Foreign Languages
Mohammad Amin Mozaheb
Abstract
Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness (1899) is one of the most important literary writings in English literature. Due to its main theme of colonial issues in the African country Congo, the work has given rise to various debates and opinions to date. Some believe that Conrad’s text bears ...
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Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness (1899) is one of the most important literary writings in English literature. Due to its main theme of colonial issues in the African country Congo, the work has given rise to various debates and opinions to date. Some believe that Conrad’s text bears anti-colonialist discourse, whereas others stand against it. In this study, the researcher argues that Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a colonial text which confirms the ideology and policy of European colonialism, especially the British one. In this regard, by using new historicist intertextual reading and critical views of eminent post-colonial critics, the researcher attempts to determine and examine the novella’s racist discourse in order to draw the conclusion that Conrad’s text is part of the European colonialist system. By misrepresenting and marginalizing Africa and its natives, Conrad has created a terrifying and unpleasant image of non-European lands and peoples to acknowledge the necessity of their colonization.
