Letteratura e mito. Una lettura di "Cuore di tenebra" a partire da Bachofen

The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate that the inspiration that pervades the works of the philologist and historian of religions Johann Jacob Bachofen is akin to that of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Such kinship rests not so much on Conrad’s direct knowledge of Bachofen’s works, but rather on an implicitly “mythical” component in Conrad’s literary aesthetic that manifests itself in the “matriarchal” horizon that, this essay argues, can be perceived in Heart of Darkness. This perspective of this essay opens up a new hermeneutical approach to Conrad’s famous novella while at the same time highlighting the essential link between literature and myth.