On a boat in the Thames estuary, Marlow tells his travelling companions of his reconnaissance expedition for a Belgian trading company to its most remote outpost in central Africa, which brought him on the trail of the elusive Kurtz, a brilliant idealist gone rogue. His account relates not only the perils he encounters on his quest, but also the deterioration of his state of mind as he is confronted with a world that is hostile and alien to him. Renowned for its stylistic boldness and dramatic descriptions, Heart of Darkness is a stark yet subtle examination of the powers of the subconscious and the workings of western imperialism. This edition includes Conrad’s Complete Congo Diary.

In this haunting tale, Marlow, a seaman and wanderer, recounts his experiences in Africa when he led an expedition into the impenetrable and mysterious core of the jungle. The darkness he encounters is both moral and physical: Mr Kurtz, the agent dealing in ivory whom he is to meet, is the embodiment of corruption, decay and exploitation. As an outsider, Marlow finds himself drawn to the charismatic Kurtz, but after witnessing the malevolence and tyranny that emanate from him, Marlow is forced to look into his own soul and reassess his values. Издание полностью на английском языке.

The silence of the jungle is broken only by the ominous sound of drumming. Life on the river is brutal and unknown threats lurk in the darkness. Marlow's mission to captain a steamer upriver into the dense interior leads him into conflict with the others who haunt the forest. But his decision to hunt down the mysterious Mr Kurtz, an ivory trader who is the subject of sinister rumours, leads him into more than just physical peril.

Follow a dark and powerful journey up the Congo River in Conrad’s sharp and incisive exploration of the damages of imperialism. Life on the river is brutal, and unknown threats lurk in the darkness; the silence of the jungle is broken only by the ominous sound of drumming. Marlow's mission to captain a steamer upriver into the dense interior leads him into conflict with the others who haunt the forest. But his decision to hunt down the mysterious Mr Kurtz, an ivory trader who is the subject of sinister rumours, leads him into more than just physical peril.

In a novella which remains highly controversial to this day, Conrad explores the relations between Africa and Europe. On the surface, this is a horrifying tale of colonial exploitation. The narrator, Marlowe journeys on business deep into the heart of Africa. But there he encounters Kurtz, an idealist apparently crazed and depraved by his power over the natives, and the meeting prompts Marlowe to reflect on the darkness at the heart of all men. This short but complex and often ambiguous story, which has been the basis of several films and plays, continues to provoke interpretation and discussion.

HarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics. ‘The reaches opened before us and closed behind, as if the forest had stepped leisurely across the water to bar the way for our return. We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness.’ When Charles Marlow agrees to captain a steamer up the Congo in search of the elusive ivory trader Mr Kurtz, it becomes a terrifying journey into both the unknown and his own subconscious. As he travels deeper and deeper into the dense jungle, he begins to sense the presence of this extraordinary and terrible man, and to question the horrifying realities of European imperialism and of human nature itself. Originally published as a three-part story in 1899, Conrad’s masterpiece has inspired many further works, including Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, and remains a thought-provoking text to this day.

Серия книг «Зарубежная классика — читай в оригинале» — это бессмертные произведения великих мастеров пера, написанные ими на их родном языке и наречии. Книги из этой серии помогут читателю углубленно изучать иностранные языки, обогатят его внутренний мир и по-новому откроют произведения известных классиков. Неадаптированное издание на английском языке.

Перед вами - знаменитая приключенческая повесть английского классика Джозефа Конрада, основанная на воспоминаниях моряка Марлоу о своём путешествии в Центральную Африку. Повествование строится вокруг описаний жизни аборигенов и размышлений о первобытных инстинктах, таящихся в глубине души каждого человека. Это революционное для своего времени произведение привнесло тему поиска "внутреннего дикаря" в мировую культуру и вдохновило режиссера Ф.Ф. Копполу на создание легендарного фильма "Апокалипсис сегодня". Читайте зарубежную литературу в оригинале!

More than a century after its publication Heart of Darkness remains an indisputably classic text and arguably Conrad's finest work. Taking place mostly in Africa, it tells the story of Europeans going to the Congo in search of goods to bring back, mostly ivory. They do this in the name of "Imperialism", but Conrad makes it very clear from the beginning that there is no civilization creation going on. Through corruption and exploitation of the blacks, the Europeans gain as much ivory as they can. However, it seems there is another process going on. The deep recesses of the jungle do something to a man, change him, and somehow demoralization begins.

Joseph Conrad was a Polish-British writer regarded as one of the greatest novelists to write in the English language. Though he did not speak English fluently until his twenties, he was a master stylist, both lush and precise, who brought a non-English sensibility into English literature. Taking place mostly in Africa, Heart of Darkness tells the story of Europeans going to the Congo in search of ivory. However, the deep recesses of the jungle do something to a man, change him, and somehow demoralization begins.

