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/lit/ - Literature

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6658023 No.6658023 [Reply] [Original]

What was the Horror?
Was the Heart of Darkness the African jungle or heart of the imperialists

>> No.6658033

Why didn't Marlow look into the abyss

>> No.6658052

Oppression of locals by white people.

>> No.6658273

>>6658052
Truly, there must be more to it. This is modernism after all

>> No.6658278

horror and alienation in the wake of the great war

>> No.6658305

It is

>> No.6658306

>>6658023
It was relativism, which Joseph Conrad deludedly reads as the aristocratic secret of nihilism/atheism.

>> No.6658332

I think Kurtz fails to communicate what he has experienced, and this incommunicability is exactly one of the horrors of wars and evil in general.

>> No.6658351

>>6658023
A bit of both.

>> No.6658354

Is this considered an early modernist text? It is before Pound started the movement, right? What modernist tendencies does Conrad follow?

>> No.6658362

>>6658023
The convergence of the two. The realization that the savages and the imperialists share a common humanity.

>> No.6658371

He's referencing a bible passage, the horror is his fear as he dies

>> No.6658484

>>6658371
Fear of what? Realization of his own destruction as a human being?

>> No.6659689

>>6658332

>I think Kurtz fails to communicate what he has experienced, and this incommunicability is exactly one of the horrors of wars and evil in general.

I like that, a lot.

>> No.6660319

I'm reading through it right now as preparation for an exam of mine.

I find it interesting how Conrad makes the wilderness of the Jungle seem alive. An ancient being that makes the human seem tiny

>> No.6660669

I went through that fucking jungle in a stripped out Nissan with nothing but a bag of MREs and a crappy chink knockoff Colt 1873 that I bought to look badass. I fucking get the horror.

>> No.6660680

>>6658023
the horror that everyone is fake, civilization is a lie, and that when isolated from civilization every man is a piece of shit

>> No.6660690

My prof made a point about language changing meaning and reality but I didn't get it

>> No.6661606

bump

>> No.6661782

>>6658023

The dark and hallow heart of the project of Western civilization.

>> No.6661875

>>6658306
booo

>> No.6661884

>>6658332
This is also shown through the frame narrative of the story.

You're welcome if you ever need that for a paper

>> No.6661894

>>6658023
I feel the horror can be one of the three below

>European Imperialism
>his own actions, acting as a deity to exploit the natives
>the inherent evil and cruelty in humanity

I feel the last one is encompassing of the theme of the book as a whole, and is the best. This horror however is left purposefully ambiguous, and rightfully so.

>> No.6662762
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6662762

>> No.6662791

>>6660690

Language can change to reflect reality (for instance the word 'tweet'), so it follows that language can change our perception of reality via the connotations associated with a word.

At a more fundamental level, think about the word 'love'; it refers to an intrinsic feeling. You will never personally know or feel what someone else assumes to be love. So when you have feelings of affection and trust, and you assign the word 'love' to it the very word itself brings with it baggage; romantic feelings, sexual urges, faithfulness. This effects your perception of reality - your definition of love may be entirely different to someone elses, yet your definition which is informed by the language and meaning you have commonly encountered dictates your emotional and rational responses to the ones you 'love'.

There's a quote from someone I can't remember the name of, it is essential "I wonder if so many would be in 'love' if there was no such word."

Sorry for shitty explanation