Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that can help answer the question.
Query: Who is the main character of  Heart of Darkness?
Marlow's name may be inspired by the Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe. Conrad's father was a translator of William Shakespeare who doubtless would have known of Marlowe's work as well. Some intertextual interpretations of "Heart of Darkness" have suggested that Marlowe's "The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus" may have influenced Conrad. Charles Marlow describes a character as a "papier-mache Mephistopheles", a reference to the Faust legend. Marlow's and Kurtz's journey up the Congo River in "Heart of Darkness" also has similarities to another work by Marlowe, "Dido, Queen of Carthage", in which Aeneas is stranded on the shore of Libya and meets the African queen Dido.
How America Was Discovered  is a story told by Handsome Lake, and documented by Arthur C. Parker, about a young minister who meets the one he perceives to be the Lord, who then asks him to go to a new land and bring with him cards, money, a fiddle, whiskey, and blood corruption. In return the young minister will become rich. The young minister sought out Christopher Columbus, and with the help of his crew, traveled to the Americas. They turned back to report what they had seen, which caused an immigration of people from Europe to the Americas. Along with the people came the five things that aided in destroying the natives. The end reveals that the "Lord" in the gold castle was actually the devil, and that even he knew what he had caused was wrong.
Liliana Cavani's 1970 "I Cannibali" is a contemporary political fantasy based upon the Sophocles play, with Britt Ekland as Antigone and Pierre Clémenti as Tiresias.
Leviathan is a 2009 novel written by Scott Westerfeld and illustrated by Keith Thompson. First of a trilogy set in alternative version of World War I, it has Central Powers (known in-universe as "Clankers") using mechanized war machines opposed by Entente Powers (as "Darwinists") who fabricate living creatures genetically. The central protagonists are Aleksander, son of Archduke Franz Ferdinand; and Deryn, a Scottish girl with dreams of joining the British Air Service with her brother. The sequels are "Behemoth" and "Goliath". The first two chapters of this book were released with "Bogus to Bubbly: Insider's Guide to the World of Uglies".
Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, "A Christmas Carol", remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. "Oliver Twist" and "Great Expectations" are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, "A Tale of Two Cities", set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell, G. K. Chesterton and Tom Wolfe—for his realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term "Dickensian" is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.
"A Night to Remember", about the sinking of the RMS "Titanic", became a bestseller in 1955 and was made into a popular 1958 British movie of the same name. The historian tracked down 63 "Titanic" survivors and wrote a dramatic, minute-by-minute account of the ocean liner's sinking during her maiden voyage. Lord's knowledge of the "Titanic" catastrophe achieved considerable renown, and he frequently lectured at meetings of the Titanic Historical Society. In his final years, Lord wrote another book about the "Titanic" titled "The Night Lives On: Thoughts, Theories and Revelations about the Titanic", published in 1986, a year after the wreck of the "Titanic" was discovered and interest in the "Titanic" renewed again. In the next decade, Lord served as a consultant to director James Cameron during the filming of "Titanic" (1997). The sequel documentary to Cameron's film "Titanic", "Ghosts of the Abyss" (2003), was dedicated to Lord's memory.
At the time the "Titanic" sank, the 1 May 1912 issue of "The Popular Magazine", an American pulp magazine, was on the news stands. It contained the short story "The White Ghost of Disaster," which described the collision of an ocean liner with an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean, the sinking of the vessel, and the fate of the passengers. The story, by Mayn Clew Garnett (the pseudonym of sea-story author T. Jenkins Hains), created a minor sensation. In 1898, fourteen years prior to the "Titanic" disaster,
Morgan Robertson wrote a book called "Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan". This story features an enormous British passenger liner called the "Titan", which, deemed to be unsinkable, carries insufficient lifeboats. On a voyage in the month of April, the "Titan" hits an iceberg and sinks in the North Atlantic with the loss of almost everyone on board. There are some similarities between the fictional sinking of the "Titan" and the real-life sinking of the RMS "Titanic".
