Joseph Conrad's 1902 novel Heart of Darkness is one of the most famous stories about Africa in Western literature. In it, a European man, Mr. Kurtz, who is a colonial agent sent to "subdue" a jungle region, is reduced to insanity after being exposed to an African society that is untouched by European contact, perhaps because he realizes that that his own society, an imperial European society conquering the world, is not the only real one. He can't handle this realization, and goes mad. Marlow, the story's narrator, is sent up the Congo River to find him, working hard not to have the same experience. Here is part of what Achebe has said about Heart of Darkness: "...It is the desire...the need—in Western psychology to set Africa up as a foil for Europe ...Heart of Darkness projects the image of Africa as 'the other world,' the antithesis of Europe and therefore of civilization, a place where man's...intelligence and refinement are finally mocked by triumphant bestiality. ...The real question is the dehumanization of Africa and Africans. ...And the question is whether a novel which celebrates this dehumanization, which depersonalizes a portion of the human race, can be called a great work of art. My answer is: No, it cannot."

Do you agree with Achebe? Can a work like Conrad's be considered great, or does its portrayal of Africa and Africans keep it from truly speaking to all readers?