ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the discursive reinvention of the Congo Free State from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. It considers the influence of literary conventions and historical events on Conrad’s representations of the Congo, but also uses Heart of Darkness to highlight the substantial impact that non-western forces and agencies can have on production of fiction. The chapter argues that Conrad constructed Heart of Darkness by deploying the conventions of two genres popular in the Victorian era, but that the discursive dissonance of these genres – most evident in Conrad’s use of the term “darkness” – itself takes shape from and, indeed, is fundamentally configured by cultural and material practices in the Congo Free State. Heart of Darkness’s colonial dimensions, of course, has not escaped critical notice. Heart of Darkness, with its fierce denunciation of European colonialism, contributed to these developments.
