Joseph Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'

Have you ever felt compelled (or simply been given no other choice, by virtue of school assignment, or the like) to dive headlong into a classic novel that everyone says is such a must read, and then found yourself wondering what all the fuss is about? If so, then you definitely know the feeling I had while reading Joseph Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness.'

Mind you, I love classic literature as much as the next guy, but for me, much of this particular narrative seemed to simply plod on and on (and on) with seemingly aimless abandon.

And given that the story is told in the first person, by Marlow, a ship's captain, who is constantly oozing all sorts of extraneous details (that may leave one mystified as to how they may or may not amount to much in the final analysis), I was also frequently left wondering why one of the crew mates who are supposedly listening to the story didn't just politely (or otherwise not so civilly) ask, urge, or simply beg the rambling fool to cut to the damn chase already!

But don't get me wrong. In truth, many of Conrad's sentences, nay, even full paragraphs, are worded so eloquently, and with what seems to be such casual ease, as to be simply astounding in their descriptive nature; so it's not as if the book doesn't have its definite strong points. To be sure, there are some truly captivating morsels to be had here, so I suppose I really can see why the novella has reached such legendary status over the years.

My problem was not that I thought that the author was not good at dressing a scene and building anticipation for the inevitable outcome of the story, but rather that many of the peripheral characters described just seem to bleed off the page into a blurry mass of such vagueness that it's truly difficult at times to tell some of them apart. Even more pressing, what is the point in mentioning some of them at all?

But it's still a truly thought provoking classic, Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness.' Perhaps even rightfully so. It's a bit puzzling however, that a document that so oft utilizes the much feared and disapproved of "N word" should still be held in such high esteem by so many modern readers to this very day.

Yet perhaps the contrasting portrayals throughout the story of characters who seem to be either eerily and even ominously "dark" or "light" (regardless of the actual color of their skin) is surely one of the most redeeming and ever transfixing aspects of the book.

One way or another, whether at first fully internalized or not, after reading 'Heart of Darkness,' one may invariably be left with the feeling that something profound, primeval, or even otherworldly has been experienced, if not, at the very least, imbibed.

Thus, it must be the author's remarkably descriptive sensibilities that make this book so astoundingly timeless to begin with. Because let's be perfectly honest, apart from Conrad's vivid characterizations and his omnipresent juxtapositional expounding on the overarching theme of good versus evil, there really isn't much in the way of an actual story here, much less a viable plot.

Yet still, as so cleverly embodied by the larger than life, epic personage of the enigmatic Kurtz himself, this classic book really does seem to be all about the magic and the endlessly powerful symbolism of myth. So perhaps what it really all boils down to is what Joseph Campbell so aptly termed, "The Hero's Journey." For it is surely nothing more than the abidingly instinctual, primeval human fear of the unknown that is actually at work deep within Conrad's enigmatic Heart of Darkness.

So perhaps it can all be summed up as little more than our unquenchable fascination (and our never-ending quest to identify) with, the shadowy monsters that forever lurk way, way deep down within the hearts of all men.

Thus, a humble, otherwise obscure and easily forgotten Polish-British author ultimately seems to forever implore his readers, for all ages to come; where, and to what degree, might the ever-deceptive demons of Darkness, as well as the equally mysterious and all powerful forces of Light, where within us all might they truly dwell?