So, I was at Barnes and Noble the other day. My kid, just like her old man, is a reader. The big difference being that I have a library full of books – she has a “kindle”. In any event, I was browsing over by the computer books and noticed that there was one of those free standing kiosks of books – this one had a red cardboard sign that said “Classics”. I decided to check it out and noticed that most of the books were english (or American english..:)) lit deals. They had my favorite: 1984 and the book that still gives me nightmares: Bleak House.
Next I came across a book that I had half-read, half-cliff’d back at Osbourn: Heart of Darkness. (BTW, I need to get an Osbourn letter jacket at some point. I saw Tim D. in one the other day and that’s a damn good-looking jacket. If sloper’s doesn’t have ’em, I don’t know where to go tho.) I dimly remembered that Heart of Darkness was well written but not much else so I decided to pick up a copy. Hey, it was paperback and I didn’t really read it all the first time (forgive me Mrs. Shaw).
After actually reading all of Heart of Darkness, I can tell you I was right the first time: the most striking thing about the book is the english. Conrad, for someone whose mother tongue is not english, constructs some of the most amazing (outside of the Bard) language that I’ve read in quite awhile. Maybe I’m an uncivilized savage and don’t know any better but to me that’s the most compelling part of the book. I get the overall story and understand the duality of man and all that jazz but it’s all too clever by half. If you’re going to read Heart of Darkness, read it for the language: the Marlow construct is highly overrated…:)
March 5, 2010 at 10:40 pm
FYI – The Bull Run Library is having a
big used book sale this weekend –
hardbacks for a buck. One of the one’s
I discovered today was the only
Barbara Tuchman book I haven’t read
– “The March of Folly”.
In the first chapter she notes, ” A phenomenon
noticible throughout history regardless of
place or period is the pursuit by governments
of policies contrary to their own interest.
Mankind, it seems , makes a poorer performance
of government than of almost any other human
activity.”
Ouch.
March 7, 2010 at 11:29 am
My younger brother, the English Professor, loves that book “Heart of Darkness”. He has off and on through the years used it in his classes, and then relates how it was used by T.S. Eliot and others – right to that great Bogart movie “The African Queen”.
March 8, 2010 at 10:27 am
I just read Heart of Darkness on my kindle lasit month…downloaded it for free from Amazon. First time reading it, and I really enjoyed it. I wanted to read it because the script for one of my favorite movies Apocalypse Now, was adapted from this classic. Thing
March 8, 2010 at 10:27 am
I just read Heart of Darkness on my kindle lasit month…downloaded it for free from Amazon. First time reading it, and I really enjoyed it. I wanted to read it because the script for one of my favorite movies Apocalypse Now, was adapted from this classic. Thing
March 8, 2010 at 10:28 am
I just read Heart of Darkness on my kindle lasit month…downloaded it for free from Amazon. First time reading it, and I really enjoyed it. I wanted to read it because the script for one of my favorite movies Apocalypse Now, was adapted from this classic. Thing I love about the kindle is I can download lot’s of free books, mostly those in the public domain.
March 8, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Don’t get me wrong, I do like Heart of Darkness but I think that some of the interpretations are a bit much. I do admire that the book has been the basis and inspiration for many other works…
March 10, 2010 at 6:45 am
You sure it was the jacket that was so “damn good-looking “? I think it was the model that made the outfit look so good!