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Heart of Darkness (Norton Critical Editions) |  | Author: Joseph Conrad
Creator: Paul B. Armstrong
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Category: Book
Buy Used: $4.95
as of 7/31/2010 16:14 PDT details
New (38) Used (191) from $4.95
Seller: Joe G Seattle
Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 972
Media: Paperback
Edition: 4th
Pages: 544
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0393926362
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.912
EAN: 9780393926361
ASIN: 0393926362
Publication Date: December 13, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Product Description
The Fourth Edition is again based on Robert Kimbrough's meticulously re-edited text. Missing words have been restored and the entire novel has been repunctuated in accordance with Conrad's style. The result is the first published version of Heart of Darkness that allows readers to hear Marlow's voice as Conrad heard it when he wrote the story. "Backgrounds and Contexts" provides readers with a generous collection of maps and photographs that bring the Belgian Congo to life. Textual materials, topically arranged, address nineteenth-century views of imperialism and racism and include autobiographical writings by Conrad on his life in the Congo. New to the Fourth Edition is an excerpt from Adam Hochschild's recent book, King Leopold's Ghost, as well as writings on race by Hegel, Darwin, and Galton. "Criticism" includes a wealth of new materials, including nine contemporary reviews and assessments of Conrad and Heart of Darkness and twelve recent essays by Chinua Achebe, Peter Brooks, Daphne Erdinast-Vulcan, Edward Said, and Paul B. Armstrong, among others. Also new to this edition is a section of writings on the connections between Heart of Darkness and the film Apocalypse Now by Louis K. Greiff, Margot Norris, and Lynda J. Dryden. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.
About the Author
Paul B. Armstrong is Dean of the College and Professor of English at Brown University. He is the author of Play and the Politics of Reading: The Social Uses of Modernist Form, Conflicting Readings: Variety and Validity in Interpretation, The Challenge of Bewilderment: Understanding and Representation in James, Conrad, and Ford and The Phenomenology of Henry James. He is the editor of the Norton Critical Edition of E.M. Forster's Howards End.
Product Details
* Paperback: 544 pages
* Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 4th edition (December 13, 2005)
* ISBN-10: 0393926362
* Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.1 x 1.1 inches
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 24
 A surreal narrative on the savagery of imperialism June 24, 2010
Matt Finizio (NJ, USA)
The narrative of the trip down the Congo River by Charles Marlowe is filled with mystery, suspense, and subtlety. It is the late 1800s, and the narrator--Mr. Marlowe--is commissioned to sail deep down into Africa on a steamship to retrieve a Mr. Kurtz. Kurtz is spoken of as almost a demigod who forages for ivory amongst the tribes deep in the jungle.
Mechanical failures and brutal native ambushes help to set the scene for the final horrible port of the ship--Kurtz's outpost. Kurtz has been living amongst the natives, using them for his savage exploits. The narrator himself is both appalled and softened by seeing this shell of a supposedly great man now turned into a monster.
Conrad's message with this novella is a strong anti-colonial one. Most pieces of literature of the preceding couple centuries portrayed imperialism as a extended form of patriotism and manifest destiny for European states; it was a way of further expanding the supposed-greatness that already existed. Conrad turns that on its head by showing how well educated, civilized men full of deep-seeded moral rigor can quickly turn into abject monsters, as even the narrator is at times swayed with empathy for Kurtz.
Matt Finizio
[...]
Box off. Life on.
 Heart of Truthfulness June 14, 2010
David Marshall (Seattle area)
This is one of those books that I've heard about all my life, but never got around to reading. This is not because I don't like to read, but because I read too much -- for research and pleasure -- and don't have time or strength of eye to read what I WANT to read, just because I want to. So I listened to the book-on-CD version of Conrad's classic, and was glad I did.
One thing about the book is, skip all the commentary and just read or listen to the book. If you have extra time, go back and read it again. (I'll want to mark key passages eventually on a paper version.) Conrad is a great writer; his writings do not need to be "explained."
It's not only a good story -- and it is that -- Heart of Darkness is also (transparently, who needs commentary?) a critique both of colonialism and of human nature in general. The narrator's preference for the raw barbarity of his anti-hero over the veneer of civility in the Beligian company for which he works, is telling.
It is also, perhaps, significant that the scene of this descent into moral madness is Belgian Congo. Go back to day, and how much has changed? It's still one of the nastiest places on earth.
As a former missionary, I do happen to think there are better models of cultural transmission than either of the alternatives Conrad describes. I believe redemption is possible, not only in theory, but in historical fact. But I appreciate his description of the journey upriver -- which in many ways is a journey into the raw human heart. He reminds me of Orwell, another atheist who faced the cruelty of human nature with great honesty. Redemption doesn't need to end with the Heart of Darkness, but it does begin by honestly facing these truths.
 The notes in this edition are not as thorough as other norton editions May 3, 2010
M Boyd
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This review is specifically about this Norton Edition. Normally I love Norton editions because the footnotes provide so much information and create the context for the story. The Norton edition of Wide Sargasso Sea is a great example; all types of historical footnotes about Jamaica and the situation in the Caribbean at that time fill the text. This edition, while it has articles that prove to be useful, is severely lacking in notation for the text itself. Heart of Darkness is a notoriously difficult novel to read and the notes provide little information. For instance, on p. 9 the narrator mentions arriving in a city that makes him think of a "white sepulchre." This city is Brussels, but there is no footnote saying so. The next page the narrator meets "The great man himself" which I'm guessing is Leopold, but again, no footnote. There are tons of similar examples. You have to be very familiar with the history of the Belgium Congo to understand the book, and Norton Editions are usually great for readers who aren't as familiar with the context of the work but this one is an exception to that case. I still give this edition three stars because as I said before the subsequent articles are very helpful.
excellent condition April 14, 2010
bookwinter (California, USA)
this was my first purchase from amazon and I am very pleased. It arrived earlier than planned ( a bonus) and was a clean, new copy.
Engaging and Timely April 10, 2010
Kevin L. Nenstiel (Kearney, Nebraska)
The fourth Norton Critical Edition of Heart of Darkness brings the controversies up to date with the new millennium. By shifting the weight off the dated and unpopular textual criticism which once dominated Norton Critical Editions (now in an unobtrusive appendix), this version makes the book relevant to the current critical environment. This version emphasizes the historicity and sociopolitical implications that students and general readers often prefer.
Besides critical stalwarts like Chinua Achebe and Patrick Brantlinger, editor Paul B. Armstrong, succeeding Robert Kimbrough, brings in timely voices like Adam Hochschild and Edward Said. He also makes this edition intertextual by weaving in criticism on the book's relationship to Coppola's "Apocalypse Now." Since young audiences may know that movie better than this book, that makes for an interesting and germane supplement to this edition.
Not only does Armstrong guide us through the concerns of the late 19th century, when this book was written, but he also demonstrates how this book remains vital to our lives today. The racial, economic, and national concerns which were Conrad's bread and butter still take place today. And we read this book, Armstrong shows us, not because it's old and well-written, but because it speaks directly to the world of the early 21st century.
Heart of Darkness has so much going on, but is often sold to be read like a paperback novel. Too many people think it's a dull academic exercise written to torment students. Thus I recommend this edition. Not only do you get an action-packed and dreamlike story, you also get a guide to lead you through the many implications of the novel. This compact, affordable edition makes this novel as timely as journalism written today, and far more exciting.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 24
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