Title: The dark continent? : images of Africa in European narratives about the Congo /
Authors: Andersen, Frits,; Frost, William,; Skovhus, Martin,
Date: 2016
Publisher: Aarhus University Press,
Physical description: 690 pages : illustrations (some color), portraits (some color), maps (some color) ; 25 cm
Language: English
LC classification: D
Abstract: Africa: a forgotten continent that evades all attempts at control and transcends reason. Or does it? This book describes Europes image of Africa and relates how the conception of the Dark Continent has been fabricated in European culture with the Congo as an analytical focal point. It also demonstrates that the myth was more than a creation of colonial propaganda; the Congo reform movement the first international human rights movement spread horror stories that still have repercussions today. The book cross-examines a number of witness testimonies, reports and novels, from Stanleys travelogues and Conrads 'Heart of Darkness' to Herges Tintin and Burroughs 'Tarzan', as well as recent Danish and international Congo literature. 'The Dark Continent?' proposes that the Wests attitudes to Africa regarding free trade, emergency aid and intervention are founded on the literary historical assumptions of stories and narrative forms that have evolved since 1870.
Contents: THE CONGO IN PROSE- INTRODUCTION. Life and works: reading Stanley -- Traveller on global terms -- Prose: a framework and reading perspective -- Literary topography of the Congo -- Anthropoetic narrative and method ; H.M. STANLEY - MAGIC AND MARKET. Moving perspective: Through the Dark Continent (1878) -- Conflicting testimonies: In Darkest Africa (1890) -- The space of prose: magic and pragmatism ; RED RUBBER - TALES OF TERROR. Heart of Darkness in travel literature -- Atrocity accounts -- "The Espionage System": red rubber in prose -- The field: red rubber and Heart of Darkness between Nationalism and world literature ; THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. The Congo in travel literature: history and oblivion -- The Congo in novels: Graham Greene, V.S. Naipaul and Urs Widmer -- The Congo in popular literature: bizarre truths in bizarre stories -- The Congo, I Presume: anthropoetic narrative ; THE CONGO IN PROSE. Congo literature: a cross-sectional view -- Place -- Testimony -- Atrocity accounts and human rights -- Oblivion and historical narrative -- World literature and globalisation.
Notes: "This book is a revised version of the Danish dissertation Det mørke kontinent? which was accepted for defence for the higher doctoral degree in philosophy and subsequently approved by the Faculty of Arts, Aarhus University."
Subject headings (LCSH): Congo (Democratic Republic)--History; Congo (Democratic Republic)--In literature.; European literature--History and criticism--19th century.; European literature--History and criticism--20th century.; Kongo (African people)--Social life and customs.