L.A. Times front page June 2

Right next to the lead article, "Bush Issues Call to Action," in which it reports that America must confront "evil-doers 'in any dark corner of the world,'" is an article on "The Untold War" in Afghanistan entitled, "'The Americans. . .They Just Drop Their Bombs and Leave.'"


If the people in one of the "dark corners" of the world believe we just drop bombs and leave, might they not be confused about who the evil-doers are?


Also, doesn't talk of the "dark corners" of the world conjure up reminiscence of Conrad's great indictment of imperialism in Heart of Darkness? Is the genocide committed by the Belgians in the Kongo under King Leopold the action with which we wish our foreign policy to be associated?


Just rhetoric from the President, of course, preparing us for the "preemptive action" of the coming invasion of Iraq, but extremist rhetoric often leads to extremely dangerous action. It might lead some to believe that our intentions are to drop our bombs and leave.

Andy,


Keep in mind that Marlow, when he says that "And this also has been one of the dark places of the earth," is speaking about England as he begins his narrative along the banks of the Thames.


If you can, you might be interested in reading Chinua Achebe's scathing indictment of Conrad's novel and its, for Achebe, racism. Perhaps Achebe's views shed some light on your misgivings about Bush's motives and reasoning.


John

I've read it, in the Norton 3rd edition. While I'm, obviously, pretty far left in my politics, I was unimpressed with it. Achebe felt Conrad indicted imperialism but didn't see his own racism, which is obviously true. He was, after all, a Polish nobleman emigrated to great England. But as another essayist in the Norton Edition says "Conrad was not entirely immune to the infection of the beliefs and attitudes of his age, but he was ahead of most in trying to break free." Conrad's "bleeding heart" (Achebe's words) sure was powerful.


I recently re-read Heart of Darkness and it still blows me away. Not very many have ever written as passionately and well in their first language, must less their third.


"I would become acquainted with a flabby, pretending,weak-eyed devil of a rapacious and pitiless folly. . . It was reckless without hardihood, greedy without audacity, and cruel without courage. To tear treasures out of the bowels of the land was their desire, with no more moral purpose at the back of it than there is in burglars breaking into a safe."


"This strange world of. . .silence. . .did not in the least resemble a peace. It was the stillness of an implacable force brooding over an inscrutable intention."


Wow! My all-time favorite book.

Andy,


It's one of my favorites, too, and I reread it a couple of years ago because of Achebe's essay. I don't remember who wrote it, but within the past couple years, an essay which appeared in Harper's said Heart of Darkness, published in 1899, stands as perhaps the most prophetic book for the twentieth century. I'd have trouble disagreeing .


Yet, Achebe's stance is a valuable one--even if we don't quite agree with it. What prevents England from being one of the "dark places"? Or is it still one? I think Kurtz and Marlow provide part of the answer. When Marlow lies to the Intended, saying that Kurtz died with her name on his lips, we understand Marlow's basic civility and, perhaps, applaud his gesture. The double irony of this, however, we should also recognize, is that Marlow isn't lying.


John

Good points, John, and indeed relevant to the point I was trying to make in my original post.