Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad''s fictional account of a journey up the Congo river in 1890 raises important questions about colonialism and narrative theory. This casebook contains materials relevant to a deeper understanding of the origins and reception of this controversial text including Conrad''s own story An Outpost of Progress together with a little-known memoir by one of Conrad''s oldest English friends a brief history of the Congo Free State by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and a parody of Conrad by Max Beerbohm. A wide range of theoretical approaches are also represented examining Conrad''s text in terms of cultural historical textual stylistic narratological post-colonial feminist and reader-response criticism. The volume concludes with an interview in which Conrad compares his adventures on the Congo with Mark Twain''s experiences as a Mississippi pilot.