In my postcolonial lit course, I applied Edward Said’s concept of Orientalism to Haggard’s “She” and Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness.” It’s not pretty.
Tag Archives: Heart of Darkness
Orientalizing the Other
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Snake Charmer", "To His Mistress Going to Bed", Andrew Marvell, Colonialism, Edward Said, empire building, H. Rider Haggard, John Donne, Joseph Conrad, Orientalism, She, To His Coy Mistress Comments closed
Celebrate Work? or Complain about It?
For Labor Day, two poems (Brecht, Piercy) about jobs that degrade. But the poems themselves offer solace.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Pirate Jenny's Song", "Secretary Chant", Bertolt Brecht, Joseph Conrad, Kurt Weil, Labor Day, Marge Piercy, Threepenny Opera, Work Comments closed
Sickness Strikes Again
I my recent bout with Covid, passages from “Heart of Darkness” and “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” came to mind.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Illness, Joseph Conrad, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge Comments closed
“Citizen Kane” Foretells Trump
“Citizen Kane” is Trump’s favorite movie. It matches up only too well with his presidency.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged authoritarianism, Citizen Kane, Dante, Donald Trump, Election 2020, It Can't Happen Here, Joseph Conrad, Orson Welles, Purgatory, Sinclair Lewis Comments closed
Heart of Darkness as Military Manual
According to this military officer, “Heart of Darkness” provides a warning about what ill-conceived military incursions can do to servicemen and women.
Black Lives Matter Changes the Canon
Black Lives Matter is getting some professors to rethink works they had previously defended
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Dante, Harold Bloom, Homer, Joseph Conrad, literary canon, Shakespeare, Virgil Comments closed
Achebe vs. Trump’s Heart of Darkness
50 years ago, black protesters would have been seen as Conrad sees Africans in “Heart of Darkness,” an undifferentiated mass. Achebe helped change that.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Chinua Achebe, Colonialism, George Floyd, Joseph Conrad, Minneapolis riots, racism, riots, Things Fall Apart Comments closed
Conrad and White Male Panic
Tuesday This is a follow-up to yesterday’s post about how Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness provides special insight into white terrorism. At one point I mentioned Conrad’s own racism and sexism, which leads to an interesting literary question: can we consider a work a literary masterpiece if it has one-dimensional depictions of women and Africans? […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Colonialism, Feminism, Joseph Conrad, Marxism, white terrorism Comments closed
