Heart of Darkness and Dante's Inferno

[alshadai]

I find the amount of allusions to Dante's Inferno in this novella absolutely fascinating. It is no secret that Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness with this classic in mind but I was wondering what allusions others have found. I am generating a list of allusions, perhaps it will make a good research paper one day if the chance comes up, and here are a few that I have discovered:
Kurtz's voice is depicted with great importance and strength as Satan's voice is in the Inferno.
They always descend to the left.
Marlow commonly falls into a swoon or asleep and wakes up in another scene. Dante frequently did this as well.
There are 3 parts to Heart of Darkness as well as the Inferno.
I have no doubt there are millions of these little things (okay, maybe I'm exaggerating on that estimate just a tad) and I would love to know what I have missed. Has anyone else studied these two classic works in this fashion?

[Ilthigore]

I myself am currently studying HoD as an A-level English student in UK, and am an enthusiast of Dante and T.S. Eliot (the latter of whom was inspired by both Dante and Conrad).

The very very obvious link with Dante (as is made very explicit by Eliot in his poem "The Hollow Men") concerns the surroundings of the river Acheron in Inferno III, and, to a lesser extent, the likes of Manfred towards the beginning Purgatorio. Obviously, there is a parallel between the river Congo in Conrad's book and the river Acheron, besides both of which "humans" are present in a dehumanised, pathetic, and overall hellish state of existence (in Conrad's book the black natives, particularly those described at the outer station, in Dante those who are going to hell and being bullied by giant hornets and the like).

Those described in Inferno III are Eliot's "Hollow Men", rejected by both Heaven and Hell for being neither good nor evil, and envious of both the blessed and the damned. The characters in Conrad's book, with the exception of Kurtz, are also all painted similarly as hollow men, not given names, given only brief passing descriptions, generally treated much more as part of the landscape of the wilderness than actual human beings really capable of good and evil, and described by Marlow as a "pretence" and with frequently "flabby devil"ish imagery (like the brickmaker, a "papier mache Mephistophiles", not actually evil, but a hollow pretence for evil). Only Kurtz, with his vision, was actually able to (to quote Eliot) "cross with direct eyes to death's other kingdom" (be this heaven or hell), similar to Conrad's notion of a cliff off of which Marlow is too cowardly to step. Confusingly, Eliot hints that even Kurtz was ultimately a 'hollow man', probably deriving his title directly from Conrad's "[Kurtz] was a hollow sham", while making clear that he has certainly crossed to "death's other kingdom" with the line "There is a tree, swinging", which is unmistakable for Conrad's metaphor "[Kurtz] a tree blown by the wind".

Basically, Conrad is suggesting that, in reality (being the cynic rather than the idealist, as Marlow is to Kurtz), all but very few of humanity are doomed to this fate that awaits those described in Inferno III, who are agents of neither good nor evil "like the angels that neither rebelled nor kept faithful to God, but lived only for themselves" (to finally quote Dante at last!).

I hope that's useful.

[pierpy1983]

Dear TOm, I'm an italian student and I'm writing my fianal work in my bachelor of art. I'm really interested in ur connection between Dante and Conrad b'casue I'm trying to find some items too. Please write me more about them or saggest me some book about this subject.

Thank for ur help

Peter De Mola

[Ilthigore]

I might post some more stuff as it occurs to me, but I am only 17 years old, and am primarily a mathematician, with a passing interest in literature, so you can't expect a huge amount of help.