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Nothing like the image and horror of it: King Lear and Heart of Darkness

Meek, Richard

Authors

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Dr Richard Meek R.Meek@hull.ac.uk
Lecturer / Programme Director for the MA in English



Abstract

There are several allusions to King Lear at the end of Heart of Darkness, suggesting that Joseph Conrad might have had Shakespeare in mind during the composition of his novella. Both texts are concerned with the difficulty of producing meaning in the face of unspeakable horrors, and the problems involved in constructing an intelligible or meaningful "report." Heart of Darkness thus emerges as a sophisticated and skeptical "reading" of Shakespeare's tragedy: both texts reveal narrative to be a kind of confidence trick, while at the same time demonstrating the power of narrative and our need for coherent ends.

Citation

Meek, R. (2010). Nothing like the image and horror of it: King Lear and Heart of Darkness. Borrowers and lenders: the journal of Shakespeare and appropriation, 5(1),

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date 2010
Journal Borrowers and lenders: the journal of Shakespeare and appropriation
Electronic ISSN 1554-6985
Publisher Georgia State University, Department of English
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 5
Issue 1
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/423786
Publisher URL http://www.borrowers.uga.edu/782425/show