Javier Centellas’s Reviews > Heart of Darkness and Tales of Unrest: Gilded Pocket Edition > Status Update

Things just got twisty. Still kinda mid though.

Started reading the fourth short story, The Return. This is the first story not in a colonial setting, this time being in the West End of London. I don't care much for romance-based plots so we'll see where this one goes. This is the longest story by far, at about fifty pages, and I'm a little worried it will remain boring the rest of the way through.

Finished the third short story, An Outpost of Progress. Feels very similar to Heart of Darkness, especially thematically. I could definitely tell that the ideas that made it into the full novel took root here. Overall 4.5 out of 5 for the short story.

First part of the third short story, An Outpost of Progress. This story takes us back to Africa. Lot of thematic similarities to Heart of Darkness, except this is a much more humorous & satirical tale.

Read the second half of The Idiots. This is really good for Conrad's first published work. I really liked this short story, It't not "politically correct" by modern standards but still a solid 4/5 in my opinion. I think this is far more thematically interesting than Karain: A Memory, even though the plot is a little more dull.

Second story of Tales of Unrest, called The Idiots. I read to about the halfway point of the story. This is Conrad's first published work, and it's interesting to see his beginning. Overall, his style is very similar if a little simpler than his later work. The setting, Brittany, was a little surprising and seemed random to me, although looking into it it's based on Conrad's honeymoon in Île-Grande while writing it.

Sixth and final part of Karain: A Memory. This story was alright but a little dull. I also don't know that much about the British involvement in Malaysia so maybe there's some context & symbolism I'm just not picking up on. I liked the story overall though, probably a 3.5/5.

Chapter IV of Karian: A Memory. We've now moved into the double frame narrative, and it's easier to understand since Karian's diction is much simpler and less poetic. I can tell that this book was written for a victorian serial magazine, there's a lot of common tropes from this time, but you can tell there is more to this story than just a plot. Obviously I can't really pick out thematic elements this early.

Chapter III of Karain: A Memory. Still very slow but now that the double-frame has been set up I think it will get better. I no longer see any real paralells between Karain and Kurtz.

Chapter two of Karain: A Memory. I like the character of Karain even more. The nature imagery is much more peaceful than Heart of Darkness, and there is more of an emphasis on society. European presence is not as pervasive as I thought it would be. The wording is very dreamlike, poetic, and mystical while describing the Malay village, but it makes it very verbose and hard to interpret.