heart of darkness and jekyll a

'It appears as if the whole of civilised humanity were converted to the aesthetics of the dusk of nations' (Max Nordau, 1895). How far and in what ways is 'Civilisation' under threat in Joseph Conrad's, Heart of Darkness, (1902), and Robert Louis Stevenson's, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, (1886). "Civilisation degrades the many to exalt the few." - Amos Bronson Alcott (1) "Fin-de-siecle claims that jingoism and aestheticism were upwellings of a single underlying decadence." …

…her Essays, edited and translated by Arthur Kahn (London: Merlin Press, 1970). Maixner, Paul (Ed), Robert Louis Stevenson: A Critical Heritage (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981). Murfin, Ross, Heart of Darkness, A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism (New York: St Martins Press, 1989). Rivkin, Julie & Ryan, Michael (Eds), Literary Theory: An Anthology (Oxford: Blackwell, 1998). Stevenson, Robert Louis, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and Other Stories, edited by Jenni Calder, Penguin Classics (London: Penguin, 1979).