Heart of Darkness

by Conrad, Joseph; Murfin, Ross C.

• ISBN13: 9780312457532
• ISBN10: 0312457537
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-12-27
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's

Summary

This volume presents the text of the 1921 Heinemann edition of Conrad's classic short novel along with documents that place the work in historical context and critical essays that read Heart of Darkness from several contemporary critical perspectives. The text and essays are complemented by biographical and critical introductions, bibliographies, and a glossary of critical and theoretical terms.

In this third edition, the section of cultural documents and illustrations is entirely new, as are two recent exemplary critical essays by Gabrielle McIntire and Tony C. Brown that synthesize a variety of current critical approaches.

Heart of Darkness is a novella written by Joseph Conrad. Before its 1902 publication, it appeared as a three-part series (1899) in Blackwood's Magazine. It is widely regarded as a significant work of English literature and part of the Western canon.

Author Biography

Ross C Murfin of Southern Methodist University, volumes in the Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism series reprint the complete texts of classic literary works together with essays that examine those works while introducing readers to a variety of critical perspectives. See the series list at the front of this volume.

Table of Contents

Part One: Heart of Darkness: The Complete Text
Introduction: Biographical and Historical Contexts
The Complete Text 

 

*Part Two: Heart of Darkness in Cultural Context
Contextual Documents and Illustrations

Part Three: Heart of Darkness: A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism
A Critical History of Heart of Darkness
Feminist and Gender Criticism and Heart of Darkness
     JOHANNA M. SMITH, “Too Beautiful Altogether”:  Ideologies of Gender and Empire in Heart of Darkness 
Deconstruction and Heart of Darkness  
     J. HILLIS MILLER, Heart of Darkness Revisited 
The New Historicism and Heart of Darkness
     BROOK THOMAS, Preserving and Keeping Order by Killing Time in Heart of Darkness 
Postcolonial Criticism and Heart of Darkness  
     PATRICK BRANTLINGER, Heart of Darkness: Anti-Imperialism, Racism, or Impressionism?
*Combining Postcolonial, Feminist, and Gender Criticism with Queer Theory
     *GABRELLE McINTIRE, The Women Do Not Travel: Gender, Difference, and Incommensurability in Conrad's Heart of Darkness 

*Combining the New Historicism and Postcolonial Criticism with Psychoanalytic Criticism
     *TONY C. BROWN, Cultural Psychosis on the Frontier: The Work of the Darkness in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness 
 
Glossary of Critical and Theoretical Terms  

 

*New