Heart of Darkness

By: Joseph Conrad

Narrated by: David Threlfall

Penguin Classics presents Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, adapted for audio and available as a digital download as part of the Penguin English Library series. Read by David Threlfall, the star of the hit Channel 4 series, Shameless.

'The mind of man is capable of anything - because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future. What was there after all? Joy, fear, sorrow, devotion, rage - who can tell? - but truth - truth stripped of its cloak of time. Let the fool gape and shudder - the man knows, and can look on without a wink'

Marlow, a seaman, tells of a journey up the Congo. His goal is the troubled European and ivory trader Kurtz. Worshipped and feared by invaders as well as natives, Kurtz has become a godlike figure, his presence pervading the jungle like a thick, obscuring mist. As his boat labours further upstream, closer and closer to Kurtz's extraordinary and terrible domain, so Marlow finds his faith in himself and civilization crumbling. Conrad's Heart of Darkness has been considered the most important indictment of the evils of imperialism written to date.

Part of a series of vintage recordings taken from the Penguin Archives. Affordable, collectable, quality productions - perfect for on-the-go listening.

Excellent voice acting but book is abridged version

I didn’t realize I was purchasing the abridged version and that is frustrating. Whole passages are left out and the book skips around chapters

Chapter Order is incorrect

The chapters skip around which makes following along difficult. This is compounded by the selections skipped.

I had to read this for class and I use audio books because of dyslexia. So when a text isn’t faithfully followed and worse yet the order is jumbled it makes my reading task difficult.

This story needs to be not held in esteem, if you’re going to analyze it, do so with post-colonial lens. I don’t know why Conrad’s works are held so high.