"The horror! The horror!". These are probably the most famous words of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. The words are spoken by Kurtz, who is picked up from the deep jungle of Congo's by Marlow.

What's so terrible?

What's so terrible in Kurtz’s point of view? The horrible things he has seen in Congo? The even greater horrors caused by himself, in the name of the firm and his own blunt lust? Undoubtedly these are bad things. But in my bookreview of Heart of DarknessI described the gaping emptiness deep down in the jungle as the real horror. Thanks to his power, weapons and total adoration of the natives, Kurtz has achieved the status of a supreme being. He has the total freedom to do whatever he wants to do. And he can do it with impunity. Nothing or no one reminds him of the thin line between good and evil. But without good and evil, everything becomes meaningless.

Thanks to Rüdiger Safranski

I borrowed this vision from Rüdiger Safranski, who discussed te Heart of Darkness in his book “Das Böse” (Evil). He puts the novel of Joseph Conrad in line with the work of Gautier, Baudelaire and Flaubert. The dark side of their own imagination plays an important role in their work. One goal was to surrender themselves entirely to the violence that comes with evil. This would eventually give peace they said. But there was a danger told Flaubert. Because once you've let evil rage, do you still want peace?

Total indifference

Safranski interprets Heart of Darkness by this idea. The wilderness has crawled into Kurtz and has enticed him to let go of the limits of civilization. This leads to terrible scenes, such as the impaled heads on the poles in front of his hut in the middle of the jungle. But what is even more horrific is that there is nothing or no one judging Kurtz and his actions. For the natives, as I said, he is a kind of God and nature doesn't judge. The wilderness continues to grow, with total indifference. If the wilderness has a message at all, it's: do what you want, it will be meaningless! That total indifference, this great meaningless nothingness, that's the real horror Kurtz has experienced.

[this is a shortened version of my Dutch blog: Heart of darkness en Het kwaad
[als published on Publish0x]