<br /><i><b>Heart of Darkness</b></i>&nbsp; is a&nbsp;novella&nbsp;by Polish-British novelist&nbsp;Joseph Conrad, about a voyage up the&nbsp;Congo River&nbsp;into the&nbsp;Congo Free State, in the heart of Africa, by the story&#39;s narrator&nbsp;Charles Marlow. Marlow tells his story to friends aboard a boat anchored on the&nbsp;River Thames, London, England. This setting provides the&nbsp;frame&nbsp;for Marlow&#39;s story of his obsession with the ivory trader&nbsp;Kurtz, which enables Conrad to create a parallel between London and Africa as places of darkness.