This book gave an encounter of Conrad in Africa, especially parts of Congo and other regions of West Africa. I simply said, 'Read it this way,' and that's all I have done. Chinua Achebe, a great African novelist, gave a detailed review of the work done by Joseph Conrad titled ‘Heart of Darkness’. is the most widely read book in modern literature. Though Achebe dislikes Conrad's description of Africans, he does not feel that Heart of Darkness should be banned: 'Those who want to go on enjoying the presentation of some people in this way - they are welcome to go ahead. Chinua Achebe Nigerian Novelist, Poet, Professor, Critic His first Novel Things Fall Apart.

'I realized how terribly terribly wrong it was to portray my people - any people - from that attitude.' On Joseph Conrads 'Heart of Darkness' Paul Griffin 3.93K subscribers Subscribe 690 106K views 9 years ago Is Conrads 'Heart of Darkness' a masterpiece of art Or is it, as Chinua Achebe. 'The language of description of the people in Heart of Darkness is inappropriate,' says Achebe. At one point, Conrad describes an African working on the ship as a 'dog wearing trousers.' And if it were not for what he said about me and my people, I would probably be thinking only of that seduction,' Achebe tells Robert Siegel.Īchebe says that once he reached a certain age, he realized that he was 'not on Marlow's ship' but was, instead, one of the unattractive beings Marlow encounters in passing. Though Achebe was attracted to Conrad's book as a child, he excoriated it in the 1970s, and he continues to dismiss it today. It stands in stark contrast to Joseph Conrad's 1902 novella Heart of Darkness, which follows an Englishman named Marlow who embarks on a journey up the Congo. Published in 1958, that book told the story of the English coming to Africa - from the perspective of Africans. Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist and author of Things Fall Apart, a work that in part led to his being called the patriarch of the African novel.

Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe redefined the way readers understood Africa in his first novel, Things Fall Apart.

Chinua achebe heart of darkness