Tag Archives: Heart of Darkness

Trump in Chaucer, Shakespeare & Conrad

By Robin Bates | Published: September 24, 2017

When compared to people called “dotard” in Chaucer and Shakespeare, Trump fits the insult hurled at him by Kim Jong-un. His statement to African leaders, meanwhile, makes him sound like a “Heart of Darkness” ivory trader.

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Speaker Paul Ryan in Literature

By Robin Bates | Published: November 4, 2015

I’ve written a lot about Paul Ryan and his aspiration to be a John Galt figure. Now that he is Speaker of the House, I review other literary parallels I’ve drawn over the years.

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A Guide’s Conradian Revenge Fantasy

By Robin Bates | Published: June 9, 2015

Do tour guides ever dream of doling out to their chargers what the porters in “Heart of Darkness” do with one of the visiting English?

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The CIA’s Heart of Darkness

By Robin Bates | Published: December 15, 2014

Published details about the CIA’s torture program reveal that America descended into a Conradian heart of darkness.

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Why GOP Right Is Beating Up on the Poor

By Robin Bates | Published: March 20, 2014

Paul Ryan projects upon the poor as Joseph Conrad did upon Africans.

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America’s Heart of Darkness Beginnings

By Robin Bates | Published: February 26, 2013

America’s bloody beginnings are part of who we still are.

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Sweethearts Now Cleared for Combat

By Robin Bates | Published: January 28, 2013

Tim O’Brien’s Vietnam War story about a woman who goes rogue has things to teach us about the recent suspension of the Pentagon ban on women in combat.

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Armstrong’s Heart of Darkness

By Robin Bates | Published: October 13, 2012

One our ideal, Lance Armstrong has proved to be more like Kurtz in “Heart of Darkness.”

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Dirty Work = Heart of Darkness

By Robin Bates | Published: September 5, 2011

In “Heart of Darkness,” Joseph Conrad indirectly teaches us that doing work that contributes to human misery will take a toll, however much we try to focus just on the work.

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