or Marlow or Kurtz “one of us”?
This is the final passage of Heart of Darkness. And next week we will look back over the story and the history in a Live Stream - jointly on YouTube and Substack. I will discuss Conrad, Heart of Darkness and the themes of colonisation, civilization, and our contemporary hearts of darkness, and respond to your comments - live!
Please join me for that Live Stream - Monday 24 August 18:00 Australian Eastern time.
And send me your thoughts or questions ahead of time.
If you would like the complete experience of an audiobook of Conrad, Heart of Darkness, there is good news. I will be releasing my complete narration of Heart of Darkness as an audiobook shortly. I will provide more details during next week’s Live Stream.
As with previous weeks, I am reading Heart of Darkness slowly in conversation with Maya Jasanoff, The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World. It provides a unique historical reflection on this classic novel of colonialism and and the darkness at the heart of modernity. This week I read the final section, pages 97 to 111.
This is the final week of the Slow Read. You can go back through the story any time here:
Invitation to read Heart of Darkness with global history (Slow Read intro)
Heart of Darkness #1: This also has been one of the dark places of the earth (pp. 1-14)
Conrad, Heart of Darkness #2: “the merry dance of death and trade” (pp. 14-23)
Conrad, Heart of Darkness #3 the banality of civilisation and the humanity of savagery (pp. 23-35)
Conrad, Heart of Darkness #4: Sordid buccaneers tear treasure out of the bowels of the land (pp. 35-44, end of Part I)
Conrad, Heart of Darkness #5: the essentials of this affair lay beyond my power of meddling (pp. 44-55, start of Part II)
Conrad, Heart of Darkness #6: “The man presented himself as a voice.” (pp. 55-73)
Conrad, Heart of Darkness #7: ““an animated image of death carved out of old ivory” (pp. 73-86)
Conrad, Heart of Darkness #8: “his intelligence was perfectly clear . . . But his soul was mad.” (pp. 86-97)
Each episode contains a segment of my spoken narration or audiobook of Heart of Darkness, commentary on the story and text, historical footnotes informed by Jasanoff, The Dawn Watch, and reflections on the historical themes I discuss on the Burning Archive.
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