1 Introduction

The discussion centers on Chinua Achebe's critique of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, noting that Achebe overlooks Conrad's cultural context and amplifies the novel's racist tendencies. Achebe's essay sparked controversy in Western literary circles, with supporters and opponents respectively challenging and defending Conrad and his work. Domestic scholars Zhao Haiping and Yan Zhiqiang analyzed Conrad's racist consciousness and historical limitations from different perspectives. The article argues that Achebe's critique constitutes an "intentional misreading," forcibly divorcing literary works from their cultural context, which may lead to biased interpretations.

2 The Psychological Roots of Achebe's "Intentional Misreading"

This section delves into the psychological underpinnings of Achebe's "intentional misreading" of Conrad's work. As a sensitive and emotionally vulnerable African Black intellectual, Achebe exhibited extreme sensitivity to racism in the Western world. This sensitivity may stem from a deep-seated national inferiority complex, though his novels do not reveal such feelings but instead serve as cultural weapons, employing rational counter-writing strategies to depict the daily lives of African people. However, in An Image of Africa, Achebe's irrational thinking is more pronounced, and his critical analysis of Conrad appears far-fetched, contrasting sharply with the rational counter-writing strategies in his novels. This irrationality may be linked to the centrality of emotion in African national character, leading him to judge the Western world solely by whether it discriminates against Africa. When reading Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Achebe's irrational perspective caused him to excessively focus on and amplify hostile depictions of Africa, resulting in his subversive critique of Conrad.

3 Achebe's "Intentional Misreading" Strategy

This section explores how Achebe employs the "intentional misreading" strategy to interpret Conrad's Heart of Darkness and expose its racist tendencies. Achebe uses three main strategies: First, he reconstructs the African scenes in Heart of Darkness into a coherent narrative through meaning-linking and story reframing, subverting the original structure of the novel. Second, he downplays Conrad's creative context, swiftly redirecting the reader's focus to detach the novel from its original cultural framework. Finally, Achebe skillfully recontextualizes the text, dissolving its historical dimension and embedding literary criticism within a broader framework of social critique. Through these strategies, Achebe not only critiques Conrad but also targets broader Western colonial discourse, positioning Conrad as a representative of racist rhetoric for condemnation.

4 Conclusion

Achebe may have deliberately exaggerated the racial bias in Heart of Darkness to assert African discursive power in the Western world. His rereading or rewriting of Heart of Darkness in An Image of Africa successfully conveys his political agenda. However, to objectively assess the artistic value of Heart of Darkness and Conrad's true imagery, one must return to the historical and cultural context of its creation.