|
Kurtz (Heart Of Darkness)
Kurtz is a central fictional character in Joseph Conrad's 1899 novella ''Heart of Darkness''. He is a trader of ivory in Africa and commander of a trading post, and previously a colonel. He monopolises his position as a demigod among native Africans. Kurtz meets with the novella's protagonist, Charles Marlow, who returns him to the coast via steamboat. Kurtz, whose reputation precedes him, impresses Marlow strongly, and during the return journey, Marlow is witness to Kurtz's final moments. In the novella Kurtz is an ivory trader, sent by a shadowy Belgian company into the heart of an unnamed place in Africa (generally regarded as the Congo Free State). With the help of his superior technology, Kurtz has turned himself into a charismatic demigod of all the tribes surrounding his station and gathered vast quantities of ivory in this way. As a result, his name is known throughout the region. Kurtz's general manager is envious of Kurtz and plots his downfall. Kurtz's mother was half ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heart Of Darkness
''Heart of Darkness'' (1899) is a novella by Polish-English novelist Joseph Conrad in which the sailor Charles Marlow tells his listeners the story of his assignment as steamer captain for a Belgian company in the African interior. The novel is widely regarded as a critique of European colonial rule in Africa, whilst also examining the themes of power dynamics and morality. Although Conrad does not name the river on which most of the narrative takes place, at the time of writing the Congo Free State, the location of the large and economically important Congo River, was a private colony of Belgium's King Leopold II. Marlow is given a text by Kurtz, an ivory trader working on a trading station far up the river, who has "gone native" and is the object of Marlow's expedition. Central to Conrad's work is the idea that there is little difference between "civilised people" and "savages." ''Heart of Darkness'' implicitly comments on imperialism and racism. The novella's setting pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Léon Rom
Léon Auguste Théophile Rom (1859–1924) was a Belgian soldier and colonial official who became prominent in the administration of the Congo Free State during the late 19th century. Career Léon Rom was born to a poor family in Mons, Belgium, in 1859 and entered the Belgian Army at the age of 16. He subsequently worked as a customs official before leaving Belgium for the new Congo Free State in 1886 as one of the few hundred whites working in the colony's administration. Receiving a series of rapid promotions, Rom commanded the station at Stanley Falls (now Boyoma Falls) and was eventually promoted District Commissioner of Matadi. He later transferred to the colonial military, the ''Force Publique'', where he served as a captain. He was praised for his conduct during the Congo Arab War (1892–94) in which he personally negotiated the surrender of an Arab stronghold. After retiring from the ''Force Publique'', he worked as an official for the Compagnie du Kasai in central Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megalomaniac
Megalomania is an obsession with power and wealth, and a passion for grand schemes. Megalomania or megalomaniac may also refer to: Psychology * Narcissistic personality disorder * Grandiose delusions * Omnipotence (psychoanalysis), a stage of child development Albums * ''Megalomania'' (Aqua album), 2011 * '' Mania velichia'' or ''Megalomania'', a 1985 album by Aria * ''Megalomania'' (Enslavement of Beauty album), 2001 * ''Megalomania'', a 2014 album by Kissin' Dynamite Songs * "Megalomaniac" (Incubus song), 2004 * "Megalomaniac" (KMFDM song), 1997 * "Megalomania" (Muse song), a 2001 song by Muse from ''Origin of Symmetry'' * "Megalomania", a 1975 song by Black Sabbath from ''Sabotage'' * "Megalomania", a 1983 song by the Blood from '' False Gestures for a Devious Public'' * "Megalomania", a 1992 song by Pele from ''Fireworks'' * "Megalomania", a 1991 song by Therion from '' Of Darkness...'' Other * ''Mega-Lo-Mania'', a 1991 real-time strategy game by Sensible Soft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gilbert Islands
The Gilbert Islands ( gil, Tungaru;Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill IslandsVery often, this name applied only to the southern islands of the archipelago, the northern half being designated as the Scarborough Islands. ''Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary''. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam Webster, 1997. p. 594) are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands in the Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Papua New Guinea and Hawaii. They constitute the main part of the nation of Kiribati (the name of which is a rendering of “Gilberts” in the phonology of the indigenous Gilbertese). Geography The atolls and islands of the Gilbert Islands are arranged in an approximate north-to-south line. The northernmost island in the group, Makin, it is approximately from southernmost, Arorae, as the crow flies. Geographically, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tembinok'
Tembinok', or Tem Binoka, (reigned 1878 – 10 November 1891) was the ''Uea'' (High Chief) of Abemama, Aranuka and Kuria, in the Gilbert Islands, during the late 19th century. Biography Tembinok'′s grandfather, Temkarotu (d. 1860), was the ruler of a village on Abemama, which was then experiencing devastating feuds. Temkarotu extended his authority over the entire atoll, and established a dictatorship, ignoring the traditional authority of a "council of Old Men". Temkarotu died about 1860. Temkorotu left two sons, Tembinatake and Tembaiteke (father of Tembinok'). Tembinatake conquered Aranuka and Kuria, then delegated absolute authority to his nephew Tembinok'. Tembinok'′s great-great-grandfather Temtetabo, was a giant of a man who had saved Abemama from invasion by an army from Tarawa. Tembinok' was the last truly independent and influential king of parts of the Gilbert islands, at a time when the Gilberts were being increasingly influenced by white settlers and tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Ebb-Tide
