
Heart of Darkness
British novelist, 1857–1924.
Heart of Darkness is an 1899 novella by Joseph Conrad.
On 7 of the 14 lists it was eligible for.
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At a glance
- Author
- Joseph Conrad
- First published
- 1899
- Length
- 240 pages (UK paperback)
- Genre
- Literary fiction, Empire and colonialism, Psychological
Is Heart of Darkness worth reading?
7 of the 14 best-of lists it could have made include it, among them 100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph) and Readers' top 100 novels (The Guardian).
| List | Place | Original |
|---|---|---|
| 100 Best Novels (board's list) (Modern Library, 1998) | No. 67 | See the list |
| 100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph, 2009) | No. 5 | See the list |
| Readers' top 100 novels (The Guardian, 2026) | No. 41 | See the list |
| The 100 best novels of all time (The Guardian, 2026) | No. 41 | See the list |
| The 100 best novels written in English (The Guardian / Observer, 2015) | Listed | See the list |
| The 100 greatest British novels (BBC Culture, 2015) | No. 21 | See the list |
| The Great American Read (PBS, 2018) | Listed | See the list |
Best edition of Heart of Darkness
The edition we link to is the Wordsworth Editions paperback (1995), 240 pages.
- Publisher
- Wordsworth Editions (paperback, 1995)
- Pages
- 240
- ISBN
- 9781853262401
How critics and readers rate Heart of Darkness
Critics rate it most highly: it earned 59% of the points available on critics' lists, against 34% on readers' and booksellers' lists.
Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work
Books like Heart of Darkness
If you liked Heart of Darkness, try Nostromo, Lord Jim or The Grapes of Wrath.



