Heart of darkness (Penguin Books)

Joseph Conrad's haunting Modernist masterpiece, now in the beautifully designed Penguin Clothbound Classics seriesHeart of Darkness has been considered for most of this century as a literary classic, and also a powerful indictment of the evils of imperialism.

It reflects the savage repressions carried out in the Congo aby the Belgians in one of the largest acts of genocide committed up to that time. Conrad's narrator encounters at the end of the story a man named Kurtz, dying, insane, and guilty of unspeakable atrocities.

What he sees on his journey, and his eventual encounter with Kurtz, horrify and perplex him, and call into question the very bases of civilization and human nature.