April222012

In his critical essay on Heart of Darkness, the author Chinua Achebe mentions how artists like Picasso and Matisse were fascinated by the masks of the Fang people. These artists, well on their way to introducing the European art scene to cubism, were of the same era as Joseph Conrad, but unlike the latter, they channeled their fascination with African art to a wholly positive and original cause; while African influence is stylistically present in cubist works, the artists themselves did not obviously depict any of their opinions on African culture.

In looking at how the cubists of the early 1900s graciously borrowed from African art, and comparing this with Conrad’s handling of his own observations of Africa, I am inclined to agree with Achebe - that Conrad seems to not borrow from and therefore admire African culture, but he seems to steal from African culture, and pawn it off as a setting for his novel that  is deep down only a novel about chaos and despair, that happens to use Africa and its people as a background.

_Mikhaila

art Chinua Achebe Joseph Conrad Heart of Darkness cubism The Fang People Matisse Picasso 

April212012
Terrifying Brightness When I was 7 years old, I was exposed to the artist Matthew Barney’s haunting video piece, Cremaster 3. Visually, the main character (a man covered in white make-up, clad in a hot pink kilt and a crown of cotton candy fluff), and the scenery (the stark white spiraling walls of the Gugenhiem Museum) are very bright, almost kitschy. Judging by the color scheme alone, this is a palette that embodies the meaning of cheerfulness; there was not a drop of dark imagery in the film. However, the spiraling walls seemed to spiral relentlessly towards some unforeseen hell, and the pastel and neon colors are blinding. During the whole of this film, I began to feel that there was an eerie, brooding gloom hanging over me… Sound familiar?   In Heart of Darkness, Marlow too experiences a sort of “brooding gloom” in the midst brightness - a bank of white fog, which he notes as “more blinding than night” (39). Accordingly, it is within this white fog that matters become more and more disturbing for the colonists - the opposite of what Marlow and his crew expect.       In Western culture, there are established symbols and meanings for those symbols. For the Europeans in Heart of Darkness, darkness connotes ignorance, death, chaos, etc. But especially in this instance of white fog, Conrad pulls the rug out beneath the feet of typical Western philosophy, as he alternatively uses light to evoke an ominous scene.  Today, as certain colors and logos and letters have come to be associated with finite and marketable meanings, our society begins to reach the limits of originality… So, I truly admire how people like Matthew Barney and Joseph Conrad have ventured to question imagery as we know it. _Mikhaila

Terrifying Brightness

When I was 7 years old, I was exposed to the artist Matthew Barney’s haunting video piece, Cremaster 3. Visually, the main character (a man covered in white make-up, clad in a hot pink kilt and a crown of cotton candy fluff), and the scenery (the stark white spiraling walls of the Gugenhiem Museum) are very bright, almost kitschy. Judging by the color scheme alone, this is a palette that embodies the meaning of cheerfulness; there was not a drop of dark imagery in the film. However, the spiraling walls seemed to spiral relentlessly towards some unforeseen hell, and the pastel and neon colors are blinding. During the whole of this film, I began to feel that there was an eerie, brooding gloom hanging over me…

Sound familiar?  

In Heart of Darkness, Marlow too experiences a sort of “brooding gloom” in the midst brightness - a bank of white fog, which he notes as “more blinding than night” (39). Accordingly, it is within this white fog that matters become more and more disturbing for the colonists - the opposite of what Marlow and his crew expect.

      In Western culture, there are established symbols and meanings for those symbols. For the Europeans in Heart of Darkness, darkness connotes ignorance, death, chaos, etc. But especially in this instance of white fog, Conrad pulls the rug out beneath the feet of typical Western philosophy, as he alternatively uses light to evoke an ominous scene.

 Today, as certain colors and logos and letters have come to be associated with finite and marketable meanings, our society begins to reach the limits of originality… So, I truly admire how people like Matthew Barney and Joseph Conrad have ventured to question imagery as we know it.

