《黑暗之心》被誉为20世纪最具影响力的中篇小说,其奠定了作家约瑟夫.康拉德(1857–1924, Joseph Conrad)在文坛上的地位,知名的文学理论家爱德华.萨伊德(Edward W. Said, 1935–2003)给予这部小说极高的评价。这本小说问世之后,成为文学批判的宠儿,其所触及的讨论包括殖民主义、后殖民主义、种族歧视、现代主义、精神分析、女性主义等等。美国大导演柯波拉(Francis F. Coppola)的知名电影《现代启示录》(Apocalypse, 1979),便是以这本小说为雏型。
《黑暗之心》是根据康拉德的行船经验所写成的,故事和他在刚果河担任汽船上船长的一段经历有关,当时他对当地的殖民主义态度感到极度失望。故事中,一位名为马洛的船员,他的任务是把公司最出色的象牙代理商库尔兹先生带回来。当他们找到库尔兹时,库尔兹俨然已经成了当地人的首领;最后,马洛将他带上船,但他却在河中回航时,病逝于船上。
书名中的「黑暗」,在故事中象征了多种不同的意思,包括丛林、邪恶、贪腐、剥削;而到了最后,库尔兹似乎是选择了「黑暗」,而非将「光明」带给人们。
Heart of Darkness, like many of Joseph Conrad’s novels, is based on his own experience as a sailor. This story is closely connected to the period that he spent working for a Belgian trading company on a river steamer on the Congo River, which he captained for a short time. He returned sick, and disillusioned with the Belgians’ imperialistic attitude to the local people.
There are two narrators in Heart of Darkness: an anonymous narrator on board the Nellie and Marlow. The first narrator starts the novel and then introduces Marlow, who then in turn tells his story. At the end of Marlow’s story, the anonymous narrator then finishes the novel in his own words. This technique is called a frame narrative.
The main story in Heart of Darkness is the part narrated by the sailor Marlow. He tells some other sailors of his experience as the captain of a steamboat on a large river in Africa. Marlow’s job is to transport ivory, and then to go and bring back the company’s best ivory agent—Mr Kurtz—who is believed to be sick.
After a long delay because the boat has to be repaired, they sail up the river. They find Kurtz, who seems to have become a leader for the local people. Eventually, Marlow gets him onto the boat, but Kurtz dies on the way back down the river.
The word “darkness” from the title has different symbolic meanings in the text: the jungle, evil, corruption and exploitation. And it seems that, in the end, Mr Kurtz has picked up the “darkness“ rather than taking the “light“ to the people.
The novel is an attack on colonialism and imperialism, although it has been argued that Conrad dehumanizes the Africans, making them no more than a part of the dark and dangerous jungle.
Heart of Darkness has been translated into many languages and adapted for radio and television. The most famous adaptation is Francis Ford Coppola’s film Apocalypse Now (1979).
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