2. “Heart of Darkness is experience ...
pushed a little (and only very little)
beyond the actual facts of the
case.”
- Joseph Conrad

3. Inspiration
A Novella written in England between 1898 to
1899, Heart of Darkness was inspired by Joseph
Conrad’s own personal journey into the Congo in
1890. It had been Conrad's boyhood dream to
discover the heart of Africa—now that he had
arrived he described what he found as "the vilest
scramble for loot that ever disfigured the history
of human conscience." Conrad later added, "All
Europe contributed to the making of Kurtz.“The
story is central to Conrad's work and vision, and it
is difficult not to think of his Congo experiences
as traumatic.

4. Publication
Heart of Darkness
was originally serialized
in Blackwood’s
magazine in 1899, and
later published by J.M.
Dent & Sons in 1902 in
the volume Youth: A
Narrative.

5. Related
Historical
Events

6. • The “Scramble for Africa” – battle between
European nations for wealth and power in
which countries competed in colonizing Africa

7. • Only interested in gaining wealth, European
Nations didn’t care how it was gained nor who
was killed for it.
• As many as six million Africans died during the
brutal rubber trade, overseen by the Belgians.

8. • Many Africans were forced to be "carriers," for
people on jungle expeditions that need to move
cargo or smuggle ivory from one place to another.

9. Major
Issues
Dealt
With

10. • The issue of class
– According to Jared Campbell, a historian who has
written extensively on the British class system, the
origin of the class system is land.

11. • Racism
– Readers are often dismayed by racist language
found in the novella.
– You have to remember that in 1890, when Conrad
did his trip up the Congo River, things were
different.
– The word "nigger," like Negro, Niger, and the
archaic slang word "neger," come from the Latin
root for black.

12. Documentation
• http://www.wmich.edu/dialogues/texts/heartofd
arkness.html
• http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/sep1999/kin
g-s06.shtml
• http://www.litcharts.com/lit/heartofdarkness/ba
ckgroundinfo
• http://www.utm.edu/staff/lalexand/brnovel/hear
t.htm
• http://wfps.k12.mt.us/teachers/carmichaelg/new
_page_34.htm