Heart of Darkness (AmazonClassics Edition)

By: Joseph Conrad

Narrated by: Chris MacDonnell

Featured title on PBS's The Great American Read in 2018

River steamboat captain Charles Marlow has set forth on the Congo in Africa to find the enigmatic European trader Mr. Kurtz. Preceded by his reputation as a brilliant emissary of progress, Kurtz has now established himself as a god among the natives in "one of the darkest places on earth." Marlow suspects something else of Kurtz: he has gone mad.

A reflection on corruptive European colonialism and a journey into the nightmare psyche of one of the corrupted, Heart of Darkness is considered one of the most influential works ever written.

Revised edition: Previously published as Heart of Darkness, this edition of Heart of Darkness (AmazonClassics Edition) includes editorial revisions.

Public Domain (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved

Great Book, Great Narration.

This is the most popular of Conrad's works and for good reason. The narrating character, Charles Marlow, becomes captain of a river steamboat for a Belgian ivory trade company in Africa and witnesses the brutal reality of European colonialism. It has themes of imperialism, power and morality seen through Marlow's eyes. Brutal and shocking in many instances. The antagonist and mad genius, Kurtz is the central character of these themes and it is his his power, charismatic personality and morality which is central to the novella. The writing is intimate (almost conversational) and straightforward. Chris MacDonnell gives an excellent rendering of this work. So I wonder what it is that gives another reviewer the headache he complains of?

Have me a headache

This is one of my favorite books, but this Audible version is awful. Every Audible book I have attempted to listen to gives me a horrible headache. This is the last one I'm going to try.