Reading Groups

In Short: Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness with Shirley Tung

$30

1 Session

Out of stock

Saturday, 11:00 am EDT - 12:30 pm EDT March 8, 2025

Online via Zoom

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Published in 1899, Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness is one of the foundational texts of the Modernist period and offers a scathing critique of the British Empire. The story is a quest narrative that takes place both externally, with Marlow’s journey through the Congo, and internally, into the inner recesses of the psyche—the dark heart of the human condition. Consequently, Heart of Darkness exposes the dark underbelly of imperialism as well as conveys the wide-scale social alienation that characterized much of the early 20th century.

As we voyage with Marlow into the “heart of darkness,” we will tackle some difficult topics, but always with a critical eye toward how Conrad’s novella ironically aestheticizes colonial brutality toward the Congolese to make the reader uncomfortably complicit in the “horrors” they witness.

What to read before the first meeting: Please read Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness in its entirety. A PDF of the novella will be emailed to all participants and can also be purchased here.

What to expect from this reading group: The session will begin with a contextual mini-lecture, followed by a conversation opener. Although the group leader will have passages on hand to illustrate the key concepts and to guide the discussion, participants are expected to shape the course of the conversation.=

Capacity: 25

Please note: All virtual classes are recorded. Please click here for information about our recording policy.

Led by

Shirley F. Tung

Shirley F. Tung

Shirley F. Tung is Associate Professor of English at Kansas State University, specializing in the literature and culture of the Restoration and long eighteenth century. She is also a visiting scholar at the University of Oxford’s Centre for Life-Writing. Dr. Tung’s scholarly work, which spans the genres of (auto)biography, epic and lyric poetry, early periodicals and print media, and travel writing, has been published in several top-tier academic journals such as European Romantic Review, Huntington Library Quarterly, and Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies. At Kansas State, she teaches courses that range from medieval to modernist literature as well as classes on film and television. Her teaching has received the awards at the international, national, and collegiate levels from the British and American Societies for Eighteenth-Century Studies, Kansas State’s College of Arts and Sciences, and the Student Association of Graduates in English. Currently, Dr. Tung is completing two books: a micro-biography on John Milton’s time as a pamphleteer during the English Civil War and a braided biography of three influential eighteenth-century women travel writers.

About this series

Reading Groups

Whether you’re looking to catch up on great novels or you’re interested in exploring a new writer or literary period, our reading groups offer high-level literary discussion led by experts in the field.

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