We were intrigued to read this article by Aaron Rosenberg in Tribune, drawing parallels between Ford and Conrad’s 1901 science fiction novel The Inheritors, and the recent controversy over Donald Trump’s statements about annexing Greenland.
The Inheritors was Ford and Conrad’s first published collaboration, although Ford wrote most of it. It has many elements, but one plotline involves the annexation of Greenland, and its impact on international affairs at a time of political uncertainty. This was a thinly disguised reference to the Belgian King Leopold’s exploits in the Congo, a theme which had been a significant focus of Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness, published in serial form two years earlier.1
The inheritors of the title are a secret group opposed to all traditional values and ideals. However they are also time-travellers claiming to be from the fourth dimension, so (hopefully!) we cannot take the analogy with current events too literally. Nevertheless, Rosenberg argues that “this strange book is coming into its own; it speaks to the present in unsettling ways”.
- The definite article was dropped when Heart of Darkness was published in book form in 1902. ↩︎
