Heart Darkness

The Postcolonial Landscape in Heart of Darkness

Published in 1899, the novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is to this date described as an absolutely critical text in expanding the scholarly discourse on colonialism and its inherently related forces of racism, exploitation and ethnocentrism. By its intent, one finds a text that delivers an unflinching portrayal of the clearly abusive, unethical and racially-justified atrocities fueled by both the greed of imperialism and the sense of ethnic superiority shared by European opportunities in the postcolonial landscape of the African continent. The discussion hereafter will deal with these themes as they permeate the text by Joseph Conrad. But the discussion must also consider the reality that the text by Conrad is itself produced by a European writing just as the era of colonial expansion was drawing to a close. Though the author would write the text based on his...
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