The second book I read this month was Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. I was inclined to read it because I discovered that Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now was based loosely on Conrad's dark tale.
The narrative style of Heart of Darkness is very engaging. But I honestly had a hard time blocking out the harrowing images of Apocalypse Now as I read this. I'm not sure if the imagery from the movie helped or hurt my reading of the book. I'm sure the book was considered quite dark and disturbing when it was released but it really seemed mild compared to the movie. And not that I was eagerly anticipating darkness and gore, but it is hard to enter into a book with that preconception there. This is why I really try to avoid watching the movie version of any book. Although, again, Apocalypse Now was quite loosely based upon Heart of Darkness.
Overall, a good read, particularly for the narrative style and the vivid descriptions.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
February: Heart of Darkness
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5 comments:
I still have his "Secret Agent" to read. Maybe this month.
Richard...I think I've heard of this other work of his. I would certainly be interested in reading another of his works. Did you read "Heart of Darkness," and if so, what did you think?
I did not read "Heart of Darkness".
I only picked up "The Secret Agent" because one of my favourite TV series is Secret Agent Man - which, in my opinion, is superior to the Danger Man series which preceded it (although an old friend of mine disagrees and asserts it is the other way round).
I loved nearly every bit of this work even before finishing it late last year. A startling masterpiece.
Tumuli....very well said. Startling, indeed!
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