Introduction & Notes by Gene M Moore Universiteit van Amsterdam Generally regarded as the pre-eminent work of Conrad&s shorter fiction Heart of Darkness is a chilling tale of horror which as the author intended is capable of many interpretations Set in the Congo during the period of rapid colonial expansion in the 19th century the story deals with the highly disturbing effects of economic social & political exploitation of European & African societies & the cataclysmic behaviour this induced in some individuals The other two stories in this book – Youth & The End of the Tether – concern the sea & those who sail upon it a genre in which Conrad reigns supreme