Much of the more recent criticism of Conrad connects Heart of Darkness with colonialism. Vince Passaro addresses this in his review of an unrelated book in Harpers Magazine. (See below.) Passaro also discusses Edward Said and Chinua Achebe and their reactions to Heart of Darkness.

More to come . . .

Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox Ford: The Collaborative Texts

Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad. Whole text available online at The Literature Network Site.

Literature Classics " I cannot stop believing that there still lingers a willingness, even a proud willingness, among members of the higher realms of American literary culture to extend to serious art the privilege of causing pain, of exorcizing demons, of flirting with annihilation, of attempting to say the unsayable or give voice to what for prudence's and politeness's sake should be left unspoken."Encyclopedia referenced article . . .

"Despite those in the culture wars on the right of the political spectrum who have complained that the left is responsible for this neutered state among critics and academics, the new prudery actually reflects a reactionary, nineteenth-century impulse, a deeply conservative desire to bring all cultural expression into harmony with the moral conventions of our day. . . . The new moralism is not, as many would have it, merely a matter of political correctness versus traditional canons; it is a projection of a long-standing and deeply middle-class fear and resentment of art, one that has frequently dominated the American scene and that can be found in equal measure among leftist cultural critics and conservative opponents of whatever is politically or sexually offensive. . . . . Edward Said's work--in Orientalism, Culture and Imperialism, and elsewhere--demonstrates how the canonical art of the West in modern times has been both an expression of and an appeal to the language, assumptions, and favored mythologies of the high merchant classes. . . . until twenty years ago the issue of colonialism was a relatively minor aspect in serious criticism of Conrad and Heart of Darkness."

A flapping of scolds. 01/01/97. By Passaro, Vince.Harper's Magazine. Magazine: HARPER'S MAGAZINE, JANUARY 1997 Section: REVIEW A FLAPPING OF SCOLDS