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anisengupta's review against another edition
5.0
Very clear and concise. You may choose not to agree with his opinions but it certainly debunks the popular false myths that led to Africa being labelled as the Dark Continent.
theartisangeek's review against another edition
emason1121's review
4.0
4.5 for the Conrad critique, 3 for the dated Nigeria piece. There are still timeless observations in the latter (at some points, I felt I was reading a description of the 2018 US presidency), but the shorter former is really where it's at. Having had to read Heart of Darkness ad nauseam in high school and uni, hating it every time, I found I was actually angry that it took me twenty years to find this critique even existed. If we're going to use Conrad as a model writer in modern times, we must be aware of the impact his content has on the subconscious, and make sure this counterpoint is offered, too. The piece is a strong argument for why what we consider canon should be in flux, and for how readers can never truly escape issues of identity in literature, especially when that identity is often shaped by writers (male, white) often considered to be neutral observers of culture.
arrianne's review
5.0
TWO SHORT ESSAYS — THE FIRST ON HEART OF DARKNESS WHICH HAS LONG BEEN ON MY TBR PILE & SEEMS AS IF IT’S AS RACIST AS YOU MIGHT EXPECT.
SECOND IS ACHEBE’S IDEAS ABOUT THE FAULTS OF NIGERIA & HOW TO FIX THEM. REALLY ELOQUENT, ON A SUBJECT I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT, BUT HAVE AN INTEREST IN BECAUSE MY DAD SOMETIMES TALKS ABOUT HIS TIME IN NIGERIA WHEN HE WAS WORKING AS A MARINE ENGINEER.
SECOND IS ACHEBE’S IDEAS ABOUT THE FAULTS OF NIGERIA & HOW TO FIX THEM. REALLY ELOQUENT, ON A SUBJECT I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT, BUT HAVE AN INTEREST IN BECAUSE MY DAD SOMETIMES TALKS ABOUT HIS TIME IN NIGERIA WHEN HE WAS WORKING AS A MARINE ENGINEER.
iggi_dee's review
5.0
Wish I could have plonked a copy of this in front of my college lit professor.
adamjames's review
4.0
Anyone who reads "Heart of Darkness" should start or finish by reading Achebe's short essay "An Image of Africa". It concisely addresses the racism behind Conrad's dehumanising depiction of Africa, use of it as a savage counterweight to Europe, and hypocritical liberal obsession with blackness. This all contributes to a short story that on a surface level condemns imperialism and colonisation in Africa but that is built upon layers of unquestioned and uncritical racism that many literary critics also demonstrate when they fail to address it. This edition couples that essay with the longer "The Trouble with Nigeria", which is useful (and interesting) in understanding some of the political context of Nigeria at the time it was written, but which also seems to me to be prone to generalisation which muddies the relevancy and accuracy of it.
theartisangeek's review
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