Just finished Heart of Darkness. Spoilers!

Powerful novel. I am at a loss for words, truly. I desperately need to see Apocalypse Now.

Before I delve into any other points, I want to point out a surprising lack in comparisons of Kurtz to Jesus. To me, this stuck out most in my reading.

Yet Kurtz was more of a false messiah. He had great plans, great ideas, etc. but never could accomplish them. Instead he witnessed the "horror" of human nature.

And given Conrad's brutal outlook on human existence, I believe this is a clear refutation of religion and the existence of benevolent God. Maybe a criticism of Jesus himself. Both Kurtz and Jesus had loyal followers. Yet both left the world still in shambles.

You'll enjoy Apocalypse Now - it's my personal favorite among all those other Vietnam movies like Full Metal Jacket, Platoon, and The Deer Hunter.

i read this last year a fine work by conrad havent u seen apoc now yet? make sure u see the longer uncut version and theres also a fine movie called hearts of darkness by coppolas wife that documents the making of film too! martin sheen went thru a near death experience filming this in the phillipines and brandos portrayal is absolutely stunning! as for the christ jurtz comparison or non comparison kurtz is all too human whereas christs is historically and accurately portrayed as half man half god but then again arent we all??? plse respond back if u like from brooklyn ny my emails [email protected]

Greetings

Just finished it myself for the first time, loved it. However, I thought that after Marlow meets Kurtz, Conrad moves a bit to quickly. For all the build up of Kurtz its a bit of a let down that he dies so soon.

Jeff

This is one of my favorite novels. I've read it three times. I agree with the above comment, I think more interaction with Kurtz would have been cool.

As for Kurtz be a Christ comparison, that's the first time I've ever heard that. If (or when) I read it again, I'll keep that in mind.

Conrad´s novel and Coppola´s film are both masterpieces, work of arts of entirely different nature with things in common. In both cases "civilized" man can easily ( too easily ) go all the way back to a hobbesian pat of barbarism and "darkness". In the novel, Kurtz´s return to the truly dark ages is intended to be read by his countrymen as a warning: the glittering, material progress of Conrad´s time can be reverted easily, because that´s man´s nature, in the Congo basin around the early twentieth century, or in Great Britain around the time of Christ. In the film, there´s a new element: the Cold War, the great crusade against communism, and the idea, present in the heads of most military commanders, that any means at their disposal can be used to achieve victory in this life-o-death struggle. In my own country, Argentina, the military, coming from the wealthiest families, recruited "urban barbarians" to create what they called "Grupos de Tareas" to pursue the irregular "dirty war", using torture, robbery, whatever means were at their disposal. Just like Col. Kurtz recruited the hill tribes to use terror against his enemies.