Heart of Darkness is a literary classic written by esteemed Anglo-Polish writer, Joseph Conrad. The story is a complex exploration of the beliefs people hold on what constitutes a barbarian versus a civilized society and the stance on colonialism and racism that was part and parcel of European imperialism. Originally published as a three-part serial story in Blackwood's Magazine, the novella Heart of Darkness has been variously published and translated into many languages. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Heart of Darkness as the sixty-seventh of the hundred best novels in English of the twentieth century.