[Book Review] Reading Shigeru Fujinaga's "The Depths of 'Heart of Darkness'"—Western-Centrism and the Present State of the "Burden"
Introduction
Joseph Conrad's novel "Heart of Darkness" is often cited as a classic of civilization critique. Against the backdrop of the colonial experience during the era of imperialism, it has been deeply etched into literary history as a work that depicts the darkness of the heart that Europeans face in "uncivilized lands." However, is that reading truly valid? Shigeru Fujinaga's "The Depths of 'Heart of Darkness'" (Sankosha) goes beyond evaluating the work merely as a critique of civilization, attempting to link it to colonialism itself and re-read it as an issue that continues into the present day.
What the author repeatedly points out is the logic of Western-centrism that still persists today. This could be rephrased as the "logic of inclusion and assimilation." While appearing to respect the heterogeneous other on the surface, it ultimately recovers them in the name of universal reason and incorporates them into the overall order. The idea of the "totalization of reason," represented by Hegel's philosophy of history, can be said to be the most eloquent expression of this logic of inclusion and assimilation. Western reason is regarded as a universal principle, and the inevitability of world history is read into it. That framework is the background that has ideologically supported Western-centrism.
And we must not forget the fact that Japan is also a member of this "West." Since the modern era, Japan has positioned itself as a part of the West and has accepted the international order under the same logic. In that sense, the problem of colonialism is not just "what the West did in the past," but also a question of how we ourselves are incorporated into that framework. Looking directly at what lies in the depths of "Heart of Darkness" leads to re-examining the self-image of Japanese society at the same time.
Basic Information and Key Message of the Book
Shigeru Fujinaga is a Doctor of Science who spent many years specializing in chemistry at a Canadian university, but he has published a succession of works on literature and social criticism that transcend disciplinary boundaries. Behind this was a passion to turn his eyes toward the "injustices of the world" in a way different from his own research life. This book, "The Depths of 'Heart of Darkness'," was published in 2006 and, while using Conrad's novel as an entry point, discusses the history of African colonialism and its critical reception from multiple perspectives.
As the title suggests, the core of this book lies in digging deeper into the depths of "Heart of Darkness." In other words, it re-grasps the darkness of Africa depicted by Conrad not as a literary motif, but as something rooted in actual historical reality. The rule of the Congo by Leopold II, the exploitation of natural resources, and the tragedy denounced to the international community. Behind it all was the myth of civilization known as the "White Man's Burden." Fujinaga thoroughly dismantles this myth and instead reverses it, arguing that the "Black Man's Burden" was the reality.
At the same time, this dismantling work does not stop at mere historical narrative. By keeping in view the history of criticism surrounding "Heart of Darkness"—from the scathing critique by Chinua Achebe and the re-evaluation by Edward Said, to visual works like Francis Ford Coppola's film "Apocalypse Now"—it becomes clear how the work has been read and how it has become a target of debate. What they all have in common is the question of how to position the "other." And the author attempts to show that this problem is not limited to past events, but weighs heavily on us who live in the present.
In short, the key message of this book is this: "Heart of Darkness" is not merely a classic of civilization critique. What lies in its depths is the structure of colonialism, and that structure still defines our world today in a changed form. The object to be read is not "them," but "us" ourselves.
A Shortest-Distance Guide to "Heart of Darkness"
Let us briefly confirm "Heart of Darkness" itself once more. The skeleton of the story is the voyage of the narrator, Marlow, who takes on the task of traveling up a tributary in the depths of the Congo to meet the legendary merchant Kurtz. Kurtz is described as a person of extraordinary charisma, but as he gains power locally, he is swallowed by madness and cruelty. His final cry of "The horror! The horror!" is surely one of the most famous lines in literary history.
On the surface, this story looks like an adventure tale in which a civilized person finds the darkness of the heart in the depths of barbarism. That is why it has long been evaluated as a "classic of civilization critique" and considered a work that exposed the deception of imperialism. However, when the perspective is changed, a different problem emerges. For example, the people of Africa are given almost no voice and are merely depicted as an anonymous crowd. They are treated like mere stage props and hardly appear as actual subjects.
Also, the treatment of female figures is characteristic. Characters such as Marlow's aunt, Kurtz's fiancée, and the local mistress are each placed on the periphery of the story. They are depicted as "beings who are not told the truth" and play a role in reinforcing the logic of men. This composition shows that Western gender views and power relations are deeply embedded even within a story of civilization critique.
Even more important is the fact that the narrative of the work is full of irony. The scenes Marlow witnesses are often described with irony. The discrepancy between outward ideals and the reality of the misery behind them is the core of the irony that supports the work. However, this irony often leads to misreading. While some critics evaluate it by saying "Conrad himself was denouncing imperialism," there is also a position like Achebe's that concludes "he was a racist." This very fluctuation is what has complicated the debate surrounding "Heart of Darkness" and at the same time provided rich points of discussion.
