The latest 2014 read was Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.  I estimate that this was about the tenth time I have read this classic.  I discover something new each time I read it.  For those who have not read it (Really?), here is a brief synopsis (no real spoiler alert needed).

The book is unusual in that it has two narrators.  The first unnamed narrator is on a boat (likely a large yacht) on the lower reaches of the Thames.  He is gathered near dusk with the Director, Marlowe and some others. They are all of the sea, but Marlowe is the only one still making his living in that way.  Marlow remarks how this too was “once one of the dark places of the earth” imagining how a young Roman soldier must have felt going up against the native Britons.  Marlowe then begins to tell his tale.  Out of work, Marlowe travels to the Continent to the Sepulcher City to take a job as a riverboat captain for an ivory-trading company in the unnamed Congo.  In fact, no location but the Thames is ever named in this novel.  Marlowe tells of his travails in reaching his destination and finding his small paddle-wheeler sunk upstream from the main trading station.  It takes several months to fix during which time he learns more and more of Kurtz, manager of the Central Station.  Kurtz delivers more ivory than all of the other agents combined and there is a great mystery about his techniques.  With the steamer fixed, Kurtz begins a journey upriver with the manager and several “pilgrims.”  Just short of the Central Station, the boat is attacked by natives, but only the helmsman is killed by a spear.  When they finally arrive at the Central Station, Kurtz is ill and Marlowe encounters a Dutchman who has been living solitarily in the bush for several years and has befriended Kurtz in a manner of speaking.  The Dutchman tells Marlowe of Kurtz’ incredible strength, powers and resolve.  We are led to believe that Kurtz is a remarkable man.  Marlowe discover that Kurtz has written a monograph on his techniques that ends abruptly and has scrawled on the end “Exterminate all the brutes.”  Kurtz is taken on board the steamer, but escapes at night where Marlowe finds him crawling through the grass.  Kurtz dies, his last words having apparently been “The Horror, the Horror.”  Marlowe returns to the Sepulcher City in awe of Kurtz and with a bundle of letters and papers that he refuses to give to the Company.  The book ends with Marlowe visiting Kurtz’ “Intended”.  He gives her letters back to her and when she asks what Kurtz’ last words were – Marlowe lies telling her it was her name.

The plot is really incidental to the psychological drama in Marlowe’s mind as he struggles to make sense of the jungle, the preposterous characters around him and Kurtz who he ultimately concludes was a remarkable man.

Only three characters are ever named – Marlowe, Kurtz and Van Schuyten who is a trading post owner mentioned only once.  The book is clearly not PC by todays standards with frequent use of “nigger”, no thoughts about the  consequences of the ivory trade, and condescending descriptions of the Africans.  Still it is worth a read.