There are certain things, in life, that we somewhat fear, or at least delay, to encounter… Among them, we find books ! Doesn't it sound strange ?
Yet, there are indeed a certain atmosphere and reputation which surround some pieces of literature or works of art, and which get in the way of discovery (no one likes discomfort, right ?).

"Heart of Darkness", by Joseph Conrad, has such a power. It can provoke both a strong desire to get discovered as well as a certain "anxiety"… (at least for me ! but I've met other people as well, telling me that it had been a while since they wanted to read it, but had something retaining them for very long).

Joseph Conrad

Of course, the name itself is quite strong on its own, as it gets straight into the imagination, evoking darkness at the core.

It's actually an extraordinary title, which synthetizes absolutely well what's at stake in the book.

A glimpse into the story, through the much beknown movie "Apocalypse Now"

With their script and subsequent movie, John Millius and Francis Ford Coppola truly managed to capture the essence of the novel (or at least some of it, that resonated with them at the time), via transposition of the story to the Vietnam war.

Of course, they added its own realities and specificities - and that truly makes sense, as any work of art needs a specific background. It can never ever remain "general".

In this process, they gathered a good deal of themes, from the book, and transferred those meaningful elements in another situation :

• The movie and the book talk about the craziness of times, when everything gets possible :

• Let's remember the scene with colonel "Kilgore", and his hubris. There's a line there, where this military man seems to wish this war could never end (and that could be the same with the imperialism of Europe, described in the book)

• During most of the movie, we follow a journey up the river, with a very specific feel of waiting for something to happen, with strange encounters along the way, while learning about Kurz. This absent but ever present man is all the more enigmatic, and the suspense about him is progressively growing up
• The final appearance of Kurz is as strong (and as short) as in the book. Actually in the book, it's even shorter :

Let's put it bluntly : this movie is fabulous (although quite masculine...), but the book is even better and darker !

About the book

It all begins very gently, in the fog of the Thames river, on a small ship. Everyone and everything is quiet and then someone begins to recall a personal story.

And that story takes us in a strange and tortuous adventure towards Africa, Congo to be more precise.

For most of us, it does not say much.
But it seems that the occupation and exploitation of the so-called "Belgian Congo", by emissaries of the Belgian King Leopold II, was one of the worst and cruelest genocide, at the end of the XIXth century. Some authors actually mention 10 Millions people killed (for a population of 20), as well as pure horrors committed in the name of imperialism, commerce and… progress (as always)

https://www.thecollector.com/congolese-genocide-colonized-congo/

So here we are, vaguely acquainted to a company dealing with ivory. It has one of its best captain providing about 50% of the ivory "production". No one really knows how this man, named Kurz, manages to perform that well, but that seems marvelous.
Only, someone needs to go up the river, to get in touch with him, as it's been a long time already…
So they recruit a seaman as a captain, for a steam boat… and there begins the journey into phantasmagoria.

Let's imagine an atmosphere of dense heat, humid as hell, where you can't even sweat. On both sides of the river stands an infinite rain tree forest, so dense, that you can't see anything behind the first meters.

Sometimes, dark figures appear on the sides - quite frightening. The contrast between the sun and the shadows is striking.

Still from the TV movie "Heart of Darkness" (1993)

But as the journey goes on, our captain learns about Kurz and about the company's system. As a first timer in colonial Africa, he witnesses how the European are taking hold of the territory and use the poor locals to the verge of exhaustion.
Something even darker than the shadows in the forest begins to ring inside.

Furthermore, he encounters other Europeans, consumed by greed and dysentery. He learns about Kurz through rumors and that participates to build up the legend. As we all know, a king power is actually build by the attitude of the court. In a same way, our captain arrives to Kurz's settlement with much anticipated resonances.

Without spoiling too much the story, let's just state that the meeting of the man "in real life" is very short, but it's like a culmination. The whole atmosphere around the camp, with the local tribe worshipping Kurz adds to the tense vibration.
And we get to the darkest corners of the human psyche in a few hallucinatory pages of dream/ nightmare like literature.

It all vibrates in the reader mind and imagination long after closing the book.

It's prompt, is some ways, to resonate with our own perceptions of the world : about the worse parts of societies, and how we might get lost into it, even when we think at first that we did it for the better good.

All in all, this is a masterpiece of literature. I strongly advise to read it from beginning to end in a single shot.
It's dark and fearful, yet not horror-like but rather philosophically speaking. Yes, the atmosphere is doing its part, but once again, the issue lies within.