From the foreword to the Austi Classics edition

Heart of Darkness is Conrad's classic on Belgian colonisation in the Congo, and more general on the Western colonisation of other nations. Conrad's insight is just as relevant today, when the Anglo-American empire spreads war, terrorism and economic decay throughout the world including through Western nations themselves. Dear reader, Heart of Darkness is not a commentary on humanity as a whole nor on a 'dark heart' that any of us may possess due to our human faults. Conrad is talking about the internationalist policy of invading other nations. This is more obvious when we consider that Conrad's Polish parents were arrested and exiled for agitating against the Russian takeover of Poland and, as a result, Conrad grew up an orphan in the care of his uncle. Humans are the solution, not the problem. In simplistic terms, we generally are good not bad. The problem Conrad is targeting is colonialism.

To indicate an aspect of the ‘darkness’ which Conrad describes in its historical context, images follow of the methods used by Belgian companies on rubber plantations. Images are included in the print edition introduction of children and wives of enslaved Congolese men who failed to meet their rubber extraction quota, who family members were punished by having one or both hands cut off.

Dan Abramson
Sydney Australia
July 2016