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Heart of Darkness (AmazonClassics Edition) MP3 CD – Unabridged, February 15, 2018

by Joseph Conrad (Author), Chris MacDonnell (Reader)
4.1 out of 5 stars 9,158 ratings

Featured title on PBS’s The Great American Read in 2018

River steamboat captain Charles Marlow has set forth on the Congo in Africa to find the enigmatic European trader Mr. Kurtz. Preceded by his reputation as a brilliant emissary of progress, Kurtz has now established himself as a god among the natives in “one of the darkest places on earth.” Marlow suspects something else of Kurtz: he has gone mad.

A reflection on corruptive European colonialism and a journey into the nightmare psyche of one of the corrupted, Heart of Darkness is considered one of the most influential works ever written.

Revised edition: Previously published as Heart of Darkness, this edition of Heart of Darkness (AmazonClassics Edition) includes editorial revisions.

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  1. Language
    English
  2. Publisher
    Brilliance Audio
  3. Publication date
    February 15, 2018
  4. Dimensions
    6.75 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    154367304X
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1543673043
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) is widely regarded as one of history’s greatest novelists. The Polish-British writer’s modernist style has influenced generations of authors including F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, André Malraux, George Orwell, Gabriel García Márquez, and Philip Roth.

Conrad transitioned from sailor to writer with natural ease, but beneath the surface of his seafaring adventures lay unexpected subtexts: controversial explorations of the human psyche peopled with antiheroes, extremists, revolutionaries, madmen, and doomed outsiders. He wrote of man’s deepest needs and darkest impulses, honor and redemption, divided loyalties, and the effortlessness with which the line between good and evil can be crossed.

In a singular and profoundly mysterious body of work that includes Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, The Secret Agent, and Nostromo, Conrad continues to inspire, provoke, and enthrall readers.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Brilliance Audio
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 15, 2018
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ Unabridged
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 154367304X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1543673043
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.5 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.75 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 out of 5 stars 9,158 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Christopher Broschell

    Christopher Broschell

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    Christopher Broschell lives in southern Ontario with his beautiful wife, adorable daughter and slightly more adorable cat. He holds a degree in print journalism from Ryerson University.

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  2. Joseph Conrad

    Joseph Conrad

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    Polish author Joseph Conrad is considered to be one of the greatest English-language novelists, a remarkable achievement considering English was not his first language. Conrad s literary works often featured a nautical setting, reflecting the influences of his early career in the Merchant Navy, and his depictions of the struggles of the human spirit in a cold, indifferent world are best exemplified in such seminal works as Heart of Darkness, Lord JimM, The Secret Agent, Nostromo, and Typhoon. Regarded as a forerunner of modernist literature, Conrad s writing style and characters have influenced such distinguished writers as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, William S. Burroughs, Hunter S. Thompson, and George Orwell, among many others. Many of Conrad s novels have been adapted for film, most notably Heart of Darkness, which served as the inspiration and foundation for Francis Ford Coppola s 1979 film Apocalypse Now.

    Conrad Fischer, M.D., is one of the most experienced educators in medicine today. His breadth of teaching extends from medical students to USMLE prep to Specialty Board exams. In addition, Dr. Fischer is the Associate Chief of Medicine for Educational and Academic Activities at SUNY Downstate School of Medicine, and is an Attending Physician at King's County Hospital in Brooklyn, NY. Dr. Fischer has been Chairman of Medicine for Kaplan Medical since 1999, and has held Residency Program Director positions at both Maimonides Medical Center and Flushing Hospital in New York City.

    Sonia Reichert, MD., is the Director of Medical Curriculum for Kaplan Medical.

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  3. DDN Publisher

    DDN Publisher

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    Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

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  4. DDN Publisher

    DDN Publisher

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    DDN Publisher have published numerous lifetime classics from famous authors such as Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley and many more.These classics are evergreen. You will love them.

    DDN Publisher also published an activity book for kids and journal.

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Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
9,158 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find this novella masterfully written, with compelling descriptions that delve deeply into the workings of the self. Moreover, the book's visual quality is stunning, and customers consider it a definite read for college students studying literature. However, the print size receives mixed feedback, with several customers noting it's very small and difficult to read. Additionally, while the book provides good insights into colonialism, some customers find it racist and imperialist, and customers disagree on how easy it is to understand.

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Book styleInsightVisual qualityReading levelPrint sizeEraDifficulty to understand
51 customers mention "Book style"46 positive5 negative

Customers appreciate the book's style, describing it as a grand piece of art with great themes, and one customer notes how each piece of art matches the ideas and tones prevalent within this classic.

"...However, the prose Mr. Conrad used is simply beautiful...." Read more

"...each sentence, I find many of the descriptions quite vivid and beautiful though I still resent the awkwardness of the prose and the fragmented and..." Read more

"...While the book was good in the respects of allegory its still very archaic. His writing can drag in certain parts and feels pretty dated...." Read more

"...to talk about the torments, makes this an excellent representation of the Duality of human nature...." Read more

46 customers mention "Insight"46 positive0 negative

Customers find the book insightful, discussing the depths of human nature and delving deeply into the workings of the self.

"...This time it really hit home: just how relative its themes of greed, corruption, and redemption are in today's world...." Read more

"...I also see it capturing the attention of those studying history, but I only see minds matured over the easily-distracted age of fifteen making the..." Read more

"...This is at core a deep and satisfying story that will enrich the reader more with each reading...." Read more

"...When I really studied each line, it made sense and did not seem so awkward...." Read more

33 customers mention "Visual quality"30 positive3 negative

Customers appreciate the visual quality of the book, describing it as stunning and excellent, with one customer noting its vivid descriptions.

"...adds a new dimension to the textbook pages with intense and realistic imagery...." Read more

"...pace to be able to absorb each sentence, I find many of the descriptions quite vivid and beautiful though I still resent the awkwardness of the..." Read more

"...of its language and characters and the haunting beauty of the human and physical landscape: the famous dying words of Kurtz, "The horror!..." Read more

"...up the Congo to find him is rife with diversions, ponderances, lush imagery and precarious dilemmas...." Read more

31 customers mention "Reading level"31 positive0 negative

Customers find the book suitable for college students studying literature, with one mentioning it's particularly important for world history AP students.

"...It seems its on all the lists of best books and is usually required reading in English literature programs...." Read more

"...The book is not big at all which is nice for a high school student who already has several large textbooks to carry around...." Read more

"...reviews of Heart of Darkness (early 20th-Century); suggested further reading and hands-down some of the most readable and informative end notes that..." Read more

"...conclusion were presented. Overall, great book for a college British lit class." Read more

47 customers mention "Print size"17 positive30 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the print size of the book, with several noting that it is quite short and has very small text.

"...This is a very short book, but somehow it feels epic in its prose...." Read more

"...’s advanced history classes, but this novel adds a new dimension to the textbook pages with intense and realistic imagery...." Read more

"This novella kept popping up on every list of "must read" books. It was short (around 100 pages), so I decided to give it a shot...." Read more

"...By now, he is firmly on Kurtz's side. HOD is a short but dense book...." Read more

37 customers mention "Era"21 positive16 negative

Customers have mixed views on the book's historical context, with some appreciating its insights into colonialism while others find it racist and imperialist, and note its dated political perspective.

"...He is realistic about imperialism: the conquest of the earth means mostly the taking it away from those who have a different complexion and flatter..." Read more

"...While the book was good in the respects of allegory its still very archaic. His writing can drag in certain parts and feels pretty dated...." Read more

"...Conrad is a highly acclaimed novella known for its exploration of imperialism in Africa and its psychological themes...." Read more

"...with compelling description and tone, while the abject dehumanization of the African natives is at once deplorable and instructive as a warning..." Read more

29 customers mention "Difficulty to understand"20 positive9 negative

Customers find the book complex and difficult to follow, though they appreciate the helpful introduction.

"...The introduction to this book was helpful since I was going into it blind...." Read more

"...When I really studied each line, it made sense and did not seem so awkward...." Read more

"...This novel is a heavy read and difficult to grasp because of the lack of humanity of all characterized...." Read more

"...The text is shown pure, without introductions or notes, the formatting is modern and easy to read, and the X-Ray function is absolutely helpful...." Read more

“Exquisitely written”
5 out of 5 stars
“Exquisitely written”
“We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness. It was very quiet there.” J. Conrad exceptional style of writing makes the reader live the horror again. It’s morbid, it’s scary, it’s disturbing, it’s beautifully descriptive, and exquisitely written. One of three books I gave 5 stars. Dr. Amir Gendy Surgeon and Author of “BETTER” and “The Future of Medicine and the Fate of Humanity” and the soon to be published this Thxgvg “THE abNORMAL” amirgendy.com
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Michael Jones
    5.0 out of 5 stars Heart and Mind
    Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2010
    Verified Purchase
    I recently re-read the Joseph Conrad novella Heart of Darkness, a perennial classic and the inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. Having first read this powerful piece in high school, there was much I had forgotten. I am glad to have revisited it. This time it really hit home: just how relative its themes of greed, corruption, and redemption are in today's world. We may draw a comparison to the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to the world's hunger for oil and its consequences, or even to the megalomania we've seen recently that has been the ruin of US and other market economies.

    Conrad's story takes place in 19th century colonial Africa; a virtual free-for-all for holding companies and the like scrambling to lay claims on precious minerals (gold, silver) and other natural resources (ivory, slaves) in its vast untapped interior. The problem for these greed machines was finding personnel willing or ignorant enough to brave the "darkness": wild animals, disease, uncivilized tribal societies (some cannibalistic). Kurtz was one such individual who travels downriver into the thicket to set up a station for his employers, but experiences a taste of totemic worship, he being the totem. His sad tale is told by Marlow, a "seaman" and a "wanderer" who was employed by the same administrative company as Kurtz.

    "...their administration," says Marlow "was merely a squeeze and nothing more, I suspect. They were conquerors and for that you want only brute force -- nothing to boast of, when you have it, since your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others."

    Marlow relates his experiences on the vast interior river (Congo?) which culminate in his search, along with the company manager and a native crew, for the elusive Kurtz who had terminated communication with the civilized world months before. After finally finding an ailing Kurtz downriver, Marlow's own obsession with just listening to this fellow comes to fruition in a haze of disenchantment. Delusion and dementia, along with his adoring natives, have claimed him, But Marlow, at the urging of the manager, must retrieve Kurtz (and his ivory) to the company's outpost. It is on the way back, after a reckless escape, that Kurtz will utter those infamous and harrowing last words: "The horror, the horror."

    For me Kurtz represents the iconic Soldier led into the great Darkness of some war (Iraq) or material venture (oil) perpetrated by the "conquerors" (guess who). In this analogy, Kurtz's ultimate madness relates to the current epidemic of PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) we see in our troops returning from the war zones.Unfortunately Kurtz's "horror" is being experienced, in some manner, by thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan vets today. These are just disillusioned kids returning home to their families without jobs, without limbs, without peace of mind; with nightmares. So who is Marlow, in this tale? Is he us?

    In Heart of Darkness Marlow finally must face Kurtz's grieving fiancee back in London. She entreats him to assure her of Kurtz's final moments, since he was, must have been, her loved one's friend.

    "Your were with him -- to the last?" she asks.

    "'To the very end,' I said, shakily. 'I heard his very last words...' I stopped in a fright.

    "'Repeat them,' she murmured in a heart-broken tone. 'I want --I want -- something -- something -- to -- to live with.'

