The Cinematic Quality Embodied In Heart Of Darkness

Joseph Conrad is one of the most famous British novelists in the end of 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. In the ideological crisis of his times, he bravely absorbed new technology, new idea, constantly tried new things and finally ran in front of his era. This innovative awareness is embodied in his cinema consciousness and found in his literary works.Conrad's cinema consciousness is vividly presented by his famous credo:"my task which am I trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word to make you hear, to make you feel—what's more important, is to make you see." He also puts his "make you see" awareness into practice; the reader can get a strong visual effect from his works. His every story is a movie. This thesis lays emphasis on how Conrad manipulated his great language power to melt cinematic elements into Heart of Darkness and how he attains the aesthetic values though cinematic techniques. Under his pen, close-up, flash-forward, flash-back, time-ellipsis, montage, color and light, each develops its own velocity to present an exotic and strange world, which has held a long fascination for modern film-maker.The other important part of this thesis is to compare Heart of Darkness and the film Apocalypse Now adapted from this novel on sound, arrow attack to prove that though novel has the disadvantage in presenting visual images, the audiovisual pictures in Conrad's depiction is not overshadowed by film with the modern technology.