true
Self Made Hero logo

Heart of Darkness

Words by David Zane Mairowitz

Art by Catherine Anyango Grünewald

Paperback with flaps, 128 pp, £12.99

In this deeply atmospheric rendering of Conrad's classic, we join colonial trader Marlow as he recounts his journey into the heart of Africa. Artist Anyango uses intricate pencil drawings that disintegrate to abstraction as Marlow travels further towards the dying Kurtz and the heart of darkness...

Interspersed with excerpts from Conrad's The Congo Diary, Mairowitz and Anyango create a powerful vision of Conrad's finest and most enduring novella. Famously, it was Conrad's prophetic take on imperialism that inspired Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam war epic Apocalypse Now.


David Zane Mairowitz


David Zane Mairowitz is an author, playwright, radio director and translator. As a professional freelance writer for 40 years, he has collaborated on numerous books, including the successful Introducing Kafka (with Robert Crumb), Introducing Camus and Wilhelm Reich for Beginners. His plays for the theatre include a critically acclaimed theatrical version of Kafka's The Trial. His articles have appeared in Harper's, Vogue, Plays and Players, The Village Voice, The Progressive and The Sunday Times. His short stories have appeared in various literary magazines, including Partisan Review, New Directions and the prestigious Penguin Modern Stories. For the past 25 years, he has produced radio dramas and documentaries in over 20 European countries and for the BBC, winning various international radio prizes. He lives and works in France and Berlin.

Catherine Anyango Grünewald


Catherine Anyango Grünewald, a published graphic novelist and teacher, taught at the RCA in London for  10 years and is now a Senior Lecturer in Illustration at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. She illustrated a graphic novel adaptation of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness for SelfMadeHero in 2010, and in 2019 was awarded the prestigious Navigator Art on Paper Prize. In 2021, Phaidon’s Vitamin D3 included her among the 100 best practitioners of contemporary drawing.

Reviews

"Every page is both extraordinary and extraordinarily beautiful, and I urge you to go out and buy it."
— The Observer