This is an excerpt from a New Yorker article from 1995 in which the author, David Denby, struggles with the same questions that we do. Here he expresses Chinua Achebe’s problems with the book. (Achebe is a Nigerian professor, poet, novelist, and more. He is one of the most outspoken critics of Conrad’s book.) Here is a link to the full article. It is a long but interesting read. You don't have to read it all, but I do want you to consider what Achebe has to say, in part, about Heart of Darkness. Read and then comment. Return and comment on a classmate's post. (The following 2 paragraphs are directly taken from the article. I have no idea why the layout looks so weird.) Achebe believes that “Heart of Darkness” is an example of the Western habit of setting up Africa “as a foil to Europe, a place of negations . . . in comparison with which Europe’s own state of spiritual grace will be manifest.” Conrad, obsessed with the black skin of Africans, had as his real...
