Tag Archives: Heart of Darkness

Going Gently into That Good Night–Or Not

By Robin Bates | Published: January 6, 2025

In which I pull on Kenyon, Dylan Thomas, Conrad, Chandler, Lawrence and others in an attempt to penetrate the mysteries of dying.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Do Not Go Gentle", "Fern Hill", "In Blackwater Woods", "Let Evening Come", Big Sleep, D. H. Lawrence, death and dyiing, Dylan Thomas, Jane Kenyon, Joseph Conrad, Mary Oliver, Raymond Chandler, Sons and Lovers | Comments closed

Orientalizing the Other

By Robin Bates | Published: October 10, 2024

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.

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?

By Robin Bates | Published: September 1, 2024

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

By Robin Bates | Published: July 6, 2022

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

By Robin Bates | Published: November 22, 2020

“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

By Robin Bates | Published: September 29, 2020

According to this military officer, “Heart of Darkness” provides a warning about what ill-conceived military incursions can do to servicemen and women.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Joseph Conrad, war crimes | Comments closed

Lying About on Labor Day

By Robin Bates | Published: September 6, 2020

While some (like Joseph Conrad’s Marlow) regard work with reverence, others (like A.E. Housman) are irreverent and flippant.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Sun Rising", "Yonder See the Morning Blink", A.E. Housman, John Donne, Joseph Conrad, Work | Comments closed

Black Lives Matter Changes the Canon

By Robin Bates | Published: July 1, 2020

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

By Robin Bates | Published: June 2, 2020

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