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Heart of Darkness: A Signature Performance by Kenneth Branagh
- Narrated by: Kenneth Branagh
- Length: 3 hrs and 49 mins
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Heart of Darkness: A Signature Performance by Kenneth Branagh
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Editor 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.
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.
Critic reviews
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What listeners say about Heart of Darkness: A Signature Performance by Kenneth Branagh
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 13-04-23
Exceptional
An excellent performance of an extraordinary tale. Branagh’s delivery transports and encourages the imagination. Superb!
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- cliffaw
- 08-12-23
Apocalypse Now
I only got this to finally discover the similarities between this and Apocalypse Now. Yes, the various characters are easily identifiable but for a novel that lasted less than four hours I still found it a heavy slog.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- mark andrews
- 30-01-24
Fantastic
Beautifully read by a proper thesbian, I can see why he's held in high regard, the subtlety of his work in this case fits perfectly with the story. Five stars.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Dr RE Hodgson
- 27-02-24
Outstanding Audible experience in every aspect
I have wanted to know this story for many years. To have it read by Kenneth Branagh was just brilliant. Will definitely be back to savor the experience again
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 17-03-24
Nothing. it was boring. the characters were boring. All they did was talk nonsense.
This isn't my cup of tea. Had to read it because of the curriculum.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- S. Goodyear
- 13-04-16
Haunting and beautiful
This classic text was beautifully narrated and evoked such vivid images of the events taking place that you could imagine yourself part of the story each time you listened.
Anyone who enjoys a well written and decadent story should listen to this recording. I have read the story many times but to hear it read to you by such a well spoken and emotional voice is fantastic. Kenneth Branagh is amazing as the story teller and with his perfect diction and English accent transports you back in time to the setting of the tale without affectation or pretence.
Although the subject matter is dark it is a joy to hear the tale told.
A must listen!
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21 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- L
- 21-10-16
Not what I expected
Any additional comments?
I found this book to be much more of a drag than I would've thought. Slow and full of xenophobic and racist comments (queue the cry of "but it's meant to be!"), this wouldn't have bothered me so much, given it's from another time, if the story had actually been engaging. I might have "gone native" too if I had to listen to this more than once.
I was intrigued by the character of Kurt, obviously, but other than that, I wasn't that engaged. Especially during the boat scenes where the natives are spear-chucking away, and I had no idea what was going on. Besides that, we take an awful long time to get anywhere.
I know, I know, this is meant to be literary and claustrophobic, and while it is certainly the latter, I struggle to see how it is the former. Yes, some of it is successfully feverish, but some is just bland, and while I love Kenneth Branagh, not even his narration could inject energy into it.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- alesdair
- 15-10-13
Just great
Would you listen to Heart of Darkness: A Signature Performance by Kenneth Branagh again? Why?
Branagh is a cut above any other reader I have listened to before
What was one of the most memorable moments of Heart of Darkness: A Signature Performance by Kenneth Branagh?
If you are a fan of Apocalypse now then you will particularly enjoy understanding where the source material was drawn from.
No doubt a tale of its time but listened to in that context, massively enjoyable.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 13-04-13
There's Methody in the Madness
Terrific performance by Sir KB (an alumnus of Methodist college, Belfast: AKA Methody). Felt dramatic and emotional as apprpriate. The novel is a retelling of a tale and mostly in the storytelling style, hence the appropriateness of the presnetational style.
The story itself is an interesting story. The film Apocolypse Now, closely follows the story with phrases and even names reused. It clearly is an homage to the book.
Whilst far from uplifting the story is a good study of morality and mental balance. It length is perfect if you have a long journey and can complete it in one day. It dropped a star because of the style of language of the book. This is unfair as it was written for a contemporary audience, I guess, and language has moved on since then.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Gutterstargazer
- 03-10-21
Epic story. Epic performance
Studied this book in IB over 20 years ago. What a joy to hear it read so well.
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