ABSTRACT
King Leopold II of Belgium’s exploitation and murder of the population of the Congo Free State lasted from 1885 to 1908 and was responsible for the forced labour, mutilation, and murder of millions of Congolese people. It was authorised by the Berlin Conference by all the other colonising European powers, made Leopold a fortune from the extraction of ivory and rubber, caused an international scandal, and arguably led to the twentieth century’s first human rights campaign. Yet despite the scale of the atrocities and their subsequent notoriety throughout the Western world, it remains comparatively unknown nowadays. This is particularly of note since, as this chapter explores, modernity itself can locate its foundation in European colonial efforts in Africa. Indeed, the exploitation of a country by men who have never stepped foot in it and the inhumane treatment of people in the name of capital gain are not unfamiliar concepts to modern people. European imperialism, be it cultural or capitalistic, created the template for the current world system. Its story is the story of modernity itself, yet the scale of the atrocities committed in the Congo is largely missing from Western collective memory.
This chapter therefore explores how Conrad engages in several interconnected acts of remembering in his account of events in ‘Heart of Darkness’. The novella’s allusions to the Aeneid is essential to its reading, with Virgil’s themes of imperialism, empire, and heroism being adapted by Conrad’s experience in the Congo. Marlow emphasises this by engaging in another act of remembering, recalling the Roman Empire and thus making a direct connection between this and European exploits in Africa. The central narrative of the novella is itself an act of remembering as Marlow’s futile attempt to make sense of his journey up the Congo River through its retelling. Ultimately, Marlow’s failure anticipates the current inability or unwillingness to engage in remembering and adequately examine how the colonial past of countries such as the Congo still haunts the present.
