1899年出版的小说《黑暗之心》是约瑟夫·康拉德的著名作品。作者在非洲的经历为他的这部作品提供了素材，这部作品讲述了一个屈服于权力诱惑的人的故事。以下是《黑暗之心》中的几句话

河流

刚果河是本书叙事的主要背景。小说的叙述者马洛花了几个月的时间在河流上游寻找库尔茨，一位在非洲心脏深处失踪的象牙商人。这条河也是马洛寻找难以捉摸的库尔兹的内心情感旅程的隐喻。

康拉德写到这条河本身：

"The old river in its broad reach rested unruffled at the decline of day, after ages of good service done to the race that peopled its banks, spread out in the tranquil dignity of a waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth."

他还写下了跟随河流的人：

"Hunters for gold or pursuers of fame, they all had gone out on that stream, bearing the sword, and often the torch, messengers of the might within the land, bearers of a spark from the sacred fire. What greatness had not floated on the ebb of that river into the mystery of an unknown earth!"

他还写下了在银行上演的生死剧：

"In and out of rivers, streams of death in life, whose banks were rotting into mud, whose waters, thickened with slime, invaded the contorted mangroves, that seemed to writhe at us in the extremity of an impotent despair."

梦与噩梦

这个故事实际上发生在伦敦，马洛在停泊在泰晤士河上的船上向一群朋友讲述他的故事。他把自己在非洲的历险交替地描述为一场梦和一场噩梦，试图让他的听众在脑海中想象出他在旅途中目睹的情景。

马洛向大家讲述了他在非洲的经历引起的轰动：

"Nowhere did we stop long enough to get a particularlised impression, but the general sense of vague and oppressive wonder grew upon me. It was like a weary pilgrimage amongst hints for nightmares."

他还谈到了非洲大陆的后代：

"The dreams of men, the seed of commonwealth, the germs of empires."

一直以来，他都试图在伦敦市中心重建他非洲经历的梦幻般品质：

"Do you see him? Do you see the story? Do you see anything? It seems I am trying to tell you a dream—making a vain attempt, because no relation of a dream can convey the dream-sensation, that commingling of absurdity, surprise, and bewilderment in a tremor of struggling revolt, that notion of being captured by the incredible which is the very essence of dreams."

黑暗

正如标题所暗示的，黑暗是小说的关键部分。当时，非洲被认为是黑暗的大陆，指的是它的神秘和野蛮的欧洲人期待那里。一旦马洛找到库尔茨，他认为他是一个被黑暗之心感染的人。小说中到处都是阴暗恐怖的地方。

马洛谈到了两位女性，她们在公司的办公室迎接来访者，她们似乎知道所有进入公司而不在乎的人的命运：

"Often far away there I thought of these two, guarding the door of Darkness, knitting black wool as for a warm pall, one introducing, introducing continuously to the unknown, the other scrutinizing the cheery and foolish faces with unconcerned old eyes."

到处都是黑暗的景象：

"We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness."

野蛮和殖民主义

小说发生在殖民主义的鼎盛时期，英国是世界上最强大的殖民国家。英国和其他欧洲强国被认为是文明的，而世界其他大部分地区被认为居住着野蛮人。这些图像在书中随处可见。

对马洛来说，野蛮的感觉，无论是真实的还是想象的，都令人窒息：

"In some inland post feel the savagery, the utter savagery, had closed round him..."

神秘的是令人恐惧的：

"When one has got to make correct entries, one comes to hate those savages—hate them to the death."

但马洛和康拉德可以看出他们对“野蛮人”的恐惧反映了他们自己：

"The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much."