Heart - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Heart of Darkness 1

First

serialized

in

Blackwood

’s Magazine

from

February

to

April

1899

First

published

in book

form

in 1902 in the volume

Youth

, a Narrative and

Two

O

ther

Stories

Slide2

Heart of Darkness 2

“

It

was

in 1868,

when

nine

years

old

or

thereabouts

,

that

while

looking

at a

map

of

Africa

of

the

time

and

putting

my

finger on the

blank

space

then

representing

the

unresolved

mystery

of

that

continent

, I

said

to

myself

with

absolute

assurance

and

an

amazing

audacity

which

are no

longer

in

my

character

now

: ‘

When

I

grow

up I

shall

go

there

’ […] Yes, I

did

go

there

:

there

being

the

region

of

Stanely

Falls

which

in ‘68

was

the

blankest

of

blank

spaces

on

earth

surface

” Joseph Conrad,

A Personal Record

, 1912 Slide3

Heart of Darkness – The context

1876: Leopold II

of

Belgium

organized

The International

African

Society

1878: Stanley

hired

by

Leopold

to

explore

the Congo

region

1884-85 -

Berlin

Conference

: Leopold

appointed

himself

sovereign

ruler

of

the Congo Free State

1908: Congo Free State

was

annexed

to

Belgium

and

became

the

Belgian

CongoSlide4

Heart of Darkness –

authobiographical

element

Conrad on

HD:

“

it

is

experience

pushed

a

little

(and

only

very

little

)

beyond

the

actual

facts

of

the case

for

the

perfectly

legitimate

purpose

of

bringing

it

home

to

the

minds

and

bosoms

of

readers

.”Slide5

Heart of Darkness –

authobiographical

element

“

Before

the Congo I

was

mere

animal

”, Joseph Conrad,

Letter

to

Edward

Garnett

Conrad

defines

the

exploitation

of

Congo: “the

vilest

scramble

for

loot

that

ever

disfigured

the

history

of

human

conscience

and

geographical

exploration

”, in

Geography

and Some

ExplorersSlide6

Conrad in CongoNovember

1899 Conrad

applied

to

the

Société

Anonyme

Belge

pour le

Commerce

du

Haut

Congo

1890

Expedition

in Congo

recorded

in the

Congo

Diary

Conrad

was

to

replace

a

certain

Freiesleven

(Marlow’s

Fresleven

)

From

Boma, on the

mouth

of

the Congo,

he

travelled

to

Matadi

(

Outer

Station),

then

he

trekked

overland

to

Kinshasa (

Central

Station) and

sailed

up the Congo on the

Roi

des

Belges

as

far

as

the Stanley

Falls

(

Inner

Station)Slide7

Heart of Darkness

Physical

journey

in

which

Marlow

seeks

Kurtz

in the jungle

a

journey

within

, a spiritual

journey

into

darkness

in

search

of

self-knowledge

an

inquiry

into

the

hidden

depths

of

man’s

psychology

a

quest

an

inquiry

into

the

moral

values

of

white

civilization

an

anthropological

and

Darwinian

investigation

of

man’s primitive

roots

a

mythical

initiation

trial Slide8

Colonialism - Imperialism

Chinua

Achebe

“An

Image

of

Africa:

Racism

in

Heart

of

Darkness

”, 1975:

“Joseph Conrad

was

a

thoroughgoing

racist

… The

real

question

is

the

dehumanization

of

Africa … the

very

humanity

of

black

people

is

called

into

question

”

Cedric

Watts

“ ‘A

Bloody

Racist

:

About

Achebe

’s

View

of

Conrad”, 1983:

“

it

is

precisely

against

this

dehumanization

that

the tale

amply

protests

…

of

all

the people

described

by

far the

happiest

,

healthiest

,

most

vital

are the

group

of

black

paddling

their

canoe

through

the surf …

Furthermore

against

this

stance

of

natural

vitality

we

can

measure

the state

of

the ‘

hollow

men

’, the

European

pilgrims

”Slide9

Fates: Cloto Lachesis Athropos

Multiplicity

of

literary

and

historical

associations

pervade the scene

Dante,

Divina Commedia

 «Ma perché lei che dì e notte fila,non gli

avea

tratta ancora la conocchia, che

Cloto

impone a ciascuno e

compila…

» 

Purgatorio

, Canto XXI,

vv

. 25.27

 Virgilio,

Eneide, “

sic

volvere

Parcas

”, Libro I, v. 22

The

symbolic

connotations

take

us

far

beyond

our

primary

sense

of

the

fateful

,

uncanny

atmosphere

of

the sceneSlide10

Fates Unconcern

is

what

the

fates

have

in common

with

the

two

other

main

historical

parallels

evoked

in the

passage

: the

French

tricoteuses

callously

knitting

at the

guillotine

, and the Roman

crowds

to

whom

the

gladiators

address

their

scornful

farewell

in Marlow’s

rather

pretentious

interjection

: “Ave,

old

knitter

of

black

wool

,

Morituri te

salutant

” Slide11

FatesThin

knitter

:

does

not

speak

to

Marlow,

does

not

see

him

,

movements

unrelated

to

other

human

beings

. The

knitter

’s

appearance

increases

this

sense

of

the

nonhuman

.

She

is

a

dehumanised

death

in life and a

prefiguring

symbol

of

what

the trading company

does

to

its

creatures

Older

knitter

:

visual

image

of

physical

and spiritual

deformity