Nidesh Lawtoo is Lecturer in English at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. He is the author of The Phantom of the Ego: Modernism and the Mimetic Unconscious (2013).

"... provides a challenging and provocative reading of Heart of Darkness - not only for its timely re-assertion of Heart of Darkness as "one of the greatest texts of Western literature", but also for its provocation of the range of responses evidenced by the essays in this volume... Nidesh Lawtoo's volume sets up a critical dialogue between philosophy and literature and makes an important intervention in Conrad studies." -- Robert Hampson FEA, FRSA, Professor of Modern Literature, Royal Holloway, University of London, editor of Heart of Darkness (Penguin, 1995). Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe's newly translated philosophical reading of Heart of Darkness, the centerpiece of this volume, is "an event of thought" itself. It provokes in this collection of extraordinary essays, new and richly diverse readings of Conrad's novella. As responses to Lacoue-Labarthe's "The Horror of the West," these essays illuminate, and complicate - through accord, qualification, and disagreement - his important engagement with Heart of Darkness. All confirm, in their engaged and thoughtful attention to the text itself, Lacoue-Labarthe's assertion that Heart of Darkness is "one of the masterpieces of Western literature." Informed variously by contemporary philosophy and by critical theories of narrative, mimesis, and psychoanalysis, among others, these essays respond in their disparate tones and manners, to the French philosopher's contention that the West's "will to power" underlies the horrors of Roman colonization and Belgian atrocities in Africa as well as the Holocaust, current genocides and global violence, thus rendering them of striking currency and urgent relevance to us all. -- Andrea White, Professor of English, California State University at Dominguez Hills, USA Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. -- J. G. Peters, University of North Texas CHOICE

• AcknowledgementsPreface, Anne LuyatIntroduction: 'An Emotion of Thought', Nidesh LawtooPrologue: Revisiting 'Heart of Darkness Revisited' (in the Company of Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe), J. Hillis MillerPart I: Mythic Darkness1. Heart of Darkness Revisited, J. Hillis Miller2. Modernism, Myth and Heart of Darkness, Michael Bell3. Civilization and its Darkness, Jonathan DollimorePart II: Conrad avec Lacoue-Labarthe4. A Frame for 'The Horror of the West, Nidesh Lawtoo5. The Horror of the West, Philippe Lacou-Labarthe6. Philippe's Lessons of Darkness, François WarinPart III: The Affect of Ideology 7. "La lettre , Lacan, Lacoue-Labarthe: Heart of Darkness redux, Stephen Ross8.The Voice of Darkness, Claude Maissonat9. The Horror of Trauma: Mourning or melancholia in Heart of Darkness, Beth S. AshPart IV: The Echo of the Horror 10. Conrad's Dionysian Elegy, Henry Staten11. Sounding the Hollow Heart of the West: X-Rays and the technique de la mort, Martine Hennard Dutheil de la Rochère12. The Horror of Mimesis: Echoing Lacoue-Labarthe, Nidesh LawtooPostface: A talk with Avital Ronell (about Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe)BibliographyIndex.

Nidesh Lawtoo is Lecturer in English at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. He is the author of The Phantom of the Ego: Modernism and the Mimetic Unconscious (2013).

"... provides a challenging and provocative reading of Heart of Darkness - not only for its timely re-assertion of Heart of Darkness as "one of the greatest texts of Western literature", but also for its provocation of the range of responses evidenced by the essays in this volume... Nidesh Lawtoo's volume sets up a critical dialogue between philosophy and literature and makes an important intervention in Conrad studies." -- Robert Hampson FEA, FRSA, Professor of Modern Literature, Royal Holloway, University of London, editor of Heart of Darkness (Penguin, 1995). Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe's newly translated philosophical reading of Heart of Darkness, the centerpiece of this volume, is "an event of thought" itself. It provokes in this collection of extraordinary essays, new and richly diverse readings of Conrad's novella. As responses to Lacoue-Labarthe's "The Horror of the West," these essays illuminate, and complicate - through accord, qualification, and disagreement - his important engagement with Heart of Darkness. All confirm, in their engaged and thoughtful attention to the text itself, Lacoue-Labarthe's assertion that Heart of Darkness is "one of the masterpieces of Western literature." Informed variously by contemporary philosophy and by critical theories of narrative, mimesis, and psychoanalysis, among others, these essays respond in their disparate tones and manners, to the French philosopher's contention that the West's "will to power" underlies the horrors of Roman colonization and Belgian atrocities in Africa as well as the Holocaust, current genocides and global violence, thus rendering them of striking currency and urgent relevance to us all. -- Andrea White, Professor of English, California State University at Dominguez Hills, USA Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. -- J. G. Peters, University of North Texas CHOICE

