Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Heart of Darkness (Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism) by Joseph Conrad, Ross C. Murfin ISBN: 0-312-11491-5 Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's Pub. Date: 15 February, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.10 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.99 (312 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: How To Make a 75 Page Story Into a 400 Page Book
Comment: I would like to address myself specifically to the Norton Critical Edition of this book. The difficulty that many readers face when they pick up a classic, pre-twentieth century novel is that they are not conversant with the history of the times in which it was written. Heart of Darkness can be enjoyed purely as a well written novella, but then you miss so much of what Conrad is trying to say not only regarding the thin veneer of man's social persona (ala Lord of the Flies) but about the evils of 19th century imperialism. What is the story of Colonialism? Do Conrad's derogatory remarks about Blacks make him a bigot? What were Conrad's overall views on life? What were Conrad's personal experiences in the Congo? What did readers think of Heart of Darkness when it was written, and what do the critics think of it today?
The Norton Critical Edition gives you 325 extra pages of material written by Conrad and others that provide answers to the above questions. You don't have to read all of these many articles, of course, but a good sampling of them will make your immersion in this famous story all the more enjoyable and meaningful.
This is a story that everyone should read, and the Norton Critical Edition provides the best format for the reading experience.
Rating: 5
Summary: Classic Literature
Comment: Several negative reviews of Heart of Darkness seem to have been written by bitter high school students. In sum, their sentiment is: "Don't read this book if you don't like good stories."
Huh?
It should be more like, "Don't read this if you aren't willing to study it." These "students" must understand that a superficial reading of a novel will NEVER yield anything useful. Plot is not the only way to judge the merits of a story. What defines a classic is not always what happens, but how the events are told to us.
Conrad's writing is not complex and vague by accident. The reviewer who remarked that it takes Marlow several convoluted sentences to describe the river misses the point that Marlow is not the kind of narrator who can describe something precisely. It is more like an impressionist painting. Conrad's style recreates those blurred images we all have when we try to recollect an experience. It is a representation not of what all men know, but what an individual sees.
***SPOILER IN NEXT PARAGRAPH***
Marlow is "unsteady" on purpose. We are supposed to question whether he necessarily is against imperialism. This book cannot be said to be strictly anti-imperialistic, since Marlow lies at the end to preserve Kurtz's reputation. Contradictions in Marlow's character are Conrad's consious doing.
Contrary to popular belief, good novels DO require close readings and analysis to be understood. Authors don't just want to write a good story: they want their story to spark discussion of the plot, themes, AND narrative technique. Conrad didn't include all those adjectives as filler.
If any of these reviewers go on to study literature at a university, I'm sure they will one day be embarassed that they made their ignorance public. I know I've come off as pretentious, but this literature does not deserve to be brushed aside because it is complex. Rather, it demands a close analysis. Judge the novel only after you truly understand it.
Rating: 2
Summary: Too Abstract for My Taste in Pleasure Reading
Comment: I never got through this in college though it was assigned. Then I tried again to read it several months ago and just could not get past the prose; however, when I went back to find specific examples of sentence fragments and awkward prose, I did not find them. When I really studied each line, it made sense and did not seem so awkward. I ended up setting the book aside and read something else that did not require as much effort ... like David Copperfield. Personally, I think that that alone speaks volumes about this work.
I have now read this story out of sheer determination. Slowing my reading pace to be able to absorb each sentence, I find many of the descriptions quite vivid and beautiful though I still resent the awkwardness of the prose and the fragmented and spliced sentences (which I did find this time around). For example of a common type of splice, "Once a white man in an unbuttoned uniform, camping on the path with an armed escort of lank Zanzibaris, very hospitable and festive - not to say drunk. Was looking after the upkeep of the road he declared." Fragments and long lists of items are common in descriptions: "A rocky cliff appeared, mounds of turned up earth by the shore, houses on a hill, others with iron roofs, amongst a waste of excavations, or hanging to the declivity." In one of the beginning scenes he describes two women, one fat and one thin, but when he comes back to them they are the old one and the young one. Then towards the end one of them is described as the one with the cat. An example of what I would call awkward prose is: [In reference to the statement that women live in a world all of their own making unfettered by reality]. "Some confounded fact we men have been living contentedly with ever since the day of creation would start up and knock the whole thing over."
I was really disappointed with what I got for the effort with this story. There is not terribly much story. Marlowe recounts the story of his trip up the near virgin Congo to retrieve Mr. Kurtz, an agent in the trading company who is surrounded by mystery for both those that merely hear of his exploits and those who live around him. Meeting Kurtz and determining the status of his mental condition is the crux and climax of the story. That really is about it. The whole drama to the book is to be drawn by the contrast of "civilized" and "primeval" and a study of the characters. This may be okay in a classroom where many people can collectively infer traits from the characters after several hours of discussion but is too abstract for my tastes in pleasure reading.
 |
Title: CliffsNotes on Conrad's Heart of Darkness & The Secret Sharer by Daniel Moran ISBN: 0764585843 Publisher: Cliffs Notes Pub. Date: 05 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
 |
Title: Things Fall Apart : A Novel by Chinua Achebe ISBN: 0385474547 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 01 September, 1994 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
 |
Title: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Constance Garnett ISBN: 0553211757 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 June, 1984 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
 |
Title: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley ISBN: 0553212478 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 May, 1984 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
 |
Title: A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man by James Joyce, Seamus Deane ISBN: 0142437344 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 25 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $9.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
