Programming note: On Saturday, please join me for a special edition of our Serenade Radio weekend music show, On the Town. The fun starts at 5pm British Summer Time - which is 6pm in Western Europe and 12 noon North American Eastern. You can listen from almost anywhere on the planet by clicking the button at top right here.
~Welcome to the conclusion of our seventy-second Tale for Our Time: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Larry Durham, a South Carolina Steyn Clubber, says:
As another TFOT enters the home stretch all I can say is bravo! I might even watch Apocalypse Now to see how true Francis Ford Coppola was to Conrad. Then again, maybe not.
Well, I haven't seen it in decades, but, if I recall correctly, it does have a character called Kurtz.
In our final episode Conrad's protagonist is returned from the dark waters of the Congo:
I found myself back in the sepulchral city resenting the sight of people hurrying through the streets to filch a little money from each other, to devour their infamous cookery, to gulp their unwholesome beer, to dream their insignificant and silly dreams. They trespassed upon my thoughts. They were intruders whose knowledge of life was to me an irritating pretence, because I felt so sure they could not possibly know the things I knew. Their bearing, which was simply the bearing of commonplace individuals going about their business in the assurance of perfect safety, was offensive to me like the outrageous flauntings of folly in the face of a danger it is unable to comprehend...
There's a lot of that about. Members of The Mark Steyn Club can hear me read the conclusion of Heart of Darkness simply by clicking here and logging-in. Earlier episodes can be found here.
We always get questions about our theme music. Josh, a Steyn Clubber in Massachusetts, writes:
A book that needs rereading—or re-listening—as much as it does reading. I'm going back to your first installment as soon as you've finished. Brilliant. May we know the identity of the music you chose? It sounds both of the time of the novel, and of the feral spirit that infuses its setting.
That's because it's called Africa and was composed in 1891 - or eight years before Conrad wrote his caper. Usually with these Tales, I "audition" various theme tunes - sometimes half-a-dozen, occasionally more than twice that - until I find something that suits. I'd played Africa on the radio in the Eighties, but hadn't heard it in a long time. As soon as I cranked up the phonograph, I said: That's it; Brahms, Mussorgsky, Toto, you guys can all go home. The cove in question is M Saint-Saëns, better known for his Organ Symphony, Danse Macabre and Carnival of the Animals.
We'll have a new audio adventure for you next month. In the meantime, a word on listener reaction to our other Tales: some like the ripping yarns for boys, some the more genteel social comedy for girls, and some of you even enjoy our ventures into summer whimsy from yours truly. But of the tales in totality all seem to be in favour.
If you've yet to hear any of them, you can enjoy eight years' worth of audio adventures - by Conan Doyle, Kafka, Wodehouse, Gogol, Dickens, Baroness Orczy, Jane Austen, George Orwell, Robert Louis Stevenson and more - by joining The Mark Steyn Club. For details on membership, see here - and, if you're seeking the perfect gift for a fan of classic fiction, don't forget our Steyn Club Gift Membership. Sign up that special someone today - it's the perfect birthday present!
Tales for Our Time will be back very soon, and don't forget the latest episode of my weekend music show.
