Part I, Mateo Wiesner

In his blog entry to Part I of "Heart of Darkness", Mateo Wiesner raised an interesting question as to the use of irony in the novel. What I enjoyed the most, aside from his relevant, textual references, was his conclusion. He actually gave an answer to the question he had initially proposed and concluded that no, an effective use of irony on behalf of Joseph Conrad cannot yet be claimed.

Additionally, Mateo has a straightforward way of writing that allows the reader to enjoy his analysis. It is neither repetitive nor wordy. He does a great job at introducing his entry; giving slight background information about the thesis he was about to propose and, most importantly, going straight to the point.  He is able to create a superb mixture between scholar diction and unusual sentence structure.

I liked the fact that Mateo went beyond the text. I, for example, analyzed Part I on a literal level; I used what Conrad had written and worked with that. Mateo, on the other hand, took what Conrad had written and worked with the way it had been written; why Conrad achieved through the use of irony and what possible underlying message this may have had.