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Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness (audio) by Joseph Conrad Published: 1899 Narrated by: Kenneth Branagh The story is framed by a group of men sitting in a boat on the River Thames, listening to Charles Marlow tell a story from his past. Our narrator is actually one of the unnamed men on the boat, but almost the entire novella is Marlowe telling his story. It’s a story of his time captaining a steamboat on the Congo River. I’m not sure they mention that he’s in The Congo Free State, as it was then called, but I knew this going in. When he first arrives, he stops briefly at a trading station and…
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Blank Spaces
“Now when I was a little chap I had a passion for maps. I would look for hours at South America, or Africa, or Australia, and lose myself in all the glories of exploration. At that time there were many blank spaces on the earth, and when I saw one that looked particularly inviting on a map (but they all look that) I would put my finger on it and say, `When I grow up I will go there.’ The North Pole was one of these places, I remember. Well, I haven’t been there yet, and shall not try now. The glamour’s off. Other places were scattered about the Equator,…