Or think of a decent young citizen in a toga-perhaps too much dice, you know-coming out here in the train of some prefect, or tax gatherer, or trader even, to mend his fortunes. Land in a swamp, march through the woods, and in some inland post feel the savagery, the utter savagery, had closed around him-all that mysterious life of the wilderness that stirs in the forests, in the jungles, in the hearts of wild men. There’s no initiation either into such mysteries. He has to live in the midst of the incomprehensible. And it has a fascination, too, that goes to work upon him. The fascination of the abomination-you know. Imagine the growing regrets, the longing to escape, the powerless disgust, the surrender, the hate.
Joseph Conrad, “Heart of Darkness”, 1899
