I found myself back in the sepulchral city resenting the sight of people hurrying through the streets to filch a little money from each other, to devour their infamous cookery, to gulp their unwholesome beer, to dream their insignificant and silly dreams. They trespassed on my thoughts. They were intruders whose knowledge of life wasContinue reading “RKS Literature: Returning to London from Kurtz and the Jungle (Joseph Conrad)”
Tag Archives: Joseph Conrad
RKS Literature: The Hungry Cannibals (Joseph Conrad)
Yes; I looked at them as you would on any human being, with a curiosity of their impulses, motives, capacities, weaknesses, when brought to the test of an inexorable physical necessity. Restraint! What possible restraint? Was it superstition, disgust, patience, fear-or some kind of primitive honour? No fear can stand up to hunger, no patienceContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Hungry Cannibals (Joseph Conrad)”
RKS Literature: Penetrating the Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad)
We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness. It was very quiet there. At night sometimes the roll of drums behind the curtain of trees would run up the river and remain sustained faintly, as if hovering in the air, high over our heads, till the first break of day. Whether this meantContinue reading “RKS Literature: Penetrating the Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad)”
RKS Literature: Fine Fellows These Cannibals (Joseph Conrad)
I don’t pretend to say that steamboat floated all the time. More than once she had to wade for a bit, with twenty cannibals splashing around and pushing. Fine fellows-these cannibals-in their place. They were men one could work with, and I am grateful to them. And, after all, they did not eat each otherContinue reading “RKS Literature: Fine Fellows These Cannibals (Joseph Conrad)”
RKS Literature: The Fascination of the Abomination (Joseph Conrad)
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 aroundContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Fascination of the Abomination (Joseph Conrad)”
RKS Literature: Conquerors and Buccaneer Colonialism (Joseph Conrad)
This devoted band called itself the Eldorado Exploring Expedition, and I believe they were sworn to secrecy. Their talk, however, was the talk of sordid buccaneers: it was reckless without hardihood, greedy without audacity, and cruel without courage; there was not an atom of serious intention in the whole batch of them, and they didContinue reading “RKS Literature: Conquerors and Buccaneer Colonialism (Joseph Conrad)”
RKS Literature: Conquerors, Colonists and Aggravated Murder on a Grand Scale (Joseph Conrad)
What saves us is efficiency-the devotion to efficiency. But these chaps were not much account, really. They were no colonists; their administration was merely a squeeze, and nothing more, I suspect. They were conquerors, and for that you want brute force-nothing to boast of, when you have it, since your strength is just an accidentContinue reading “RKS Literature: Conquerors, Colonists and Aggravated Murder on a Grand Scale (Joseph Conrad)”
RKS Literature: Outraged by a Grin (Joseph Conrad)
“Every mental state, even madness, has its equilibrium based on self esteem. Its disturbance causes unhappiness; and Captain Hagberd lived amongst a scheme of settled notions which it pained him to feel disturbed by people’s grins. Yes, people’s grins were awful. They hinted at something wrong, but what? He could not tell; and this strangerContinue reading “RKS Literature: Outraged by a Grin (Joseph Conrad)”
RKS Literature: Beware of Those Mean Soft Chaps (Joseph Conrad)
“High spirited husbands were the easiest to manage. These mean, soft chaps, that you would think butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths, were the ones to make woman thoroughly miserable.” Joseph Conrad, “Tomorrow” , 1902.