''The Ebb-Tide. A Trio and a Quartette'' (1894) is a short novel written by Robert Louis Stevenson and his stepson Lloyd Osbourne. It was published the year Stevenson died. Plot Three beggars operate in the port of Papeete on Tahiti. They are Herrick, a failed English businessman; Davis, an American sea captain disgraced by the loss of his last ship; and Huish, a dishonest Cockney of various employments. One day an off-course schooner carrying a cargo of champagne from San Francisco to Sydney arrives in port, its officers having been killed by smallpox. With no one else willing to risk infection, the U.S. consul employs Davis to take over the ship for the remainder of its voyage. Davis brings the other two men, along with a plan to steal the ship and navigate it to Peru, where they will sell the cargo and vessel and disappear with the money. Once at sea, Davis and Huish start drinking the cargo and spend almost all of their time intoxicated. Herrick, whose conscience is se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Beach Of Falesá
"The Beach of Falesá" is a novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It was first published in the ''Illustrated London News'' in 1892, and later published in book form in the short-story collection ''Island Nights' Entertainments'' (1893). It was written after Stevenson moved to the South Seas island of Samoa just a few years before he died there. Plot John Wiltshire, a Scottish copra trader on the fictional South Sea island of Falesá. Upon arriving on the island, he meets a rival trader named Case, who (in an apparently friendly gesture) arranges for him to be "married" to a local girl named Uma in a ceremony designed to impress the natives but to be completely non-binding in the view of Europeans. Wiltshire soon discovers that Uma has a taboo attached to her which causes all the other natives to refuse to do business with him, to Case's profit. He also hears rumours of Case having been involved in the suspicious deaths of his previous competitors. Although realising t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'', '' Kidnapped'' and ''A Child's Garden of Verses''. Born and educated in Edinburgh, Stevenson suffered from serious bronchial trouble for much of his life, but continued to write prolifically and travel widely in defiance of his poor health. As a young man, he mixed in London literary circles, receiving encouragement from Andrew Lang, Edmund Gosse, Leslie Stephen and W. E. Henley, the last of whom may have provided the model for Long John Silver in ''Treasure Island''. In 1890, he settled in Samoa where, alarmed at increasing European and American influence in the South Sea islands, his writing turned away from romance and adventure fiction toward a darker realism. He died of a stroke in his island home in 1894 at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Société Anonyme Belge Pour Le Commerce Du Haut-Congo
Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the second largest food products group in France, behind Danone. It owns brands such as Parmalat, Président, Siggi's Dairy, Skånemejerier, Rachel's Organic, and Stonyfield Farm. History André Besnier started a small cheesemaking company in 1933 and launched its ''Président'' brand of Camembert in 1968. In 1990, it acquired Group Bridel (2,300 employees, 10 factories, fourth-largest French dairy group) with a presence in 60 countries. In 1992, it acquired United States cheese company Sorrento. In 1999, ''la société Besnier'' became ''le groupe Lactalis'' owned by Belgian holding company BSA International SA. In 2006, they bought Italian group Galbani, and in 2008, bought Swiss cheesemaker Baer. They bought Italian group Parmalat in a 2011 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest), is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels, which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is located in the central portion of the country and is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the Flemish Region (within which it forms an enclave) and the Walloon Region. Brussels is the most densely populated region in Belgium, and although it has the highest GDP per capita, it has the lowest available income per household. The Brussels Region covers , a relatively small area compared to the two other regions, and has a population of over 1.2 million. The five times larger metropolitan area of Brusse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norman Sherry
Norman Sherry FRSL (6 July 1925 – 19 October 2016) was an English novelist, biographer, and educator who was best known for his three-volume biography of the British novelist Graham Greene. He was professor of English literature at Lancaster University. During World War Two, he served in Burma. Sherry was born in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, the younger twin (by eleven minutes) of Alan. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He also wrote on Joseph Conrad, Charlotte and Emily Brontë, and Jane Austen. His ''Life of Graham Greene'' was praised by David Lodge for being "a remarkable and heroic achievement" that he predicted would prove "the definitive biography of record" of Greene. From 1983, Sherry held the post of Mitchell Distinguished Professor of Literature at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. He was married three times: first to the children's novelist Sylvia Sherry, then to Carmen Flores (with whom he had a son and a daughter), and finally ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Morton Stanley
Sir Henry Morton Stanley (born John Rowlands; 28 January 1841 – 10 May 1904) was a Welsh-American explorer, journalist, soldier, colonial administrator, author and politician who was famous for his exploration of Central Africa Central Africa is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries according to different definitions. Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo ... and his search for missionary and explorer David Livingstone, whom he later claimed to have greeted with the now-famous line: "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?". Besides his discovery of Livingstone, he is mainly known for his search for the sources of the Nile and Congo River, Congo rivers, the work he undertook as an agent of Leopold II of the Belgians, King Leopold II of the Belgians which enabled the occupation of the Congo (area), Congo Basin region, and his command of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Henry Morton Stanley")