Повествование ведется от лица главного героя, моряка Марлоу, который вспоминает свсоё путешествие в Центральную Африку. По заданию "Компании" (в тексте не названа, но подразумевается, видимо, бельгийская компания Свободного Конго), он должен прибыть на удаленную станцию, чтобы увезти с собой одного из агентов компании по фамилии Куртц, занимающегося сбором слоновой кости. Основную часть книги занимает рассказ Марлоу от первого лица о его путешествии по тропической реке, среди совершенно неизвестных европейцу территорий. Его рассказ полон необъективно переданных, но оттого не менее жутких подробностей как жизни аборигенов, так и насаждаемых в далекой колонии порядков. Однако больше всего главного героя ужасает Куртц как воплощение первобытных инстинктов, которые таятся в глубине души каждого человека и которые, если дать им волю, полностью подчинят его себе. В настоящее издание также вошла повесть "Юность" (1898) из цикла о Чарльзе Марлоу. В книге дается полный неадаптированный текст повестей.

Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure. This elegant edition features an afterword by Dr Keith Carabine, specialist in American literature and former chair of the Joseph Conrad society. One night on the Thames, Charles Marlowe tells his fellow sailors the vivid and brutal tale of his time as a riverboat captain in the Belgian Congo. From the mists of London we are whisked to the darkness of Africa's colonial heart - and into the thrall of the tyrannical Kurtz, an ivory trader who has established himself as a terrifying demi-god. Sinister and incisive, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad has retained the fascination of readers and scholars alike. It is accompanied here by the stories with which it has been published since 1902: the autobiographical Youth, and the tale of an old man's fall from fortune, The End of the Tether.

At the peak of European Imperialism, steamboat captain Charles Marlow travels deep into the African Congo on his way to relieve the elusive Mr Kurtz, an ivory trader renowned for his fearsome reputation. On his journey into the unknown Marlow takes a terrifying trip into his own subconscious, overwhelmed by his menacing, perilous and horrifying surroundings. The landscape and the people he meets force him to reflect on human nature and society, and in turn Conrad writes revealingly about the dangers of imperialism.

"Сердце тьмы" - повесть польско-английского писателя Джозефа Конрада, признанного мастера приключенческого и морского романа. Впервые это произведение было опубликовано целиком в 1902 году. Во времена, когда было написано "Сердце тьмы", многие авторы идеализировали английский колониализм. Однако Конрад относился к этому явлению двойственно. Конечно, он уважал английские порядки, но притом сочувствовал местному населению колоний. Именно эти противоречия отражены в "Сердце тьмы", которое как раз было написано под впечатлением от путешествия в Свободное государство Конго. Произведение адаптировано для уровня знания английского A2. Для удобства читателя текст сопровождается комментариями и словарем. Адаптация текста, комментарии, упражнения и словарь С.А. Матвеева.

'The mind of man is capable of anything - because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future. What was there after all? Joy, fear, sorrow, devotion, rage - who can tell? - but truth - truth stripped of its cloak of time. Let the fool gape and shudder - the man knows, and can look on without a wink' Marlow, a seaman, tells of a journey up the Congo. His goal is the troubled European and ivory trader Kurtz. Worshipped and feared by invaders as well as natives, Kurtz has become a godlike figure, his presence pervading the jungle like a thick, obscuring mist. As his boat labours further upstream, closer and closer to Kurtz's extraordinary and terrible domain, so Marlow finds his faith in himself and civilization crumbling. Conrad's Heart of Darkness has been considered the most important indictment of the evils of imperialism written to date.

A haunting Modernist masterpiece and the inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola's Oscar-winning film Apocalypse Now, Heart of Darkness explores the limits of human experience and the nightmarish realities of imperialism. Conrad's narrator Marlow, a seaman and wanderer, recounts his physical and psychological journey in search of the infamous ivory trader Kurtz: dying, insane, and guilty of unspeakable atrocities. Travelling upriver to the heart of the African continent, he gradually becomes obsessed by this enigmatic, wraith-like figure. Marlow's discovery of how Kurtz has gained his position of power over the local people involves him in a radical questioning, not only of his own nature and values, but also those of western civilisation. Part of a major series of new editions of Conrad's most famous works in Penguin Classics, this volume contains Conrad's Congo Diary, a chronology, further reading, notes, a map of the Congo, a glossary and an introduction discussing the author's experiences in Africa, the narrative and symbolic complexities of Heart of Darkness and critical responses to the novel.