El blog de EB 4: HEART OF DARKNESS

"EL CORAZÓN DE LAS TINIEBLAS." Heart of darkness is the tittle of a novel or short extensive tale of Joseph Conrad published in 1899 and in 1902 as a book.

The novel is inspired on the 6 months that Joseph Conrad was in Congo when it was colonized and devasted by the king, Leopoldo II of Belgium. Now a day this is possibly the most famous novel of Joseph Conrad. This book was included in the serie of "Great books of the 20th century, publised by Penguin Books.

In the beginning of the book, Joseph included a very beautiful poem:

We are the hollow men

We are the stuffed men

Leaning together

Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!

Our dried voices, when

We whisper together

Are quiet and meaningless

As wind in dry grass

Or rats' feet over broken glass

In our dry cellar

Shape without form, shade without colour,

Paralysed force, gesture without motion

Those who have crossed

With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom

Remember us—if at all—not as lost

Violent souls, but only

As the hollow men

The stuffed men.

This book was inspired because nine years before, in 1890, Joseph Conrad was contracted by the belgium company "SGB" to exercice as captain of the vapor ship to sail the Congo Nile.
Their stay lasted six moths, enought for Joseph because he was horrorized about the performances of the europeans in Africa.

The novel focuses in a sailor called Charlie Marlow which tells the crossing in a tropical river quite a few years ago in search of Kurts, the leader of a search for the ivory in the area.
During the trip Charlie realizes about the extreme situation in which European settlers live, his brutality towards the African natives and their power to overcome a lot of obstacles.

I didn't read this book so I can´t explain my opinion, but I think that this book it is perfect for anyone that likes real adventures.

Heart of Darkness, the novel of Joseph Conrad