_Mikhaila

Cremaster 3 Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad Matthew Barney art 

April202012

The power of expression and the importance of one’s voice in the Heart of Darkness…

Alright, so I understand using this speech to blog about ‘voice’ may be a little cliche, but it was the first thing that came to mind when thinking of a powerful and influential speaker. Aaaaand seeing as I’m focusing on Kurtz’s abilities, it seems odd to make a parallel between the power of Kurtz (who in many ways is evil, greedy, and sinful) to the virtuous Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - but hopefully it’ll work out :)….
Anyways throughout the book and many times when Kurtz is dying, we see mentions of voice - “the voice”, whispers, cry, forms of speaking. “There was a lamp in there — light, don’t you know — and outside it was so beastly, beastly dark. I went no more near the remarkable man who had pronounced a judgment upon the adventures of his soul on this earth. The voice was gone. What else had been there?” (69). 
I believe that all of Kurtz’s power came from his voice. His “gift of expression” (47), enabled him to mesmerize and draw people in. They learned his ideas and felt that they had to seen a new side to the world. They listened to him.  In the quote above, Marlow questions what is left really once your voice is gone. Especially for Kurtz who had such power behind his words and ideas, -thanks to his incredible abilities to speak, much like MLK’s- his voice made him who he was. Everyone who met him and heard him seemed to be infatuated by his presence and even whispers.  Yes, he had plans and ideas that seemed to be revolutionary and compelling to those who heard of them, but the important component to all of this is that Kurtz was able to articulate them and in an influential manner. In the same way, MLK could rally people behind his cause and ideals partly because of the passion and power he initially spoke them with.
On a broader note, speech/expression and conveying one’s ideas is the book itself. Marlow is telling his story and Joseph Conrad is making people see the truth through a complex and powerful use of words.

-Annsley

Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad Martin Luther King MLK I Have A Dream Voice Expression 

April182012

"The approach to this Kurtz grubbing for ivory in the wretched bush was beset by as many dangers as though he had been an enchanted princess sleeping in a fabulous castle" (pg 42)

Conrad uses this moment to create an epic comparison between Marlow searching for Kutrz and a knight searching for an enchanted princess. Both put the protagonist in a heroic, positive light as he rescues his desired person (even though Marlow doesn’t exactly have the initial intention of saving Kurtz from the insanity and absurdness of the Congo wilderness).

In my eyes, a great representation of this fairy-tale scene is when Shrek and Donkey journey to rescue Princess Fiona in the first Shrek movie. This clip, though riddled with funny dialogue between Donkey and Shrek, has several elements that reproduce the epic atmosphere that I picture when a knight saves his damsel in distress, while still connecting to the dangers of the Congo presented in the novel, like a rickety bridge (similar to the winding and unreliable waters of the river?) crossing over a pit of bubbling lava (if we continue the Dante’s Inferno metaphor, the lava symbolizes Hell?).

Additionally, this quote serves as another moment of uncertainty in the novel. At this moment our image of Kurtz is still rather, well, foggy. Marlow refers to him as “this Kurtz” in order to relay the idea that he is still a rather ambiguous figure, whom no one actually knows for sure. This relates to the Shrek clip because Shrek and Donkey don’t know anything about their journey certainly either, and Donkey even asks where the Princess will be. Also, Shrek and Donkey are clueless with regards to the Dragon—neither know where it is, nor how powerful/ferocious it is. This somewhat relates to the ambiguity of the Congo itself, as Marlow and his crew don’t know where the natives are hiding in the dark forrest, nor do they know how/when/if they will attack. 

Overall, this quote has aspects of both clarity and uncertainty. Both are utilized by Conrad as tools to set the scene, specifically by portraying the uncertainty the characters feel and by clearly mentioning the difficulties Marlow and his crew must face on their journey.

ALLIE

heart of darkness joseph conrad shrek fairytale media 

9PM

Vibrance in the heart of Darkness

“If she offered to come aboard I really think I would have tried to shoot her” said the man of patches nervously. “ I had been risking my life every day for the last fortnight to keep her out of the house”

-Russian disciple of Kurtz

The powerful woman that we met while in the Heart of Darkness really intrigued me. Throughout Heart of Darkness, we have seen few female characters, and up until this point, none that are in the least bit powerful. But all of a sudden we are introduced to this fearless female character and the overall feeling towards her is fear. We haven’t quite figured out the whole story behind this woman, but we know that she has power, she is fearless to the “authority” of Kurtz and that the people stationed in the heart of darkness don’t receive her well. Another thing to keep in mind is that although this woman stands out as significant in Marlow’s story, she is nonetheless nameless. Why do you think the Russian insists upon keeping this woman out of the house? What is the significance of this one powerful woman thriving and fearless in the middle of the heart of darkness?

COURTNEY

Heart of Darkness joseph conrad congo fierce woman Kurtz 

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