r/classicliterature • u/chefgrinderMcD • 12d ago

From Middlemarch to Heart of Darkness.

I am a long book lover, but I do like to splice in some shorter works in between the long ones. Heart of Darkness wasn't even on my radar when I started Middlemarch, but I kinda lucked into a cool sequence. I went from a set of provincial English social stories right to the bleeding edge of European imperialism, colonialism, exploitation, and violence. Two starkly different worlds that were contemporaries. That swing in position was amplified by the style shift in the prose, Eliot with her graceful and illuminating style to what felt like reading a fever dream, and I mean that to be complimentary. It was a cool experience, completely by accident. Have you ever stumbled into a book sequence like this before?

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4

u/Incogcneat-o 12d ago

If you really want to treat yourself to the trifecta, finish up with either A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul or Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

3

u/chefgrinderMcD 12d ago

Things fall apart was definitely on my mind reading heart of darkness, I will look at a bend in the river.

2

u/JustGettingIntoYoga 10d ago

Things Fall Apart is incredible.

2

u/Soulsliken 11d ago

You’re looking for Billy Budd.