《黑暗之心》被譽為20世紀最具影響力的中篇小說，其奠定了作家約瑟夫．康拉德（1857–1924, Joseph Conrad）在文壇上的地位，知名的文學理論家愛德華．薩伊德（Edward W. Said, 1935–2003）給予這部小說極高的評價。這本小說問世之後，成為文學批判的寵兒，其所觸及的討論包括殖民主義、後殖民主義、種族歧視、現代主義、精神分析、女性主義等等。美國大導演柯波拉（Francis F. Coppola）的知名電影《現代啟示錄》（Apocalypse, 1979），便是以這本小說為雛型。
 

《黑暗之心》是根據康拉德的行船經驗所寫成的，故事和他在剛果河擔任汽船上船長的一段經歷有關，當時他對當地的殖民主義態度感到極度失望。故事中，一位名為馬洛的船員，他的任務是把公司最出色的象牙代理商庫爾茲先生帶回來。當他們找到庫爾茲時，庫爾茲儼然已經成了當地人的首領；最後，馬洛將他帶上船，但他卻在河中回航時，病逝於船上。
書名中的「黑暗」，在故事中象徵了多種不同的意思，包括叢林、邪惡、貪腐、剝削；而到了最後，庫爾茲似乎是選擇了「黑暗」，而非將「光明」帶給人們。

＊＊＊＊＊

Heart of Darkness, like many of Joseph Conrad’s novels, is based on his own experience as a sailor. This story is closely connected to the period that he spent working for a Belgian trading company on a river steamer on the Congo River, which he captained for a short time. He returned sick, and disillusioned with the Belgians’ imperialistic attitude to the local people.
There are two narrators in Heart of Darkness: an anonymous narrator on board the Nellie and Marlow. The first narrator starts the novel and then introduces Marlow, who then in turn tells his story. At the end of Marlow’s story, the anonymous narrator then finishes the novel in his own words. This technique is called a frame narrative.
The main story in Heart of Darkness is the part narrated by the sailor Marlow. He tells some other sailors of his experience as the captain of a steamboat on a large river in Africa. Marlow’s job is to transport ivory, and then to go and bring back the company’s best ivory agent—Mr Kurtz—who is believed to be sick.
After a long delay because the boat has to be repaired, they sail up the river. They find Kurtz, who seems to have become a leader for the local people. Eventually, Marlow gets him onto the boat, but Kurtz dies on the way back down the river.
The word “darkness” from the title has different symbolic meanings in the text: the jungle, evil, corruption and exploitation. And it seems that, in the end, Mr Kurtz has picked up the “darkness“ rather than taking the “light“ to the people.
The novel is an attack on colonialism and imperialism, although it has been argued that Conrad dehumanizes the Africans, making them no more than a part of the dark and dangerous jungle.
Heart of Darkness has been translated into many languages and adapted for radio and television. The most famous adaptation is Francis Ford Coppola’s film Apocalypse Now (1979).

【Helbling文學讀本（Helbling Readers）簡介】

共出版十餘本，分兩大套：
● Helbling Classics（經典英文文學改寫）
● Helbling Fiction（當代原創英文小說）

《Helbling文學讀本》為一套最優質的英文分級閱讀讀本，英語難易度由初級銜接到中級。在各項英語認證考試中，本系列書培養的英語能力級數如下：

GEPT英檢 TOEIC多益 TOEFL iBT托福 IELTS雅思
中
級
550 57
-8
6 4.5

全系列皆隨書附贈全文朗讀MP3。
內文編排精美，採用彩色印刷，全文穿插精美插圖，單元設計豐富。
除了精彩的小說之外，另編寫有：

1. About the Author（作者簡介）：介紹作者，幫助認識創作背景。
2. About the Book（本書簡介）：介紹故事內容概要，幫助了解故事的背景與旨意。
3. Before Reading（閱前活動）：設計各種問題和活動，幫助暖身，啟發各種探討與學習。
4. After Reading（閱後練習）：設計各種深入的問題和題目練習，幫助復習內容，加深英語的學習印象。
5. Test（測驗）：有些讀本在閱畢之後，設計有各種測驗題目，包括文意測驗和英語練習等。