Heart of Darkness: A Signature Performance by Kenneth Branagh

By: Joseph Conrad

Narrated by: Kenneth Branagh

Length: 3 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Prose that demands to be read aloud requires a special kind of narrator. For the Audible Signature Classics edition of Joseph Conrad’s atmospheric masterpiece, Heart of Darkness, we called upon four-time Academy Award nominee Kenneth Branagh.

Branagh’s performance is riveting because he reads as though he’s telling a ghost story by a campfire, capturing the story’s sense of claustrophobia, while hinting at the storyteller Marlow’s own creeping madness. Heart of Darkness follows Captain Marlow into the colonial Congo where he searches for a mysterious ivory trader, Kurtz, and discovers an evil that will haunt him forever.

With this landmark work, Conrad is credited with bringing the novel into the twentieth century; we think Branagh brings it into the twenty-first.

Stay tuned for more one-of-a-kind performances from actors David Hyde Pierce, Leelee Sobieski, Tim Curry, and more, only from Audible Signature Classics.

Listen to more Audible Signature Classics.

Public Domain (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Acclaimed Irish actor/director Kenneth Branagh impersonates Marlow in this recording. Admirably, while fully playing the drama, he never goes overboard. He plays the tale for the great yarn that it is." ( AudioFile)

The Ideal Teller for This Tale

Where does Heart of Darkness: A Signature Performance by Kenneth Branagh rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is an excellent audiobook. Branagh realizes that the most important character in Heart of Darkness is not Mr. Kurtz, but Marlow, the narrator, He reads simply, but also shows that Marlow may understand more about the bizarre scenes he faces than he would ever say directly.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Marlow. Branagh makes you believe that men with better things to do would sit on a chilly deck for hours just to hear the rest of his story. And this is the first thing you have to believe if you are going to appreciate the story.

What about Kenneth Branagh’s performance did you like?

I liked it that he neither readi it like a Movie Star performing a novel nor left his acting skills at the door. He inhabited his role—which was that of the narrator who brings the other characters to life.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I knew the text very well before I listened to this version. I don't recall that it make me laugh or cry, though it may have, but it did make the book completely fresh for me once again.

Any additional comments?

Narration is a special skill, and not all actors have it. Branagh does. I hope he can be persuaded to read more books. And if he an Alex Kingston could create an audio version of their Macbeth, that might be glorious.

Spellbinding narration of a great story

Would you consider the audio edition of Heart of Darkness: A Signature Performance by Kenneth Branagh to be better than the print version?

Yes. The narration is maybe the best I have ever heard, and I have nearly 1000 audiobooks in my collection. He brought the darkness and despair out and gave it life through his reading. This was an Oscar worthy performance of an audiobook.

What did you like best about this story?

Branaugh had a wonderful work to begin with but his ability to bring it to life was a pure rare delight. I hung on his narration and felt the lonely dark despair of the characters

What does Kenneth Branagh bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Life, fear, disenchantment and expectation of his next word. It gave the book vivid emotion.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

No spoilers so ...Marlowe's emotional voyage at the near end.

Any additional comments?

This is one of the truest examples of the wonders an audiobook can be when a great book meets an unsurpassed narrator.

A Classic Brought to Life

Would you consider the audio edition of Heart of Darkness: A Signature Performance by Kenneth Branagh to be better than the print version?

Absolutely brilliant. I struggled to get through the print version of Heart of Darkness, but ultimately gave up about halfway through. Branagh's narration takes the century-old text and gives it proper inflection. He is an actor as much as a reader, and brings the story to life.

Which scene was your favorite?

Kurtz is built up for most of the story, hailed as a visionary for his ability to coerce ivory out of Africa. The best scene is when we find out how.

Any additional comments?

The horror. The horror.

An incredible work!

Bad books teach you nothing, they only entertain, while good books teach you about events, people at certain times under particular pressures. Great books though, teach you about yourself, the deeper, primordial things that make up your atoms. Joseph Conrad wrote a great book, and Kenneth Branagh has done it justice with his wonderful narration. Worth the buy and worth repeated listening.

Mesmerizing reading

The reading by Kenneth Branagh is mesmerizing! The melancholy and memories of Marlow are brought to life.

The story is itself not always easy to follow on audiobook because of the many long rumination of Marlow. But it's not a long book and I could finish it in one day with some concentration.

Fantastic performance

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely would recommend. A classic story, brilliantly read.

Who was your favorite character and why?

This is not a book where a character is a "favorite". That's not a bad thing

What does Kenneth Branagh bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I'm not usually a fan of Branagh, but his performance here is incredible. As someone else wrote, he tells this as if it's a ghost story. Completely compelling.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Just overall extreme pleasure in the telling

Any additional comments?

It's not a story that fills in every detail.... in some ways you want more.

Easy listening

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Easy listening after a somewhat tedious description of the setting in the first twenty minutes or so.

A Classic Read by a Classic

Who am I to review this narrator, this writer? Excellence breathes through every one of their words. Tune in, drop off, be transported.

Branagh's rendering worthy of this classic

If you could sum up Heart of Darkness: A Signature Performance by Kenneth Branagh in three words, what would they be?

Intelligence, professionalism, understanding

Who was your favorite character and why?

The narrator

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I was awed by the enormity of the setting

Any additional comments?

Would that people still knew how to write prose such as this.

Fantastic performer.

Not only was the story intriguing and compelling, but the performance really brought it to life. I have never heard an audible book so well done. Very enjoyable.