Postcolonial Network Analysis of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

Abstract

In the field of literary studies, Joseph Conrad’s masterpiece, Heart of Darkness (1899), has been extensively researched. Following the emergence of digital humanities, new methods of analysis on the novella have also been conducted; one of which focuses on Network Text Analysis (NTA) of the work (Hunter and Smith, 2014). In reaction to this, for the contribution of recent studies in literature, this essay attempts to perform an analysis on network construct between the Company and Kurtz (the two main nodes in the network) in Heart of Darkness using two web-based network analyzers: Voyant Tools and Cytoscape. The analysis refers to, to name a few, Ferguson’s (2017) observation on network in history and Jagoda’s (2016) observation on network aesthetics in novels. This essay ultimately seeks to map out the network linking the two nodes and see how postcolonial view on the visualization is conducted.