The Two River Narratives in Heart of Darkness

Abstract

Joseph Conrad informed his readers that 'Youth' is a feat of memory and a record of experience, while 'Heart of Darkness' is experience (. . .);butitisexperiencepushedalittle(andaverylittle)beyondtheac- tual facts of (Author's,Youthxi). The facts of case we be- lieve are these: Conrad composed Heart of Darkness by stitching together two rather different stories.At point in narrative where Charlie Marlow begins his voyage upriver to meet Kurtz, Conrad pushed novel beyond his own remembered experiences by imagin- ing Marlow journeying to a particular region deep within heart of Africa to which author had never traveled. The narrative then be- comes both stylistically and thematically different from what Marlow tells us he experienced during hisfirst three months in Africa, since horror Kurtz confronts constitutes part of a rather different tale having no necessary connection to exploitation of Congo depicted ear- lierinthenovella. Readers have repeatedly sought to relate Marlow's upriver voyage to facts of Conrad's experience. We will challenge that approach by distinguishing Congo on which Conrad voyaged from another river inAfrica that he visited, never traveled on, but which he imagined to be theonethattookMarlowintotheheartofdarkness(Heart95).Only then can we begin to distinguish major themes within novella that readers have tended to confuse. Countless critics have contended that Heart of Darkness confronts evils of imperialism, but what ConradactuallywitnessedonhisjourneyuptheCongoandwhatheat- tackedinhisnovellawasnotwhatheunderstoodtobetheevilsofimpe- rialism. The following article should clarify many of these issues by providingreadersforthefirsttimewiththecorrectandmostrelevantin- formationregardingMarlow'svoyage. Seeking to disentangle fact from fiction in actual journey up- river, Norman Sherry has shown in considerable detail how Conrad apparently pushed his experience quite a lot: journey Conrad made on the Roi des Belges was very different (from Marlow's)(. . .). The