At Collider he tagged the ten greatest novellas of all time...and ranked them. Number five on the list:
Read about another title on the list.Heart of Darkness (1899)
"The horror! The horror!" This slender work served as the basis for Apocalypse Now, though the original story takes place in the Congo rather than Vietnam. In it, veteran sailor Charles Marlow recounts a journey upriver in search of the mysterious ivory trader Kurtz. However, what begins as a straightforward commercial expedition eventually morphs into a psychological and moral descent, as Marlow witnesses the brutality of European colonialism.
As its title suggests, Heart of Darkness is shadowy and ambiguous, resisting simple interpretation. Kurtz, in particular, is a remarkably mercurial character, at once an idealist, a tyrant, a visionary, and a cautionary tale about unchecked power. Despite (because of?) it, the novella was not well-received on release, but has since been canonized as a classic and a cornerstone of postcolonial literature.
Heart of Darkness is on David Grann's list of six top books about adventure and exploration, Katharine Norbury top ten list of books about rivers, Michael Palin's six favorite books list, Robert Twigger's list of five of the best books about rivers, Robert McCrum's list of ten of the best closing lines of books, Mark Malloch-Brown's list of six favorite novels of empire, John Mullan's list of ten of the best fogs in literature, Tim Butcher's list of the top 10 books about Congo, Martin Meredith's list of ten books to read on Africa, Thomas Perry's best books list, and is #9 on the 100 best last lines from novels list.
--Marshal Zeringue
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