• AcknowledgementsPreface, Anne LuyatIntroduction: 'An Emotion of Thought', Nidesh LawtooPrologue: Revisiting 'Heart of Darkness Revisited' (in the Company of Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe), J. Hillis MillerPart I: Mythic Darkness1. Heart of Darkness Revisited, J. Hillis Miller2. Modernism, Myth and Heart of Darkness, Michael Bell3. Civilization and its Darkness, Jonathan DollimorePart II: Conrad avec Lacoue-Labarthe4. A Frame for 'The Horror of the West, Nidesh Lawtoo5. The Horror of the West, Philippe Lacou-Labarthe6. Philippe's Lessons of Darkness, François WarinPart III: The Affect of Ideology 7. "La lettre , Lacan, Lacoue-Labarthe: Heart of Darkness redux, Stephen Ross8.The Voice of Darkness, Claude Maissonat9. The Horror of Trauma: Mourning or melancholia in Heart of Darkness, Beth S. AshPart IV: The Echo of the Horror 10. Conrad's Dionysian Elegy, Henry Staten11. Sounding the Hollow Heart of the West: X-Rays and the technique de la mort, Martine Hennard Dutheil de la Rochère12. The Horror of Mimesis: Echoing Lacoue-Labarthe, Nidesh LawtooPostface: A talk with Avital Ronell (about Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe)BibliographyIndex.

Nidesh Lawtoo is Lecturer in English at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. He is the author of The Phantom of the Ego: Modernism and the Mimetic Unconscious (2013).

"... provides a challenging and provocative reading of Heart of Darkness - not only for its timely re-assertion of Heart of Darkness as "one of the greatest texts of Western literature", but also for its provocation of the range of responses evidenced by the essays in this volume... Nidesh Lawtoo's volume sets up a critical dialogue between philosophy and literature and makes an important intervention in Conrad studies." -- Robert Hampson FEA, FRSA, Professor of Modern Literature, Royal Holloway, University of London, editor of Heart of Darkness (Penguin, 1995). Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe's newly translated philosophical reading of Heart of Darkness, the centerpiece of this volume, is "an event of thought" itself. It provokes in this collection of extraordinary essays, new and richly diverse readings of Conrad's novella. As responses to Lacoue-Labarthe's "The Horror of the West," these essays illuminate, and complicate - through accord, qualification, and disagreement - his important engagement with Heart of Darkness. All confirm, in their engaged and thoughtful attention to the text itself, Lacoue-Labarthe's assertion that Heart of Darkness is "one of the masterpieces of Western literature." Informed variously by contemporary philosophy and by critical theories of narrative, mimesis, and psychoanalysis, among others, these essays respond in their disparate tones and manners, to the French philosopher's contention that the West's "will to power" underlies the horrors of Roman colonization and Belgian atrocities in Africa as well as the Holocaust, current genocides and global violence, thus rendering them of striking currency and urgent relevance to us all. -- Andrea White, Professor of English, California State University at Dominguez Hills, USA Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. -- J. G. Peters, University of North Texas CHOICE

• AcknowledgementsPreface, Anne LuyatIntroduction: 'An Emotion of Thought', Nidesh LawtooPrologue: Revisiting 'Heart of Darkness Revisited' (in the Company of Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe), J. Hillis MillerPart I: Mythic Darkness1. Heart of Darkness Revisited, J. Hillis Miller2. Modernism, Myth and Heart of Darkness, Michael Bell3. Civilization and its Darkness, Jonathan DollimorePart II: Conrad avec Lacoue-Labarthe4. A Frame for 'The Horror of the West, Nidesh Lawtoo5. The Horror of the West, Philippe Lacou-Labarthe6. Philippe's Lessons of Darkness, François WarinPart III: The Affect of Ideology 7. "La lettre , Lacan, Lacoue-Labarthe: Heart of Darkness redux, Stephen Ross8.The Voice of Darkness, Claude Maissonat9. The Horror of Trauma: Mourning or melancholia in Heart of Darkness, Beth S. AshPart IV: The Echo of the Horror 10. Conrad's Dionysian Elegy, Henry Staten11. Sounding the Hollow Heart of the West: X-Rays and the technique de la mort, Martine Hennard Dutheil de la Rochère12. The Horror of Mimesis: Echoing Lacoue-Labarthe, Nidesh LawtooPostface: A talk with Avital Ronell (about Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe)BibliographyIndex.