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Heart of Darkness is a novella (published 1902) by Joseph Conrad. This highly symbolic story is actually a story within a story, or frame tale, narrated by a man named Marlow to colleagues at an evening gathering. It details an incident earlier in Marlow's life, a visit up the Congo River to investigate the work of Kurtz, a Belgian trader in ivory in the Congo Free State.

The story within a story device actually descends four levels: Conrad writes the story we read, which is the account of an unnamed narrator relating Marlow's yarn of his journey down the Congo river to meet and examine the central character Kurtz. (In Wuthering HeightsWuthering Heights is Emily Bronte's only novel. Published in 1847, it has become a classic of English literature, and has given rise to many adaptations, including several films, radio and television dramatisations, and a musical, as well as inspiring a h, Emily Bronte also removed the reader four times from Heathcliff and Catherine.)

Conrad was not himself isolated from these experiences. Eight years before he wrote the book, he was a young sea captain assigned to a Congo steamer. On a single trip up the river, he had witnessed so many atrocities that he quit on the spot.

The theme of " darknessDarkness is the absence of light. As a metaphor, it is also the lack of knowledge (ignorance). It is also associated with mystery and with unknown things. In Western tradition, darkness is also associated with evil, evil entities (such as demons or Satan)" from the title is reflected constantly within the bookA book is a collection of leaves of paper, parchment or other material, bound together along one edge within covers. A book is also a literary work or a main division of such a work. A book produced in electronic format is known as an e-book. In library a, in many different senses of the term. It is used to reflect the unknown (as AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest continent in both area and population, after Asia. 30,244,050 km2 (11,677,240 mi2) including the islands, it covers 20. 3% of the total land area on Earth, and with over 800 million human inhabitants it accounts for ar at the time was often called the "Dark Continent" by Europeans), the concept of the "darkness of barbarismBarbarian was originally a term applied to a foreigner, one not sharing a recognized culture or degree of polish with the speaker or writer employing the term. The word derives from the Greek, and expresses with mocking duplication ("bar-bar") alleged att" contrasted with the "light of civilizationFor alternative meanings see Civilization (disambiguation Teotihuacan, Mexico. Building projects of this size require the social organization found in civilizations. A civilization or civilisation has a variety of meanings related to human society. The te" (see white man's burden), and the " spiritual darkness" of several characters. This sense of darkness also lends itself to a related theme of obscurity - again, in various senses, reflecting the ambiguities in the work. Moral issues are not clear-cut; that which ought to be (in various senses) on the side of "light" is in fact mired in darkness, and so forth.

To emphasize the theme of darkness within ourselves, Marlow's narration takes place on a yacht in the Thames tidal estuary. Early in the novella, the narrator recounts how London, the here-and-now where Conrad wrote and where a large part of his audience lived, was itself in Roman times a dark part of the world much like the Congo then was. Like Marlow himself, the astute reader emerges from the tale with an expanded comprehension of the darkness within his own mind.

Conrad's experiences in the Congo and the historical background to the story, including possible models for Kurtz, are recounted in the historical work, King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild.