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3.02 AVERAGE
3.02 AVERAGE
Innostuin tästä Ilmestyskirja. Nyt. -elokuvan myötä. Parasta lukukokemuksessa olikin pohtia missä määrin ja miten kirja on elokuvaa inspiroinut. Suosittelen katsomaan elokuvan kirjan ohessa. Ennen vai jälkeen, en usko että sillä on tässä merkitystä.
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The prose was absolutely fantastic. Can't fault that. It's a very hard book to give a review for; on one hand, it does a good job of exposing the absolute horrors of colonialism, humanity, racism, just generally the worst of everything. On the other, it does sort of...I don't know. I get that it was written 100+ years ago, but you'd have expected a book about how awful racism is to...*not be so racist itself*? For all reflection on how colonial settlers and white Europeans viewed the native African people as savages or primitive tribes, it doesn't stop Conrad writing about them as if they're some (albeit equal) alien species and not just humans.
I get why it's a classic, and I actually liked it far more than I expected. The prose was the main thing - absolutely beautiful. If only it wasn't quite so tone deaf to its own message.
Another review conveniently had a link to Chinua Achebe's essay about the novella - https://yale.learningu.org/download/ae5ac277-5cc2-483a-9541-37aaef9a0e67/C2116_Chinua%20Achebe.pdf and it was a very interesting read. I may not completely agree with it all but I would highly recommend it. He puts it far better than I:
I get why it's a classic, and I actually liked it far more than I expected. The prose was the main thing - absolutely beautiful. If only it wasn't quite so tone deaf to its own message.
Another review conveniently had a link to Chinua Achebe's essay about the novella - https://yale.learningu.org/download/ae5ac277-5cc2-483a-9541-37aaef9a0e67/C2116_Chinua%20Achebe.pdf and it was a very interesting read. I may not completely agree with it all but I would highly recommend it. He puts it far better than I:
Students of Heart of Darkness will often tell you that Conrad is concerned not so much with Africa as with the deterioration of one European mind caused by solitude and sickness...Which is partly the point. Africa as setting and backdrop which eliminates the African as human factor. Africa as a metaphysical battlefield devoid of all recognizable humanity..Can nobody see the preposterous and perverse arrogance in thus reducing Africa to the role of props for the break-up of one petty European mind?
Conrad saw and condemned the evil of imperial exploitation but was strangely unaware of the racism on which it sharpened its iron tooth.
180 halaman yang membawa saya macam-macam pertanyaan. Adakala saya sendiri meragui apa yang saya baca tentang Durjana di Hati. Apatah lagi saya bukan biasa membaca karya klasik abad ke-19 dari pengarang Inggeris. Baca dalam terjemahan pun tidak banyak membantu. Pening!
Ia sebuah fiksyen yang menyelongkar keadaan sebuah negara Afrika yang dijajah, diteroka untuk diragut kekayaannya. Charles Marlow seorang kapten kapal melihat sisi gelap penjelajahan tersebut. Ya, ada beberapa bahagian yang menjijikan melihat kekejaman si kulit putih. Tapi itu suatu perkara yang 'okay' bagi Marlow.
_____________________
Marlow bagi saya, seorang yang angkuh dan simbolik untuk masyarakat Eropah yang ketika itu. Berasa paling bertamadun, berilmu dan konon mahu meneroka dunia baru (menjajah). Dan akhirnya mula merasai trend tersebut hanya suatu kekosongan jiwa.
Kemudian Marlow dapat bertemu En. Kurtz yang dianggap seorang yang terhebat di Syarikat mereka. Ejen dagangan gading yang besar dan mulia. Sehingga Marlow rasa cemburu, kerana En. Kurtz memiliki impiannya.
Cuba teka? En. Kurtz itu pada pendapat saya seorang yang gila! Tamak haloba dan sampai lupa diri dia. Bayangkan dia boleh membuat, orang kampung memujanya. Bagaimana? Tanya Joseph Conrad
Ia sebuah fiksyen yang menyelongkar keadaan sebuah negara Afrika yang dijajah, diteroka untuk diragut kekayaannya. Charles Marlow seorang kapten kapal melihat sisi gelap penjelajahan tersebut. Ya, ada beberapa bahagian yang menjijikan melihat kekejaman si kulit putih. Tapi itu suatu perkara yang 'okay' bagi Marlow.
_____________________
Marlow bagi saya, seorang yang angkuh dan simbolik untuk masyarakat Eropah yang ketika itu. Berasa paling bertamadun, berilmu dan konon mahu meneroka dunia baru (menjajah). Dan akhirnya mula merasai trend tersebut hanya suatu kekosongan jiwa.
Kemudian Marlow dapat bertemu En. Kurtz yang dianggap seorang yang terhebat di Syarikat mereka. Ejen dagangan gading yang besar dan mulia. Sehingga Marlow rasa cemburu, kerana En. Kurtz memiliki impiannya.
Cuba teka? En. Kurtz itu pada pendapat saya seorang yang gila! Tamak haloba dan sampai lupa diri dia. Bayangkan dia boleh membuat, orang kampung memujanya. Bagaimana? Tanya Joseph Conrad
I would say that for anyone who closed this feeling utterly confused, watch Apocalypse Now first. Warning that you will not be able to read this without feeling completely influenced by the movie, but you will have a much better understanding of what is going on.
I watched the movie a few years ago and found the book to be a little less dark and a little less. . . intense than the movie. But there is still a lot to be said in this short volume - about colonialism and the true nature/wants of man, among other things. The writing is often beautiful, particularly in the last quarter or so of the book.
The entirety of the book is our narrator aboard a sea vessel listening to seaman Marlow's story of a past voyage up the Congo River, a journey that completely changed him and the way he thinks of the world. Interestingly, this life-changing tale Marlow tells is largely told in the same way one would tell a bedtime story, with no glitz and with minimal interruptions. He recounts how he came to take the trip, some details of the journey itself, and then - here is the game changer for him - the meeting of the infamous yet mysterious Kurtz, an ivory trader who has been inhabiting an area with the natives and slowly changing...some would say slowly losing his mind. But is he actually mad?
He struggled with himself, too. I saw it, I heard it. I saw the inconceivable mystery of a soul that knew no restraint, no faith, and no fear, yet struggling blindly with itself.
I can see how it could be hard to get much out of the book on the first go (and/or without watching the movie inspired by it or being in a classroom with someone knowledgeable assisting). Marlow hops around and often gives scant details about many things and then goes deeply into something that were barely mentioned previously. The others listening (or not listening, as they may be snoozing instead) do not ask questions, so there is never any additional clarification offered, which leaves the reader to sort through and piece together the little they've been told.
Droll thing life is—that mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a futile purpose. The most you can hope from it is some knowledge of yourself—that comes too late—a crop of unextinguishable regrets.
4 Stars
I watched the movie a few years ago and found the book to be a little less dark and a little less. . . intense than the movie. But there is still a lot to be said in this short volume - about colonialism and the true nature/wants of man, among other things. The writing is often beautiful, particularly in the last quarter or so of the book.
The entirety of the book is our narrator aboard a sea vessel listening to seaman Marlow's story of a past voyage up the Congo River, a journey that completely changed him and the way he thinks of the world. Interestingly, this life-changing tale Marlow tells is largely told in the same way one would tell a bedtime story, with no glitz and with minimal interruptions. He recounts how he came to take the trip, some details of the journey itself, and then - here is the game changer for him - the meeting of the infamous yet mysterious Kurtz, an ivory trader who has been inhabiting an area with the natives and slowly changing...some would say slowly losing his mind. But is he actually mad?
He struggled with himself, too. I saw it, I heard it. I saw the inconceivable mystery of a soul that knew no restraint, no faith, and no fear, yet struggling blindly with itself.
I can see how it could be hard to get much out of the book on the first go (and/or without watching the movie inspired by it or being in a classroom with someone knowledgeable assisting). Marlow hops around and often gives scant details about many things and then goes deeply into something that were barely mentioned previously. The others listening (or not listening, as they may be snoozing instead) do not ask questions, so there is never any additional clarification offered, which leaves the reader to sort through and piece together the little they've been told.
Droll thing life is—that mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a futile purpose. The most you can hope from it is some knowledge of yourself—that comes too late—a crop of unextinguishable regrets.
4 Stars
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Well, well, well. My dear Joseph. I appreciate your devotion to writing in English considering it wasn’t your mother tongue but maybe, just maybe, you didn’t really give us a favour.
I have to admit, I enjoyed some parts immensely and was interested at times but looking at it as a whole, it didn’t give me anything to think about after reading it.
xoxo
I have to admit, I enjoyed some parts immensely and was interested at times but looking at it as a whole, it didn’t give me anything to think about after reading it.
xoxo
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No