Joseph Conrad is a Racist", declares Chinua Achebe

Abstract

Dear readers I am making a humble attempt to illustrate   in brief the essay 'An Imag of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness by Chinua Achebe', which has become an epitome of Post-Colonial criticism. Words like implacable force, inscrutable intentions, and incomprehensible frenzy are replete in the edition Achebe referred to for this essay. Hence he questions, whether a book that depersonalises one section of human race by dehumanising it, can such a book be considered as one of the great works of art? So in short, Africa is to Europe as the picture is to Dorian Gray. He takes up the example of Marco Polo who travelled from far east to Mediterranean in 13th century and spent 20 years in the court of Kublai Khan in China. Later, on his return he recorded his experiences in a book called 'Description of the world'.