Heart of Darkness Resources

NPR interviews Nigerian author Chinua Achebe on Heart of Darkness, which he considers "inappropriate" because of its depiction of Africans.

Gather the family around the radio and listen to Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre perform Conrad's story. Awesome!

The Wasteland by T.S. Eliot, a poem inspired by Heart of Darkness.

The Conradian talks about Conrad and his roots in Eastern Europe.

T. S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men" uses an epigraph from Heart of Darkness. Can you figure out why?

For only £500, you, too, can be a member of the Joseph Conrad Society. Spend all your allowance? The site still has some good information, including a "Student Resources" section.

Just another reason the '50s were so cool: Playhouse 90 presented 1.5-hour dramas, like this "Heart of Darkness" (episode #7).

Apocalypse Now (1979), directed by Francis Ford Coppola, updates Heart of Darkness to the Vietnam War. It's also pretty much the best adaptation in the history of adaptations.

Heart of Darkness (1993) with John Malkovich as Kurtz. Unfortunately, it's not as good as you'd hope.

This 1999 documentary, Search for Kurtz, is the story of Tony Po, the alleged inspiration for Marlon Brando's Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. Confused?

King Kong, directed by Peter Jackson, has many references to Heart of Darkness. We're also worried it's a little bit racist.

Screenwriter John Milius says smart things about Apocalypse Now and Heart of Darkness.

It doesn't get any more classic than this, Shmoopers.

Trailer from the 1979 film Apocalypse Now. So rad.

John Powell's "Rhapsodie Negre" was inspired by Heart of Darkness. You can also learn more about John Powell here. (What that bio doesn't say, however, is that he was a flat-out racist jerk.)

This is a map of the Congo from the early 1900s, just after Heart of Darkness. See all the different colors?

An Oxford World Classics book cover. Anyone want to try a close reading of the cover?

A photo of Joseph Conrad sporting some seriously hip facial hair.