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…:)