On Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"

Is Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" a masterpiece of art? Or is it, as Chinua Achebe persuasively argues, a racist and deplorable book? What are we to make of Kurtz's dying words, "The horror! The horror!"? Could we read these words as his passing judgment on his own life? Can language even convey or communicate moral truths? Or are our ethical assertions only expressions of our personal attitudes? Are Kurtz and Marlow's dubious response to him fair portraits of moral subjectivism? Is the human heart, like nature itself, ultimately inscrutable?

Chinua Achebe's essay "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness," from the Massachusetts Review 18, 1977: http://johnlknight.com/achebe/

Видео On Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" канала Paul Griffin