This new edition combines Conrad's searing classic "Heart of Darkness" with an equally provocative, though less well known novella, "The Secret Agent". The volume is enriched by a number of intriguing gems from the archives of The New York Public Library, including a handwritten note from the author to his London agent and another to H.L.
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Duplicity at its best,
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This review is from: Heart of Darkness and the Secret Agent: New York Public Library Collector's Edition (New York Public Library Collector's Editions) (Hardcover)
Joseph Conrad, in his two novels "Heart of Darkness" and "The Secret Agent", demonstrate the duality of man at the extremes. In "Heart", Conrad uses the narrative of Charlie Marlow and his journey through the Congo basin to reveal how much man can change from what he professes as his aims and what he succombs to through his actions. Marlow and the other central character Kurtz are in many ways foils for each other, both in pursuit of an end, and both gaining realization of the futility of their pursuit. Conrad succeeds in generalizing these characters' development to humanity at large, not just in an imperialist context of Africa, but in the heart of civilization of the time, London, in his later novel "The Secret Agent". Again, the themes of futility and disillusionment loom large in this work, but are made much more immediate and absurd in the context of the urban environment. Verloc, his wife Winnie, and the characters surrounding them all live their lives without discernible meaning, which end without meaning as well. Both these novels draw from historical events--Conrad's trip to the Congo where he compromised his health and the 1894 Greenwich Observatory bombing outrage--and show Conrad's skill in weaving narratives of beautiful prose in a language that was his third. These stories are a great introduction to Conrad, and represent the turning point for the novel following the Victorian age into the Modern.
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