Heart of Darkness was written by which author?

• A. Charles Dickens
• B. Herman Melville
• C. Joseph Conrad
• D. Mark Twain

Answer: (C)

Heart of Darkness was written by Joseph Conrad. Conrad, a Polish-born writer who wrote in English, published this novella in 1899. It follows Marlow as he travels up the Congo River during the era of European colonialism and uses a framed narrative to explore how imperialism reveals moral ambiguity and the darkness that can lie in civilization. The work is a landmark in anti-imperial literature and has influenced later storytelling, including films like Apocalypse Now. The other authors listed—Charles Dickens, Herman Melville, and Mark Twain—are famous for different major works (Dickens for Victorian novels like Great Expectations, Melville for Moby-Dick, Twain for adventures on the American frontier), not Heart of Darkness.