Heart of Darkness and Imperialism
ECONOMIC PROJECT AT THE HEART OF IMPERIALISM: Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness presents a picturesque narration of the prevalent colonial practices. Although Conrad never explicitly criticizes the system, or the imperialistic system in the manner which was necessary, but simultaneously the poignant depiction of the disastrous experiences of the natives of Congo, as a result of colonial invasion in the novella. Co nrad told his publisher in 1899, that the idea of the novella was the ‘criminality of insufficiency and pure selfishness when tackling the ‘civilizing work of Africa’ and the ‘subject of our time distinctly’ though ‘not topically treated.’ Beatrice Webb noted in her diary, about the novella, on 25 th June 1897, ‘Imperialism is in the air!-all classes drunk with sightseeing and hysterical loyalty, and it was this atmosphere which bent Conrad’s art in the direction of colonialism in Africa and which somewhat later provoked him to attack the ‘idiotic ‘ Boer war.’ We