Conrad i Arendt. Ujawnianie korzeni zła

Titles of major works of both writers point to the effort of revealing the most difficult and most secret knowledge of evil. Hannah Arendt, trying to dig out the roots (or rather the beginnings) of totalitarianism, follows the Joseph Conrad as an explorer of kernel (more precisely: heart) of darkness. And when later, Arendt embarks on a journey to Jerusalem to participate in the Eichmann trial, like Conrad ’s Marlow, she is fascinated by tales of a strong man, because she expects to see someone undoubtedly bad, but also great. Meanwhile, reveals “banality of evil” and this category is worth to refer to the case of Kurtz in Conrad ’s story. The attacks of critics on "Eichmann in Jerusalem", and "Heart of Darkness", based on allegations of humiliation of victims and suggesting their participation in the crime, also contain interesting parallels.