Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness (1899) is a novella by Polish-English novelist Joseph Conrad about a narrated voyage up the Congo River into the Congo Free State in the so-called "heart of Africa". Charles Marlow, the narrator, tells his story to friends aboard a boat anchored on the River Thames. This setting provides the frame for Marlow's story of his obsession with the ivory trader Kurtz, which enables Conrad to create a parallel between what Conrad calls "the greatest town on earth", London, and Africa as places of darkness.
Ellen Olney Kirk
Ellen Warner Olney wrote as a young woman, but did not publish her first novel until age 34. Novels by Ellen Olney Kirk include "Love in Idleness" (serialized 1876-1877, under pseudonym "Henry Hayes"); "His Heart's Desire" (1878); "The Story of Margaret Kent" (1886, again as "Henry Hayes"); "Sons and Daughters" (1887); "Queen Money" (1888); "A Daughter of Eve" (1889); "Walford" (1890); "Ciphers" (1891); "The Story of Lawrence Garthe" (1894); "Revolt of a Daughter" (1897); "Dorothy and her Friends" (1899); "A Remedy for Love" (1902); "Good-bye, Proud World" (1903); and "Marcia" (1907). Contemporary reviewers considered her work somewhat old-fashioned, especially after the turn into the twentieth century, but some were charmed by the
familiar plots and the absence of overt social commentary. Her 1898 Christmas book for young readers, "Dorothy Deane: A Children's Story", was illustrated by Philadelphia artist Sarah Stilwell Weber.