Heart of Darkness and Selected Short Fiction (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) by Joseph Conrad

Heart of Darkness and Selected Short Fiction (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) by Joseph Conrad

From nothing else that I have ever read have I gotten what every book of Conrad has given me. -Ernest Hemingway, Transatlantic Review, 1924

What does it mean to give oneself to a tempting darkness? To a tempting character? What happens when that power that once tempted the mind and then was received by the mind, finally betrays that mind? Dark thoughts indeed. -From Schwager's Introduction

The steaming jungles of Africa contain enough bloody ivory to bankroll an empire, but it takes a strong Company agent to manage the climate and the unhappy native laborers, many of whom are still cannibals. The most successful agent of them all is the disconcerting man known as Kurtz. But Kurtz has been sick, and his efficient (or brutal, depending on who is asked) methods can't be ignored any longer. So Charles Marlow leaves the tidy offices of London with a new steamboat command, and sets out to find this Mr. Kurtz and bring him back to civilization-out of the disease, neglect, and enveloping presence of an immense heart of darkness.

This disruptive Canon Classic is a veiled look at imperialistic atrocities and the dark desires at the heart of every human venture. The Canon Classics series presents the most definitive works of Western literature in a colorful, well-crafted, and affordable way. Unlike many other thrift editions, our classics are printed on thicker text stock and feature individualized designs that prioritize readability by means of proper margins, leading, characters per line, font, trim size, etc. Each book's materials and layout combine to make the classics a simple and striking addition to classrooms and homes, ideal for introducing the best of literary culture and human experience to the next generation.

This Worldview Edition features an introduction divided into sections on The World Around, About the Author, What Other Notables Said, Setting, Characters, & Plot Summary, Worldview Analysis, and 21 Discussion Questions & Answers.

Joseph Conrad, christened Josef Teodor Konrad, Nalecz Korzeniowski, was born on December 3, 1857, in a part of Russia that had once belonged to Poland. His parents were members of the landed gentry, but as ardent Polish patriots, the suffered considerably for their political views. Orphaned at eleven, Conrad attended school for a few years in Cracow, He soon concluded, however, that there was no future for a Pole in occupied Poland, and at sixteen he left his ancestral home forever.

The sea was Conrad's love and career for the next twenty years. In the French merchant marine, he sailed to the West. Indies, smuggled guns to Spanish rebels, ran into debt, and bungled a suicide attempt Then in the British merchant navy, he rose to first mate and finally to captain, sailing to Australia and Borneo and surviving at least one shipwreck. In 1890 he contracted to become captain of a Congo River steamer, but the six months he spent in Africa led only to disillusionment and ill health; this episode would become the basis for Conrad's masterpiece, Heart of Darkness. Reluctantly leaving the merchant service, he settled in England and completed his first novel, Almayer's Folly, already begun at sea.

Hi subsequent works, many of which drew upon his sea experiences, include The Nigger of the Narcissus (1897), Lord Jim (1900), Heart of Darkness (1902), Youth (1902) Typhoon (1903), Nastromo (1904), The Secret Agent (1907), The Secret Sharer (1910), Under the Western Eyes (1911), and Chance (1913). The man who was twenty-one years old before he spoke a word of English is now regarded as one of the superb English stylists of all time. Conrad died almost literally on his desk in 1924, at the age of sixty-six.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781593081232
ISBN 10	1593081235
Title	Heart of Darkness and Selected Short Fiction (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)
Author	Joseph Conrad
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Fine Communications,US
Year published	2008-03-01
Number of pages	272
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable