Conrad's Heart of Darkness explores the mysteries of human corruption. Francis Ford Coppola adapted Conrad's novel in Apocalypse Now, re-telling Conrad's story in the context of the Vietnam War instead of the Belgian colonization of the Congo. Matthew Stover's Star Wars novel, Shatterpoint, adapts Heart of Darkness with Mace Windu as the protagonist. Stover's novel is set on Mace's home world, the jungle planet of Haruun Kal, whose guerrilla uprising clearly echoes Coppola's film. How do Coppola and Stover adapt Conrad's novel? How does the portrayal of racism and colonialism differ in these appropriations? How do their endings diverge from each other?
Another interesting perspective that may be helpful is Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart," which was considered the indigenous perspective to Conrad (however, flawed this book might be in achieving such). – Paul Osgerby9 years ago