In short, "Heart of Darkness" is not just an adventure story, but a work that highlights the contradictions of imperialism while simultaneously being complicit in those contradictions. That is why it throws new questions at us every time we read it.
Chapter-by-Chapter Summary by Shigeru Fujinaga
A major feature of this book is that it thoroughly connects "Heart of Darkness" to its historical context. Let's organize it chapter by chapter.
In Chapter 1, the film "Apocalypse Now," directed by Francis Ford Coppola, serves as a clue. Set during the Vietnam War, this film, which took "Heart of Darkness" and completely reworked it, amplified the madness of Colonel Kurtz and his scream of "The horror!" in a new context. Fujinaga points out that scenes depicted in the film, such as "children's arms being cut off," are by no means fiction, but reflect the atrocities actually committed in the Congo at the end of the 19th century. The film leaves a strong impression on the audience, but when one learns that there is real history behind it, the horror gains even more depth.
Chapters 2 and 3 describe the rule of the Congo Free State by King Leopold II of Belgium. While upholding a humanitarian mission, Leopold actually exploited the Congo as his own private territory. Due to the increased demand for natural rubber, local residents were subjected to harsh quotas, and if they could not meet them, their families were killed and they were subjected to brutal sanctions such as having their wrists cut off. The number of victims is estimated to have reached millions, a scale comparable to the later Holocaust. Fujinaga emphasizes that this violence was not based on madness, but on the rational logic of maximizing profits. In other words, imperialism created tragedy by calculation in the name of "reason."
Chapter 4 focuses on the people who denounced these atrocities. Black activist George Washington Williams denounced "crimes against humanity" in an open letter. Furthermore, British journalist Edmund Morel sensed slave labor from trade imbalances, and Sir Roger Casement reported the reality through on-site investigations. Their activities moved international public opinion, and eventually the Belgian government annexed the Congo, bringing an end to Leopold's private rule. However, the author suggests that this was not the end of imperialist exploitation, but that it continued in a different form.
In Chapter 5, Olive Schreiner, a female writer from South Africa, is discussed. Her novel, 'Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland,' was an accusatory depiction of executions of indigenous people and a challenge to imperialism. Her existence, contemporary with Conrad, shows that criticism from within imperialism already existed and provides a perspective that relativizes 'Heart of Darkness'.
Then, in Chapter 6, the core of this book—the reversal of the "White Man's Burden/Black Man's Burden"—is discussed. The myth of the "White Man's Burden," as sung by Rudyard Kipling, was a logic for dominating others in the name of civilization. Fujinaga turns this around, pointing out that it was the Black people who were truly burdened with a heavy load. Furthermore, he concludes that given the structure of resource extraction and international order that continues even after independence, this burden remains a present-day issue.
What becomes visible through the arguments made so far is the danger of dismissing the problem of colonialism as an "exceptional historical event." Rather, it is the inevitable consequence of the "logic of inclusion and assimilation" that the West has deployed in the name of universal reason, and we ourselves, including Japan, are incorporated into that framework.
How to accept Achebe's criticism
A discussion surrounding 'Heart of Darkness' that cannot be avoided is the criticism by Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe. In his 1975 lecture "An Image of Africa," he denounced Conrad as a "thoroughgoing racist." His argument was that Conrad depicted Africans as a wordless crowd and used them as a device to highlight the inner conflicts of Europeans. This statement caused a great stir at the time.
Fujinaga does not view Achebe's point as excessive in the slightest. Rather, he evaluates it as critically important for shaking up the conventional view of reading 'Heart of Darkness' solely as a classic of civilization critique and for prompting a rereading based on the reality of the colony. Indeed, as confirmed in the previous chapter, there were millions of victims in the Congo. Considering that reality, the fact that the African subject is missing from Conrad's novel is by no means a trivial issue.
On the other hand, how to position Achebe's criticism is also a difficult task. Conrad certainly used discriminatory expressions, but he also had the intention of accusing the cruelty of colonialism. If one focuses on the irony of the work, perhaps he was actually trying to expose the deception of the empire. Such defenses also exist persistently. Fujinaga does not easily judge this dichotomy. What is important is that both sides are touching upon the polysemy of 'Heart of Darkness.' Achebe's criticism relativized the myth of "civilization critique" and opened up a perspective to reread it from the standpoint of the victims of colonialism. In that respect, his words continue to hold power even now.
In short, it is not about whether to accept Achebe or not, but about thinking about the limitations and possibilities of the work simultaneously through his criticism. What Fujinaga is showing is that kind of attitude toward reading.
