Redeeming the Colonial Idea: Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

Abstract

Heart of Darkness is a dense, multi-layered narrative characterised by structural complexity, ontological depth, and symbolic denseness. Conrad’s combination of elusive imagery with ideological irresolution turns this novella into a grey zone of signification. Antagonistic discourses about race, culture and imperialism confront each other, but neither is given primacy. Such narrative indeterminacy blurs Conrad’s vision of imperialism, as much as it enables the narrative to release its signifying potential. Readers are consequently urged to derive meaning horizontally, by relying on the linear powers of language, and vertically by delving into the multiple layers of knowledge and discourse mobilised in this narrative (Acheraïou 2005).