    Marlow is suddenly faced with a dilemma. And so are we. Will we lie as Marlow does or will we face the ugly truth?
    11 people found this helpful
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  • Daniel Dwyer
    4.0 out of 5 stars In the end a disappointment
    Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    This is the third time reading H of D. Once in high school and again in college. If the author s aim was to have us yearn to know more about Kurtz, he succeeded. We certainly got to know Marlowe and that is the triumph of this book. And yet, I felt a little cheated in not seeing Kurtz in action. What did he really do that would make me admire him? He poached Ivory. He was a con artist. A bully and the object of immense envy and admiration by those whom he made rich. In the end he was very much a pathetic character, allegedly victimized by capitalism which shrouded the real source
    of his victimhood, his need to be seen as worthy and rich enough to have married the woman he loved. The heart of darkness is a metaphor for love being throtled by one's pride to such an extent that he cuts himself off from the presence of his true love in the hope of rising above and looking down on all his imagined tormentors to convince himself that he is better than they.
    One person found this helpful
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  • H. Schneider
    5.0 out of 5 stars No fool ever made a bargain for his soul with the devil. Inconsequential story by another Marlow (Charlie)
    Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2008
    Verified Purchase
    I was motivated to re-visit Conrad's early masterpiece by Sebald's Walk in Suffolk, which contains a bio chapter on Conrad with emphasis on his Congo experience, which was a traumatic one. Conrad had taken up the job of a skipper of a river steamboat, but he quit after a short time, in disgust with the colonial practices of the Belgians and their crude exploitation methods.
    Marlow is Conrad's alter ego here, a captain who tells his story to some other guests at a dinner party. The party takes place on a ship in the Thames estuary around the turn of the 19th century. An initial narrator gives us the frame of the five men coming together for a chat and a drink and dinner. Marlow then takes over and tells us 'one of his inconsequential stories', as the introducer expects with some sarcasm: how he got the Congo job and went there with curiosity. He is appalled from the start by the crude colonialist violence that he observes on the African West Coast and then in the Congo territory itself, and by the raw greed of the colonialists. Kurtz of course, the main protagonist of Marlow's tale, who has not much of a 'life' role to play in the story, stands for the fallen white man, the one whose character cracked and who gave in to temptations and demons, his personal ones and from the world around him. He had the reputation of being a superior specimen, a man with morality and efficiency. The 'heart of darkness' is an ambiguous place and title. It can mean the center of the unknown inner Africa, but it also means the soul of the fallen man.(Kurtz is best known with the face of Marlon Brando and the whispered words: the horror! the horror! But Apocalypse Now transformed the story from Congo colonialism into Indochina war cruelty.)
    Marlow's attitude is ambiguous, he thinks like a benevolent white man with an essentially racist attitude himself, but with a more 'humane' approach. He is realistic about imperialism: the conquest of the earth means mostly the taking it away from those who have a different complexion and flatter noses. He even takes history with a broader sweep: looking over the Thames at sunset towards the 'monster' city he is reminded of the times when this was a dark place for the invading Roman army.
    The book is written in a remarkably opaque language. One struggles with every single sentence just to follow the story line. This is unfortunate, I am sure a more straightforward narrative technique would have opened a broader audience for the subject.
    Conrad was a man who produced stunning visual effects of the mind with his inventions, but he was not a chief engineer of narrative simplicity. If one is looking for a good straightforward narrative, this is not it. If one is willing to take up the struggle, one is rewarded though. One has to wrestle meaning out of his writing, it is not a walk in the park. The style is highly contextual, every sentence implies worlds and assumes you know which ones. At the same time, he is also able to come up with pretty gems of sentences like when Marlow describes his steamboat: she rang under my feet like an empty biscuit tin, but she was nothing so solid in make, and rather less pretty in shape.
    In line with the frame narrator's low expectations for Marlow's story, half of the audience is asleep by half way. I was not.
    39 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Amazon Customer
    2.0 out of 5 stars Buen libro, mala calidad del corte
    Reviewed in Mexico on October 23, 2024
    Verified Purchase
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    El corte de las páginas está pésimo
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    Amazon Customer
    2.0 out of 5 stars
    Buen libro, mala calidad del corte

