Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness
- Free
1899
Joseph Conrad left Poland at sixteen to enlist as a sailor in order to see the world. This is evident in his writings as many of his stories have to do with sailing. He did not become fluent in English until his mid twenties and his writing style has a foreign sensibility. He was able to incorporate a tragic feelings into his English prose that had not been seen before. He is now widely considered one of the best English language writers.
Heart of Darkness is number 67 in the Modern Library’s 100 Best Novels. It is a novella originally published in three parts in Blackwood’s Magazine.
Marlow is the main character sent by the company to restore the company’s name by bringing back Kurtz. Marlow narrates most of the story. Kurtz has been down river in Africa trading for Ivory and he is giving the company a bad name. Marlow is appointed boat captain and goes down river to see what is happening. Conrad uses symbolism in the book to show man’s descent into savagery. As Marlow goes farther down river and time passes and gets darker he is getting closer to madness, closer to Kurtz.
The language in this book can be difficult at times. It has been called dense. But the language is not the only difficulty with this book. The themes and approach to imperialism have been points of discussion among literary scholars. Conrad at times is critical of imperialism.
“The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.”
Yet, the book has been criticized for being a justification of imperialism. Chinua Achebe has written brilliant criticism of Heart of Darkness and even advocates that people not read this book. His novel Things Fall Apart is writing back to Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Conrad’s critique of imperialism has been challenged because the book can be seen as a justification for imperialism because it is can be read more as a warning. Conrad never gives voice to the africans in the book. He is warning against the shaming of europeans tactics and
“They were dying slowly--it was very clear. They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now,--nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom.”
While he seems to be sympathetic to their plight, he still only writes about the european’s plight. Conrad was writing in a very different time when just writing about imperialisms imperfection was a form of criticism. Conrad wrote a terrific novel that was years ahead of its time. It is considered to be a precursor to modern literature. Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart can be read as authors in conversation. They are often studied together in Modern Literature courses.
Francis Ford Coppola made a great movie adaptation of Heart of Darkness in 1979 called Apocalypse Now. It places the story in Vietnam and has Kurtz as a rogue Army Colonel.
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Chinua Achebe
Things Fall Apart
- $9.99
1958
I am always peddling books to people, much like this blog. I was at my nieces birthday party this past weekend and some friends I don't see too often were there. Like always my topics for discussion consisted of great books to read. I have become the go to guy whenever someone is looking for something good to read. I think I also am a great conversationalist because I have been enlightened by so many authors. Like most people, my friend is very busy and does not have as much time as he would like to to read books. He was asking me for the very best books to read and I recommended a few. He asked me what my favorite books are and so on. The one that peaked everyones interest from my description about the topic alone was Things Fall Apart. I do not give plot outlines when describing books, mainly because that is not my main interest in reading. I like ideas and characters and what they can teach me.
When describing Things Fall Apart I said it was an anti imperialist novel.
Anti imperialism n. - a term that may be applied to a movement opposed to any form of colonialism or imperialism.
What I mean is that it is written from the perspective of the colonized. Chinua Achebe is a nigerian author and an amazing writer. He is writing from a very different perspective of the colonization of Africa. He is directly writing back to Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, which is also a wonderful book but not as easy to read. Achebe gives voice to all the Africans in Heart of Darkness that are described but never speak.
Chinua Achebe writes about the consequences of european colonization in Africa.
"The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart."
Achebe does not pull any punches when criticizing the tactics used to devastate the African culture. The novel can be applied to all regions of the world that western civilization came to “discover,” never mind the fact that people were already living in complex societies. Achebe makes this novel universal by including quotes such as:
"We have heard stories about white men who made the powerful guns and the strong drinks and took slaves away across the seas, but no one thought the stories were true."
The novel was first published in 1958 and Achebe is writing about an earlier time, when Africa was being divided into sections belonging to different European countries. What surprised me about the date of first publication is how current the novel feels. Achebe has a great command of the English language and the novel has a timeless feel. It could have been written this century, the last one of the one before. Things Fall Apart was the first african novel to get worldwide attention and acclaim. It is included in the World Library’s 100 Best Books of All Time.
Things Fall Apart has become a staple of literature courses around the world. It is also studied in conjunction with Heart of Darkness, which is a great way to study the novels. This is how I first read this novel in my twentieth century british literature class.
While researching the novel I found out that this is the first in his “African Trilogy,” which also includes No Longer at Ease (1960), and Arrow of God (1964). I sent over samples of the books to my Kindle for later reading. Send a sample of this book to your Kindle and start your virtual “to read” book shelf.
I hope my friends are reading this book and I really hope the readers of this blog read it. It is one of the best books ever written and you don’t have to take my word for it. You know people like a recommendation when they google the name of the book on their phones to save it for later.