With Said: Between Accusation and Limitation
Edward Said's 'Culture and Imperialism' is also indispensable when discussing 'Heart of Darkness.' Said called Conrad a "prophet of imperialism." He described the darkness of imperialism while simultaneously being unable to possess the imagination to transcend its framework. In other words, he assessed him as a writer in whom accusation and limitation coexist.
Based on this assessment, Fujinaga pays particular attention to the "limitations" pointed out by Said. 'Heart of Darkness' certainly exposed imperialism, but at the same time, it could only speak of the world within the framework of the West. The voices of Africans were silenced, and their own stories were not depicted. Here, the logic of inclusion and assimilation is at work. Conrad was a critic of empire while simultaneously being a writer who accepted the gaze of the empire.
What is important is not to split this duality into one or the other. It is not a simple binary choice of whether to praise it or not, but to decipher both the accusation and the limitation. Through that work, we can touch upon the structure of imperialism and its ideological pillars. What Said showed was precisely that dual perspective, and Fujinaga's argument also overlaps with it.
What 'Apocalypse Now' Amplified
Turning our eyes back to film, 'Apocalypse Now' transposed 'Heart of Darkness' into the context of the Vietnam War. The setting is Asia, but what is depicted is still "barbarism carried out in the name of civilization." The sight of Colonel Kurtz acting like a dictator in the depths of Vietnam brought the ghost of Kurtz back to the present day.
The significance of this film lies in the fact that it visualized "terror." The scene where the helicopter unit attacks a village to the melody of Wagner, the pile of severed arms, the madness of Kurtz—these left a strong impression on the audience and highlighted the reality of imperialist violence. However, at the same time, it also contained the danger of becoming a spectacle. There is a risk that the seriousness of the problem is covered up in a different way as violence is consumed as visual pleasure.
Fujinaga does not overlook this duality. The film illuminated the essence of the novel in a different way, but it not only amplified the structure of imperialism, it also carried the risk of paralyzing the audience. It can be said that the shadow of the "logic of inclusion and assimilation" lurks here as well.
Toward the "Burden" That Continues Now
What this book strongly appeals to is the fact that the "burden" of colonialism is not a thing of the past. Even after Leopold II's private state ended, the structure of resource extraction continued in a changed form. In the mid-20th century, uranium used for atomic bombs was supplied from the Congo, and today, cobalt, which is indispensable for smartphones and electric vehicles, is mined from the same land.
What is important here is not to speak of this structure as a mere extension of history. Rather, it must be grasped as a contemporary variation of the "logic of inclusion and assimilation." While superficially acknowledging differences, it ultimately integrates them in the name of the universal reason of the global economy. This is proof that the totalization of Hegelian reason is still functioning in a different form.
Japan is also deeply incorporated into this totality. Having advanced modernization as a corner of the West, Japan is now in a position to share the "burden" of Africa through the chains of resources and consumption. Behind the products we hold, there exists someone's harsh labor and sacrifice. The history of colonialism has not ended.
What Fujinaga emphasizes is that this is not a problem of 'them,' but a problem of 'us.' The question is not how to save Africa from its tragedies, but how to save ourselves, who are complicit in them. What we see in the depths of 'Heart of Darkness' is not the darkness of the other, but the darkness of our own civilization itself.
Conclusion—What We Encounter in the Depths of 'Heart of Darkness'
When reading 'Heart of Darkness,' we are often drawn to the easy-to-understand composition of the 'conflict between civilization and barbarism.' However, if we follow Fujinaga's argument, we can see what lies behind it. When civilization speaks of itself as universal, the logic of inclusion and assimilation is always at work. While pretending to understand the other, it ultimately forces them to conform to its own framework. This is the root of Eurocentrism and the power symbolized by the totalization of Hegelian reason.
The treatment of the women who appear in 'Heart of Darkness' also reflects this structure. They are depicted as beings who are not told the truth and who protect the illusion of good intentions. In other words, even the story of civilization critique was supported by a mechanism that maintains fiction in the name of good intentions.
Ultimately, what we encounter in the depths of 'Heart of Darkness' is not the figure of the other. It is the figure of ourselves. The logic that gave birth to colonialism still breathes within the global economy and the international order. And Japan, too, is a member of that framework.
The message Fujinaga throws at us at the end is clear. The problem is not 'how to save them.' It is 'how to save us.' Facing past history is an unavoidable task for shaping the future.
As a late-night culture dispatch, there is one thing I want to convey here. Before we imagine the pain of others, we must first understand the structure. It is only beyond understanding that imagination is opened up. Rereading 'Heart of Darkness' might be the first step toward that.