Opinion on “Youth” (1898) and related work
- Spin-off: The Heart of Darkness (1899)
- Adaptation: Apocalypse Now (1979)
- Spin-off: Lord Jim (1900)
Joseph Conrad (writer).
‣ The Heart of Darkness (1899
)
Joseph Conrad (writer).
More on Charles Marlow.
Jackson’s plinth of Thornycroft’s statue of Boudica and her bare-breasted daughters did not yet exist when Conrad wrote The Heart of Darkness, but it is beautifully undercut by the book’s opening. One inscription on the plinth is from “Boadicea: An Ode” (1782), which refers unironically to the fact that the British terrorist was slain by the Romans before her descendants built an empire even bigger and more horrifying than Rome. Boudica’s name, like “Victoria”, refers to victory. In 1902, the ridiculous statue was erected at the heart of darkness: near an old Roman wall of Londinium.
References here: “The Hollow Men” (1925), Lord of the Flies (1954), Exterminate All the Brutes (1992), Time Team (1994), King Kong (2005).
‣‣ Apocalypse Now (1979
)
As good as this is, even on its own terms, it says very little that wasn’t said in MASH (1970).
References here: Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu (2003).
moving picture adaptation fiction
‣ Lord Jim (1900)
Joseph Conrad (writer).
The scene of the near-destruction of the Patna is so extremely well written that the narrative can only lose steam from there.
References here: Force Majeure (2014).