The Internet: The Heart of Literary Illumination

For such a short novel, Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness sure holds its own.  I say this because I was truly surprised by the novel's large online presence and active digital community that I explored through Amazon and Goodreads.  For this assignment, we were encouraged to focus on the Consume, Connect, and Create principles that we talked about in class.  These principles were brought to life by Samuel McGrath in Writing about Literature in the Digital Age, which can be accessed here.

Consume:
I read many different reviews--some from Amazon, and some from Goodreads.  From reading these reviews, I noticed a funny little fact: several of the reviews that I read were written by people who had read, and subsequently hated, Heart of Darkness because they had read it in high school or college. These same people then went on to say that they now loved Heart of Darkness because they came at it with a new perspective and a new attitude.  I would dub this experience "re-consumption," and I have had the same experience.  Although libraries and recommendations have existed for a long time, I think platforms such as Amazon and Goodreads encourage people to come back to books that they've read previously.  When people leave such reviews, I feel as if it encourages others who might have negative opinions about certain literary works to "think twice."

Connect:
I've already talked about the "Connect" principle indirectly in the above paragraph, but I am going to expound a little more here.  Platforms such as Goodreads make literature, and the enjoyment thereof, so much more accessible.  We've discussed in class many times about the fact that these platforms make reading less of a solitary endeavor.  I absolutely love the fact that I can see what text other people have highlighted while I am reading.  It helps me synthesize information and become more comfortable with sharing my own literary opinions.

Create:
I've never been one for fanfiction, but I have taken a particular interest in its concept due to our discussion in class this past Wednesday.  This class has really shown me that so many literary bridges and gaps have been crossed as a result of the internet.  For fun, I wanted to see if there was any Heart of Darkness fanfiction out there.  If you would like to read the story I read, click here. I've really gained a deeper appreciation for people who so readily share their work online.