|
Heart Of Darkness
''Heart of Darkness'' is an 1899 novella by Polish-British novelist Joseph Conrad in which the sailor Charles Marlow tells his listeners the story of his assignment as steamer captain for a Belgium, Belgian company in the African interior. The novel is widely regarded as a critique of Scramble for Africa, European colonial rule in Africa, whilst also examining the themes of power dynamics and morality. Although Conrad does not name the river on which most of the narrative takes place, at the time of writing, the Congo Free State—the location of the large and economically important Congo River—was a private colony of Belgium's Leopold II of Belgium, King Leopold II. Marlow is given an assignment to find Kurtz (Heart of Darkness), Kurtz, an ivory trader working on a trading station far up the river, who has "gone native" and is the object of Marlow's expedition. Central to Conrad's work is the idea that there is little difference between "civilised people" and "savages". ''H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blackwood's Magazine
''Blackwood's Magazine'' was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by publisher William Blackwood and originally called the ''Edinburgh Monthly Magazine'', but quickly relaunched as ''Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine''. Nicknamed ''Maga'', it was affiliated with Tory politics and a controversial tone described by scholars as "brilliant, troubling, acerbic"; "bold and forceful"; "rioutous... blackguardly"; and full of "puffery, and scurrilous critique". Having published a host of significant authors, literature scholar William B. Cairns judged it the best British literary journal between 1815 and 1833. In 1838, it was the inspiration for the short story " How to Write a Blackwood Article" by Edgar Allan Poe. The magazine went into decline following World War II and saw its final issue in December 1980. History Publisher William Blackwood of Edinburgh launched ''Blackwood's'' in 1817 as a Tory literary journal to rival the Whig-supporting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Modern Library
The Modern Library is an American book publishing Imprint (trade name), imprint and formerly the parent company of Random House. Founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright as an imprint of their publishing company Boni & Liveright, Modern Library became an independent publishing company in 1925 when Boni & Liveright sold it to Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer. Random House began in 1927 as a subsidiary of the Modern Library and eventually overtook its parent company, with Modern Library becoming an imprint of Random House. Recent history The Modern Library originally published only hardbound books. In 1950, it began publishing the Modern Library College Editions, a forerunner of its current series of paperback classics. From 1955 to 1960, the company published a high quality, numbered paperback series, but discontinued it in 1960, when the series was merged into the newly acquired Vintage paperbacks group. The Modern Library homepage states: In 1992, on the occasion of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emin Pasha Relief Expedition
The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition of 1887 to 1889 was one of the last major European expeditions into the interior of Africa in the nineteenth century. Led by Henry Morton Stanley, its goal was ostensibly the relief of Emin Pasha, the besieged Egyptian governor of Equatoria (part of modern-day South Sudan), who was threatened by Mahdist forces. Stanley set out to traverse the continent with a force of nearly 700 men, navigating up the Congo River and then through the Ituri rainforest to reach East Africa. The arduous journey caused Stanley to split the expedition into two columns; the advance column eventually reached Emin Pasha in July 1888. A series of mutinies, disagreements, and miscommunications forced Stanley and Emin to withdraw from Equatoria in early 1889. The expedition was initially celebrated for its ambition in crossing "Darkest Africa". However, soon after Stanley returned to Europe, it gained notoriety for the deaths of so many of its members and reports of bru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georges-Antoine Klein
Kurtz is a fictional character in Joseph Conrad's 1899 novella ''Heart of Darkness''. A European ivory trader in Central Africa and commander of a trading post, he monopolizes his position as a demigod among native Africans. Kurtz meets with the novella's protagonist, Charles Marlow, who returns him to the coast via steamboat. Kurtz, whose reputation precedes him, impresses Marlow strongly, and during the return journey, Marlow is witness to Kurtz's final moments. In the novella Kurtz is an ivory trader, sent by a shadowy Belgian company into the heart of an unnamed place in Africa (generally regarded as the Congo Free State). With the help of his superior technology, Kurtz has turned himself into a charismatic demigod of all the tribes surrounding his station and gathered vast quantities of ivory in this way. As a result, his name is known throughout the region. Kurtz's general manager is envious of Kurtz and plots his downfall. Kurtz's mother was half English, his father ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Narrative
