In Joseph Conrad’s classic novella Heart of Darkness, his main character, Kurtz, goes into the African jungle.

There, Kurtz dies. But his last words have carried on.

Kurtz concludes his life and the book with the cry: “The horror.”

The words and story have undergone constant reinterpretation ever since Conrad wrote them. There has never been conclusive agreement as to what Kurtz meant, until now.

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