Heart of Darkness and the Secret Sharer

In this pair of literary voyages into the inner self Joseph Conrad has written two of the most chilling disturbing and noteworthy pieces of fiction of the twentieth century. Heart of Darkness is a devastating commentary on the corruptibility of humanity. Based on Conrads own 1890 trip up the Congo River the story is told by Marlow the novelists alter ego. It is a journey into darkness and horrorboth literally as the narrator descends into a sinister jungle landscape and metaphorically as he encounters the morally depraved Mr. Kurtz. The Secret Sharer is the tale of a young sea captains first command as he sails into the Gulf of Siamand into an encounter with his mysterious double the shadow self of the unconscious mind. Joseph Conrad boldly experimented with the novella and novel forms filled his writing with the exotic places he himself had traveled and concerned himself with honor guilt moral alienation and sin. Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer encapsulate his literary achievementsand his haunting portrayal of the dark side of man. With an Introduction by Joyce Carol Oates and an Afterword by Vince Passaro