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version is often written in one of two forms: the double-storey and single-storey . The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type. In English, '' a'' is the indefinite article, with the alternative form ''an''. Name In English, the name of the letter is the ''long A'' sound, pronounced . Its name in most other languages matches the letter's pronunciation in open syllables. History The earliest known ancestor of A is ''aleph''—the first letter of the Phoenician ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blackwood (publishing House)
William Blackwood and Sons was a Scottish publishing house and printer founded by William Blackwood in 1804. It played a key role in literary history, publishing many important authors, for example John Buchan, George Tomkyns Chesney, Joseph Conrad, George Eliot, E. M. Forster, John Galt (novelist), John Galt, John Neal, Thomas De Quincey, Charles Reade, Margaret Oliphant, John Hanning Speke and Anthony Trollope, both in books and in the monthly ''Blackwood’s Magazine''. History In 1804 William Blackwood opened a shop in South Bridge Street, Edinburgh, for the sale of old, rare and curious books. He undertook the Scottish agency for John Murray (publishing house), John Murray and other London publishers, and gradually drifted into publishing on his own account, moving in 1816 to Princes Street, Edinburgh, Princes Street. On 1 April 1817 the first number of the ''Edinburgh Monthly Magazine'' was published, which on its seventh number became ''Blackwood's Magazine, Blackwood's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Travel Journal
The genre of travel literature or travelogue encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. History Early examples of travel literature include the ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' (generally considered a 1st century CE work; authorship is debated), Pausanias (geographer), Pausanias' ''Description of Greece'' in the 2nd century CE, ''Safarnama'' (Book of Travels) by Nasir Khusraw (1003-1077), the ''Itinerarium Cambriae, Journey Through Wales'' (1191) and ''Descriptio Cambriae, Description of Wales'' (1194) by Gerald of Wales, and the travel journals of Ibn Jubayr (1145–1214), Marco Polo (1254–1354), and Ibn Battuta (1304–1377), all of whom recorded their travels across the known world in detail. As early as the 2nd century CE, Lucian of Samosata discussed history and travel writers who added embellished, fantastic stories to their works. The travel genre was a fairly common genre in medieval Arabic literature. In China, 'tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maniema
Maniema Province (''Jimbo la Maniema'', in Swahili) is one of 26 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its capital is Kindu. The 2020 population was estimated to be 2,856,300. Toponymy Henry Morton Stanley explored the area, calling it Manyema.Stanley, H.M., 1899, Through the Dark Continent, London: G. Newnes, Vol. One , Vol. Two Geography Maniema borders the provinces of Sankuru to the west, Tshopo to the north, North Kivu and South Kivu to the east, and Lomami and Tanganyika to the south. Administrative divisions Maniema consists of the city of Kindu and seven territories: Punia, Pangi, Lubutu, Kibombo, Kasongo, Kailo and Kabambare. Economy Mining is the main industry in the province and diamonds, copper, gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kindu
Kindu is a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the capital of Maniema province. It has a population of about 200,000 and is situated on the Lualaba River at an altitude of about 500 metres, and is about 400 km west of Bukavu. Kindu is linked by rail to the mining areas of Kalemie, Kamina and Kananga to the south. It also has an airport with a 2,200 metre runway and has historically been an important port along the Congo River system. History The town was an important centre for the ivory, gold and the slave trade during the nineteenth century. Arab- Swahili slave traders were based here from about 1860 and sent caravans overland to Zanzibar. Henry Morton Stanley came upon "this remarkable town" on 5 Dec. 1876, describing it as "remarkably long" with a "broad street, thirty feet wide, and two miles in length" and "behind the village were the banana and the palm groves."Stanley, H.M., 1899, Through the Dark Continent, London: G. Newnes, Vol. One , Vol. Two In Novemb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lualaba River
The Lualaba River (, , ) flows entirely within the eastern part of Democratic Republic of the Congo. It provides the greatest streamflow to the Congo River, while the River source, source of the Congo is recognized as the Chambeshi River, Chambeshi. The Lualaba is long. Its headwaters are in the country's far southeastern corner near Musofi and Lubumbashi in Katanga Province, next to the Zambian Copperbelt. Course The source of the Lualaba River is on the Katanga plateau, at an elevation of above sea level. The river flows northward to end near Kisangani, where the name Congo River officially begins. From the Katanga plateau it drops, with waterfalls and rapids marking the descent, to the Manika plateau. As it descends through the upper Upemba Depression (Kamalondo Trough), in . Near Nzilo Falls it is dammed for hydroelectric power at the Nzilo Hydroelectric Power Station, Nzilo Dam. At Bukama in Haut-Lomami District the river becomes navigable for about through a series of mar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