    Reviewed in Mexico on October 23, 2024
    El corte de las páginas está pésimo
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  • Jimbo
    5.0 out of 5 stars A dark, brooding tale
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 19, 2016
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    by Joseph Conrad
    29877058
    James McCormick's review
    Apr 19, 16 · edit

    it was amazing
    bookshelves: currently-reading

    This one had been very high on my to- read- list for a long time. I’ve read several of Conrad’s books previously and also saw an interview where Coppola talked about how it inspired Apocalypse Now. It’s quite a small work, more of a novella than a novel, and when I did finally get down to it - I read it in a single sitting.

    The story’s premise is quite simple. Marlow (the first person narrator of the story) travels up the Congo river on his employer’s orders to find and bring back an ivory trader by the name of Kurtz who is for much of the story a mysterious, almost mythical figure, “a prodigy… an emissary of pity and science and progress," who inspires awe and devotion in many of those he encounters. By the time Marlow does meet the physically ailing but still impressive, charismatic and eloquent Kurtz, we are eager to learn as much as we can about this human enigma through the more dispassionate and perspicuous eyes of our narrator.

    Like all Conrad’s works, the prose reads like dark, brooding blank verse which is utterly compelling. What struck me was the issue of free will. Marlow seems fated to meet the mysterious Kurtz and his journey toward the interior seems inevitable as Marlow is drawn nearer and nearer to the heart of darkness. All the while we have an overpowering sense of paranoia. Nature, represented by the African jungle, is dark, pitiless and terrifyingly savage, full of strange sounds and cannibalistic inhabitants. Yet as we learn about the European traders and their dubious and exploitive methods we find ourselves contrasting so called modern “civilisation” and asking if it is any better. If there is a moral centre to the work I couldn’t find one. Marlow is more of an observer rather than an active protagonist whilst Kurtz seems almost to stand outside of any framework, natural or societal.

    As with other Conrad novels, Heart of Darkness has you thinking about the story well after you finish reading. I was so intrigued by Kurtz’s final exclamation that I did some secondary reading. I initially viewed the work as an elaborate allegory, a descending, (increasingly nihilistic) journey but was surprised to learn (as Conrad claims) the story was to a large degree biographical, with "experience… pushed a little (and only very little) beyond the actual facts of the case.”

    Whatever the case, this is a very powerful, visceral work with prose that rightly places it amongst the literary canon.
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  • Teka
    5.0 out of 5 stars Book
    Reviewed in Brazil on August 4, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Ainda não terminei de ler, pois foi para um curso de literatura em inglês.
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  • Babi
    5.0 out of 5 stars bello
    Reviewed in Italy on June 3, 2025
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    bello
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  • Tom Gray
    5.0 out of 5 stars A True Masterpiece for the Centuries
    Reviewed in Canada on October 25, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    This novel is the masterpiece that people make it to be. In my opinion, this is a novel that will go down teh centuries and will be read and studied hundreds of years from now much like Shakespeare's plays

    Europeans were colonizing Africa using the weapons of war that had been advanced in the 19th century. The 19th century had seen weapons advancing from single shot muzzle loading weapons to repeating rifles and machine guns. War theorists could calculate the volume of fire that these weapons could produce and know that it was devastating. However, there were no great European wars and Europeans used these weapons on people who could do little to defined themselves in Africa. This was part of the darkness to which they descend in Africa. They did in Africa what they were capable of and that was far darker than their belief in their own righteousness would admit. That is what Kurtz saw at the end.

    Twenty years after the publication of 'Heart of Darkness', it was Europe's turn to enter the 20th century wars that would destroy it. They used the 19th century weapons of the machine gun and the wire and killed a generation of young men. They used their ingenuity to overcome these weapons and to devise even more terrible ones to replace them in the slaughter. High cultures descended into mass murder and extermination. This is what the novel is about and this is what the novel portrays so powerfully. It anticipates what the 20th century was about. The descent into a profound darkness and horror.
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