• Heart of Darkness: A Signature Performance by Kenneth Branagh

  • By: Joseph Conrad
  • Narrated by: Kenneth Branagh
  • Length: 3 hrs and 49 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (8,968 ratings)

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Heart of Darkness: A Signature Performance by Kenneth Branagh  By  cover art

Heart of Darkness: A Signature Performance by Kenneth Branagh

By: Joseph Conrad
Narrated by: Kenneth Branagh
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Editorial reviews

"The horror! The horror!" In this brooding and justly celebrated novella of 1902, seaman Charles Marlow is cruising quietly down the Thames at dusk with some friends. As night begins to fall, he tells them of his harrowing journey down an African river in search of the unscrupulous and near-legendary ivory trader named Kurtz, a quest deep into inky spiritual and symbolic darkness. 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. But had he taken more cognizance of its trajectory and subtleties, he would have made the listening experience far richer than he has.

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.

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)

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What listeners say about Heart of Darkness: A Signature Performance by Kenneth Branagh

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Exceptional performance

A piece of art. A lot of admiration to the passion and mastery of Mr. Kenneth Brannah.

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The Finest Narrator I Have Ever Heard.

A Great story made all the better by a superb performance. Well worth a listen

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Branagh

Branagh worked magic into this novel. Literature sometimes us very difficult to read, and I recommend this format for thus very dense book.

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Very good work of literature. Excellent delivery

Narration was wonderful, to begin. I would thoroughly recommend to anyone interested in classic pieces of literature, as it has a fundamental place as making the reader/listener think about what's really going on. This isn't an easy piece to just sit back with. You need to stay engaged if you want to really understand the plot, as well as the underlying story of it.

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Fascinating

The darkest book that I've enjoyed reading. Just as well written as "Apocalypse Now" was directed.

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Brilliant reading of this book

Branagh's reading is spot-on. It's hard to imagine anyone handling the material any better. (This is NOT a given among screen actors.)

The decision to read Conrad is yours. A suggestion: do not give up on this book. It picks up steam and is well worth the time, especially given the modest length of the novella.

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The Horror

I always had trouble with Conrad's writing style, but Branagh really delivers a beautiful performance of this classic.

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Superb Performance of a Great Book

This is a book I've always struggled to understand no matter how often I've tried to read it. Being a fan of Apocalypse Now I've tried many times but it's not till now with Branagh behind the text that this just finally made sense. The book is amazing - the text is just so lyrical - the description of the Thames at the start is simply beautiful to hear not to mention imagine. Branagh is fantastic - having listened to a few books recently which are more historic in nature I found listening to this like what you'd imagine silk would sound like if it could talk. Surround and immerse yourself in this - will listen to this again and often I imagine.

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Good way to get through this classic

Apocalypse Now is one of my favorite films, so I wanted to read the book that helped inspire the movie. I tried reading Heart of Darkness twice, then gave up and decided to listen to it. The first half was still hard to get through. I get that it's a classic, and there were moments of brightness, but it still dragged for me. The second half is where it really shines and things get interesting. The narrator did a great job of bringing to life a book that in my minority opinion is rather dry.

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Branagh!!

What I really enjoyed about this audiobook is the way Kenneth Branagh anticipated every turn, twist, every emotion. It is as if he had read the book a hundred times and never got bored. Everything his voice did was exactly suited to the text.

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