English Literature / Unit 16 ENL 1506 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Achebe's Critique of Heart of Darkness
Captions available
The idea
The Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe, in his lecture "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness," called Conrad "a thoroughgoing racist" for depicting Africa as "the other world" and denying Africans human expression, even language. The critique reshaped how the novella is read.
In practice
A novelist answers a classic.
Where people slip
Attribute the charge to Achebe.
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