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Mark Twain
Autobiography of Mark Twain
- $9.79
2010
Mark Twain had a knack for delivering the unexpected. He made a name for himself as a journalist while not writing the stories he set out to. He would procrastinate until the last minute then turn in something different to his editor. This was a nightmare to his editor but exactly what the people wanted. He was a very popular writer in his time because even though he was a humorist he never attacked people in a negative way.
Twain knew what he was writing in his autobiography and asked that it not be printed until 100 years after his death. He did not want to diminish his popular persona. He said he wouldn't care what people thought about him 100 years. He also thought that if he wasn't being discussed 100 years later this would be a way of making himself relevant. No one could of guessed that he would still be as widely read 100 years after his death as he was when he was a very popular living writer.
Mark Twain was always tactful. He could make someone feel important even when insulting them.
"This book is not a revenge-record. When I build a fire under a person in it, I do not do it merely because of the enjoyment I get out of seeing him fry, but because he is worth the trouble. It is then a compliment, a distinction; let him give thanks and keep quiet. I do not fry the small, the commonplace, the unworthy."
The autobiography is compiled of things he wrote that he did not want published as well as writings specifically written to be included here.
"It is a system which is a complete and purposed jumble — a course which begins nowhere, follows no specific route, and can never reach an end while I am alive, for the reason that if I should talk to the stenographer two hours a day for a hundred years, I should still never be able to set down a tenth part of the things which have interested me in my lifetime."
He wanted the autobiography published 100 years after his death but his estate published it several times before. Twain published a few chapters that he thought acceptable before he died.
Chapters from My Autobiography
- Free
Here is a previous version of the autobiography. This is not the new edited version but is very close and much cheaper.
Autobiography of Mark Twain
- $2.99
This is the second piece in the Mark Twain series. Knowing the background of a writer will help in understanding some of the points and in getting a better understanding. By reading the Henderson Biography on Twain and the Autobiography, you will be ready to dive into the Mark Twain library.
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Archibald Henderson
Mark Twain
Biography- Free
1911
I have been reading this really great biography on Mark Twain by Archibald Henderson. The biography was published a year after Twain’s death in 1910. Henderson personally knew Twain and wrote the biography from his experiences and from the interviews of people who knew Twain at important points in his life.
Henderson was a great admirer of Mark Twain, or Samuel Langhorne Clemens as he was born. He appreciated his humor and recounts many stories about Twain that relate to his writings. He recounts childhood stories from Twain’s life and ties them to Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.
“The cave, so graphically described in Tom Sawyer, was one of Sam’s favourite haunts; and his first sweetheart was Laura Hawkins, the Becky Thatcher of Tom’s admiration.”
Henderson also explains why Samuel Clemens chose the pen name Mark Twain. Twain was a river boat pilot for two and a half years. You have to mark “twain” regularly to find out the depth of the water so that the boat does not run aground. He chose Mark Twain because it was shorter than Samuel Clemens and because it meant nothing to 99% of Americans at the time. He was reporting for newspapers and didn't want to affect what people read by writing under a name that they knew already. In his last years, Twain commented that he liked that he added meaning to the name Mark Twain and that people all over the world now knew the name.
There are many great stories about Twain in the biography and the main reason for the book seems to be to argue that Mark Twain is not just a popular author but that his works are works of literature. Henderson compared Twain to Tolstoy and says that the main difference between the two is that Twain used humor to reach more people with his writings. Twain was considered a humorist but should be considered an important writer as well. Twain remains popular today, over 100 years after his death and is read and studied from elementary school through universities. Henderson was one of the first people to write about how important Twain was to literature and history seems to agree with him.
When studying literature it is always helpful to get a background on the author of the work. Knowing where and how the author is approaching writing helps to understand the themes presented in the work. For example, knowing that Twain was a humorist who makes light or pokes fun at serious issues will help to understand his use of the “N” word in Huckleberry Finn. He does not use the word because he was a racist, he puts the word in the mouth of a child and shows the disconnect between the word and meaning to a child. Huck Finn was using the word because society used the word but he was coming from a place of love for the run away slave. Society, at the time, was using the word as a racist label and Twain was being satirical in using it. Maybe, if people knew more about Twain’s intention, Huckleberry Finn will stop being banned in schools for the flagrant use of the “N” word.
Henderson argues that Twain is not just a great American writer but one of the most important writers in the world. Twain has certainly lived up to the hype. Mark Twain is one of my favorite authors and I know that I cannot praise him as much as I should. As Twain said himself,
“he feels embarrassed accepting compliments because the complimenter never says enough!”
This is a great biography for those that have not yet read the works of Mark Twain and also for those that have read a lot. This is the first in a series on Mark Twain posts. Stay tuned for the next one!
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- $5.59
- Free This is one of the versions I read. Compares the different versions of the tablets and has a lot of analysis as well as a history of the tablets.
- $0.99 This versions compiles the tablets to produce a more complete text of the story. This is an almost direct translation with some annotations.