| Both Conrad and Nietzsche recognized that the moral landscape of their time was deteriorating as previous notions of man's nature and origins were displaced by the growing power and authority of science. Both authors hoped to fill a growing moral void left by the declining tenability of absolute truths concerning human value and meaning. Their common quest brought them independently to a similar understanding of man and the universe, an existential worldview that stresses the value of passion over reason, and the individual over the whole. An analysis of Conrad's Heart of Darkness in terms of Nietzsche's concept of will to power reveals this parallel development of thought that conceives of a world in which value and meaning are not given a priori, but arise in the hard work and struggle of those strong and creative individuals who conceive their own values. |
