Presenting Heart of Darkness and The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad with illustrations by Nicholas Tamblyn and Katherine Eglund. These classics are part of The Great Books Series by Golding Books.
An allegorical novel (or precisely a novella) like no other, Heart of Darkness is a masterpiece of psychological fiction and one of many classic sea stories from Joseph Conrad, though the action predominantly takes place on the Congo River. Charles Marlow captains a steamboat for an ivory trading company, and grows obsessed with ivory trader Kurtz, who has turned himself into a charismatic demigod of the local tribes.
Heart of Darkness examines what it means to be civilized, and in asking questions about imperialism and racism it suggests much about who people at the time called "savages" and who is the cause of darkness. It is one of the most gripping and incisive of dark classics, and is also an excellent introductory point to classic and complex short novels or more serious literature (including its suitability as young adult literature).
The Secret Agent is a classic work of espionage fiction, a spy thriller that is also described as a political novel, with other themes including anarchism and terrorism. Adolf Verloc is a secret agent and shop owner in Soho, London. Conrad states that his primary characteristic is indolence; but he is employed, by a mysterious agency, to spy on revolutionary groups and instigate a terrorist act against the Greenwich Observatory.
The Secret Agent is considered to be prescient in foretelling the rise of terrorism, anarchism, and the growth of spy agencies such as MI5. The New York Times called it "the most brilliant novelistic study of terrorism."
Joseph Conrad was born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski in the Russian Empire (now Ukraine, and once part of the Kingdom of Poland) in 1857. Because of his father's attempts at farming and political activism, the family moved repeatedly (such as to Warsaw, Vologda, and Chernihiv) and Conrad was home-schooled. An aloof and often depressed man, 20-year-old Conrad attempted suicide by shooting himself in the chest with a revolver. Born a Russian subject, he was granted British nationality in 1886 after joining the British merchant marine in 1878, and eventually settled in Kent, England. About half of his 19-year merchant marine career was spent at sea; he achieved captain's rank after working in numerous crew roles. His most popular novels include The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' (1897), Heart of Darkness (1899), Lord Jim (1900), Typhoon (1902), Nostromo (1904), and The Secret Agent (1907). After suffering throughout his life from issues with his physical and mental health, Conrad died of a likely heart attack at the age of 66.
