Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad

I read this book while playing spot the difference between the novel and Apocalypse Now. That was fun. I had already realized that Conrad’s writing is not dated, but this book confirmed it. True, there are passages that are fairly dull, mostly in the lead-up to the actual expedition up the Congo, but this is understandable if not expectable.

The novel is still unsettling, probably like Conrad’s life must have been. The fact that the boat is floating up the Congo and not the Nung to me makes it even more obscure and mysterious. However, I wish I had the liberty of picturing Kurtz and Marlow without the faces of Brando and Sheen.

Also, it’s kind of a shame that there is no talk of surfing in the book, but hey, you can’t have everything...

The Shadow Line – Joseph Conrad

I always thought my first Conrad book would have been Heart of Darkness – not sure whether it was because that’s the one my high-school teacher was always talking about or because I had my mind blown by Apocalypse Now when I was 14. Instead, I ended up reading this first because it was picked as one of the 103 (random number, I know) most significant books of the 20^th century by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica – a wonderful collection that no doubt inspired me to read more.

I assumed Conrad’s writing would be dated, but at the end of the day if Verne’s adventurous stories aren’t dated for young adults (and oh they aren’t), why should Conrad’s be for supposed-to-be real adults? The Shadow Line is still a surprisingly enjoyable book, with its journey of self-discovery not made any less interesting by the passing of time.