Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
*contains spoilers* In 1899, at a time when Victorian Britain was proud and vocal about its imperialist domination in many parts of the world, Joseph Conrad, born in Ukraine in 1857 as Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, brought down this not-quite-a-novel-but-a-bit-more-than-a-novella with a righteous smash, shattering the unfounded notions of British superiority with an earthquake that still rumbles and resonates under our feet today. It’ll disconcert any number of us budding writers to learn that English was only Conrad’s third language – his first and second being Polish and French respectively – so reading this particular text is an indictment on our own linguistic skills as well as our general lack of awareness about Britain’s negative impact on the world (take Brexit as a recent example of the nation’s current, overall naivety regarding international relations, trade and diplomacy). As a Brit reading the text, it’s difficult not to look at oneself awkwardly in the mirror of the st...