Joseph Conrad

[Insidious Von]

On this date" March 12, 1899 the novel Heart of Darkness was published for the first time. It shocked the literary world it has lost none of power over time. It's a scathing rebuke of the colonization of The Congo and the brutality the Belgian's inflicted on the native population.

Conrad's novels are notoriously difficult to bring to the screen, many have tried, most have failed. Director David Lean and Writer Richard Bolt (Lawrence of Arabia) had a finished script for Conrad's Nostromo but a film was never made. Lean bequeathed it to Martin Scorsese but he hasn't attempted to make a film from it.

Francis Ford Copolla made the most successful film from a Conrad novel, Heart of Darkness became Apocalypse Now! While changing the location from Congo to Vietnam, Copolla stayed true to the spirit of the novel.

 

[Insidious Von]

Heart of Darkness would usher in Conrad's, "Golden Era", which lasted from 1899 to 1911. In that time he wrote Lord Jim, Typhoon, Nostromo, The Secret Agent (the first true espionage novel) and Under Western Eyes (accurately predicting The Russian Revolution).

He was anti-Empire and had a lifelong feud with Rudyard Kipling who was much Rule Britannia. There's careers started the same, Kipling went to work for the British Raj and Conrad joined the Merchant Marine but their view of the world was radically different. Conrad, a naturalized Pole, grew up under the thumb of The Russian Empire.

 

[Insidious Von]

 

[powerten]

One of the world's truly greatest writers, Conrad wrote in English, his sixth language after Polish, French, German, Latin, and Greek.

 

[danmand]

One of the world's truly greatest writers, Conrad wrote in English, his sixth language after Polish, French, German, Latin, and Greek.

+1 .

 

[Zoot Allures]

they shot brando in the dark because he was supposed to be slim but showed up 300 ibs

 

[HobbyHorse]

I thought the 1965 film of Lord Jim was well done ( though it is true that few agreed.)

Peter 0'Toolle was generally panned but personally I thought he was terrific.

 

[Insidious Von]

There is a 1996 film of The Secret Agent, I've read the book but have not seen the film. It deals with misinformation and terrorism, subjects that unfortunately are not dated. The film starts Bob Hoskins (RIP) as the double agent Adolf Verloc and a young Christian Bale as the impressionable anarchist Stevie. A mini-series is also coming out starring Toby Jones (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) as Verloc. A mini-series would work better, it's a very dense book.

Alfred Hitchcock went loosely the FF Copolla route when he used the book as the basis for his film Sabotage.

 

[MissCroft]

This is so weird! I just took Heart of Darkness out of my bookcase two nights ago and started reading it again (read it in university). Now I just saw this thread. Strange....:clock:

 

[Insidious Von]

Not necessarily light reading to go with your cup of camomile Missy.

Heart of Darkness, The Secret Agent and Under Western Eyes are his best novels IMHO. The last book is about the Russian secret police operating in London. Considering the fate of Alexander Litvinenko, nothing has changed.

 

[gar]

It's been over 30 years since I went on a Conrad reading binge. I read Lord Jim, Nostromo, Secrect Agent, Under Western Eyes but my favourite was Chance. I am surprised it hardly gets mentioned among his novels. It's the only Conrad book that I made a point of owning in a hard cover version.

 

[Smallcock]

Dude was a genius. If I'm not mistaken, he died a pauper.

 

[Insidious Von]

Dude was a genius. If I'm not mistaken, he died a pauper.

Not quite a pauper, but he did not attain the fortune that his rival Rudyard Kipling did. He was anti-Empire after all. He was also a neurotic hypochondriac in his later life, he may not have reached 67 years without his doting wife.

I've never read Chance, is it one of his seafaring or his London novels? I'm going to order it. I haven't read The Secret Sharer nor Typhoon either...and I wonder if The Nigger and the Narcissist is still in print?

 

[gar]

It's a seafaring novel with Marlow as a narrator.

 

[Moviefan-2]

I've been thinking of rereading Nostromo at some point. But I currently have quite a backlog of books I want to get to first.