Joseph Conrad's
Heart of Darkness
Adapted by Peter Kuper
Published by W.W. Norton Company
on November 5, 2019
Genre: Adult Fiction, Classics, Graphic Novel
Length: 160 pages
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Synopsis:
Acclaimed cartoonist Peter Kuper delivers a powerful interpretation of this controversial classic.
Heart of Darkness has unsettled generations of readers with its haunting portrait of colonialism and brutal exploitation in Africa. Now award-winning illustrator Peter Kuper reimagines Conrad's masterpiece for a new generation, transforming this dramatic tale of madness, greed, and evil into something visually immersive and profoundly complex. Drawn in pen, black pencil, and ink wash reminiscent of the etchings and lithography of Francisco Goya and Honore Daumier, Kuper's Heart of Darkness captures the ominous atmosphere and tempo of Charles Marlow's journey up the River Congo.
My Thoughts:
This may be a bit more of a ramble than a review.
Heart of Darkness was one of those classics that wasn't popular enough to catch my attention in my early classics phase. The title really appealed to me but I hadn't seen or heard anyone talking about it, ever, and sometimes that is what motivates me to read something so I kept passing it over. I love crossing off books I've read from popular lists though so I was determined to get to it sooner or later and my motivation came with the PopSugar Reading Challenge which had a prompt for a book set in a country that starts with a 'C'. When I saw that my library had this graphic novel adaptation, I decided to read both.
I started with the graphic novel which had a foreward (by Maya Jasanoff) and an author's note that explained how Conrad's book has been declared a racist work and how Kuper tried to work around that but still capture the darkness of the story in the graphic adaptation. I read the graphic novel and enjoyed the illustrations more than the story. It was vaguely familiar but in a way I couldn't place. (Turns out that I've seen the movie adaptation in the past without really knowing it was based on this book.)
Then I started the actual classic and realized just how inflammatory the language is. Not only that, but the interactions with the aunt made me cringe. I didn't enjoy the rest of the story, most of which was mad rambling, and forced myself through it in increments so I could cross it off all those lists in the future.
I don't usually 'cheat' with classics and read an adaptation first, but with this one, I'm glad I did. It was a decent adaptation and the illustrations really brought out the darkness of the story, from the faces in the dark on either side of the river to Marlow's mad memories and nightmares later on.
Genre: Adult Fiction, Classics, Graphic Novel
Length: 160 pages
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | BookDepository
Synopsis:
Acclaimed cartoonist Peter Kuper delivers a powerful interpretation of this controversial classic.
Heart of Darkness has unsettled generations of readers with its haunting portrait of colonialism and brutal exploitation in Africa. Now award-winning illustrator Peter Kuper reimagines Conrad's masterpiece for a new generation, transforming this dramatic tale of madness, greed, and evil into something visually immersive and profoundly complex. Drawn in pen, black pencil, and ink wash reminiscent of the etchings and lithography of Francisco Goya and Honore Daumier, Kuper's Heart of Darkness captures the ominous atmosphere and tempo of Charles Marlow's journey up the River Congo.
My Thoughts:
This may be a bit more of a ramble than a review.
Heart of Darkness was one of those classics that wasn't popular enough to catch my attention in my early classics phase. The title really appealed to me but I hadn't seen or heard anyone talking about it, ever, and sometimes that is what motivates me to read something so I kept passing it over. I love crossing off books I've read from popular lists though so I was determined to get to it sooner or later and my motivation came with the PopSugar Reading Challenge which had a prompt for a book set in a country that starts with a 'C'. When I saw that my library had this graphic novel adaptation, I decided to read both.
I started with the graphic novel which had a foreward (by Maya Jasanoff) and an author's note that explained how Conrad's book has been declared a racist work and how Kuper tried to work around that but still capture the darkness of the story in the graphic adaptation. I read the graphic novel and enjoyed the illustrations more than the story. It was vaguely familiar but in a way I couldn't place. (Turns out that I've seen the movie adaptation in the past without really knowing it was based on this book.)
Then I started the actual classic and realized just how inflammatory the language is. Not only that, but the interactions with the aunt made me cringe. I didn't enjoy the rest of the story, most of which was mad rambling, and forced myself through it in increments so I could cross it off all those lists in the future.
I don't usually 'cheat' with classics and read an adaptation first, but with this one, I'm glad I did. It was a decent adaptation and the illustrations really brought out the darkness of the story, from the faces in the dark on either side of the river to Marlow's mad memories and nightmares later on.
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