Au cœur des ténèbres par Venantius

Novella assez brève, Au cœur des ténèbres rappellera, à ceux qui l'ont lu, les ambiances de Lovecraft. Ce n'est bien sûr pas un hasard—les deux auteurs ont puisé leurs inspirations aux sources du style gothique victorien, dont les descriptions outrées, les invocations grandioses, la terreur martelée (on pensera à cette phrase “The horror! The horror!”, qui fait figure de formule qui résume le livre). C'est une lecture distrayante, dans laquelle on retrouve par moment l'ironie de Conrad, mais qui est relativement plus “premier degré” que ses œuvres plus longues.

Une citation pour la route : « They were no colonists; their administration was merely a squeeze, and nothing more, I suspect. They were conquerors, and for that you want only brute force—nothing to boast of, when you have it, since your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others. They grabbed what they could get for the sake of what was to be got. It was just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind—as is very proper for those who tackle a darkness. The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. What redeems it is the idea only. An idea at the back of it; not a sentimental pretence but an idea; and an unselfish belief in the idea—something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to… »