In "Danse Macabre", King's non-fiction, semi-autobiographical review of horror in all media forms, King confesses that 'Salem's Lot was largely derived from the town of Durham, Maine; specifically the area in which he resided as a youth known locally as "Methodist Corners." The Marsten House of Salem's Lot was based upon a vacant house of the same name in Methodist Corners; he and his friends had explored the real Marsten House as children.the last three books of "The Dark Tower" series:
The central theme of "The House of Mirth" is essentially "the struggle between who we are and what society tells us we should be". Thus, it is considered by many to be as relevant today as it was in 1905. If its sole subject had been the excesses and lives of the rich and famous, by themselves, it is doubtful it would have remained popular for as long as it has. "The House of Mirth" continues to attract readers over a century after its first publication, possibly due to its timeless theme. That the life and death of Lily Bart matters to modern readers suggests that Wharton succeeded in her purpose: to critique "a society so relentlessly materialistic and self-serving that it casually destroys what is most beautiful and blameless within it."
Titanic is a four-part television miniseries period drama written by Julian Fellowes based on the sinking of the RMS "Titanic", a passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, United Kingdom, to New York City, United States.
Although some of the details are often misremembered, the effect upon popular culture of the Golden Age of Piracy can hardly be overstated. "A General History of the Pirates" (1724) by Captain Charles Johnson is the prime source for the biographies of many well known pirates of the Golden Age, providing an extensive account of the period. In giving an almost mythical status to the more colourful characters such as the notorious English pirates Blackbeard and Calico Jack, it is likely that the author used considerable licence in his accounts of pirate conversations. In 2002, English naval historian David Cordingly wrote an introduction to Johnson's 1724 book, stating: "it has been said, and there seems no reason to question this, that Captain Johnson created the modern conception of pirates." Johnson's book would influence the pirate literature of Robert Louis Stevenson and J. M. Barrie. Such literary works as Stevenson's "Treasure Island" and Barrie's "Peter Pan", while romanticized, drew heavily on pirates and piracy for their plots.
Nick Adams is a young, restless man who wants a good life and to see the world. Though he is told it is not worth the attempt, he decides to go away from his midwestern home. Along the way, he encounters numerous people, and later joins the Italian army to fight the Germans in World War I, where he falls in love.Jerry Wald and A. E. Hotchner approached Hemingway seeking the rights to either "Across the River and Into the Trees" or the Nick Adams stories. Hemingway did not want to sell rights to his novel and was only keen on selling one Nick Adams story. Hotchner pitched to buy the rights for ten of the nineteen stories. Hemingway agreed provided certain conditions were met, including ensuring that "Nick was a good boy."
With its setting in the Thirty Years' War, it covered a period never previously depicted on film (apart from 1933's "Queen Christina"). In this light, George MacDonald Fraser wrote in 1988, "The plot left me bewildered - in fact the whole bloody business is probably an excellent microcosm of the Thirty Years' War, with no clear picture of what is happening and half the cast ending up dead to no purpose. To that extent, it must be rated a successful film. ... As a drama, "The Last Valley" is not remarkable; as a reminder of what happened in Central Europe, 1618-48, and shaped the future of Germany, it reads an interesting lesson." Fraser says of the stars, "Michael Caine ... gives one of his best performances as the hard-bitten mercenary captain, nicely complemented by Omar Sharif as the personification of reason."
Despain is the author of the "Dark Divine" trilogy and the "Into The Dark" trilogy. Her first novel, "The Dark Divine", was published in 2009, and the second, "The Lost Saint", was published in December 2010. The Dark Divine series' main character is Grace Divine, a teenage girl who is the daughter of a pastor whose life is flipped once an old childhood friend, Daniel Kalbi, returns into her life. Despain's third and final installment to the Dark Divine series, "The Savage Grace", was released on March 13, 2012. Her next novel, The Shadow Prince, is the first installment of her new Into The Dark series, which is described as a modern-day retelling of the Persephone/Hades and Orpheus/Eurydice myths. The Eternity Key, book 2 in the Into The Dark trilogy released April 28, 2015, and book three is scheduled to release in the fall of 2016 from Carol Rhoda Labs Press.
Fahrenheit 451 is a 1966 British dystopian drama film directed by François Truffaut and starring Oskar Werner, Julie Christie, and Cyril Cusack. Based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Ray Bradbury, the film takes place in a controlled society in an oppressive future in which the government sends out firemen to destroy all literature to prevent revolution and thinking. This was Truffaut's first colour film as well as his only English-language film. At the 1966 Venice Film Festival, "Fahrenheit 451" was nominated for the Golden Lion.
In a review of the novella for "Black Gate", Matthew David Surridge hypothesized that Machen took inspiration from Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" (1818) in his portrayal of Dr. Raymond as a mad scientist akin to Victor Frankenstein. The works of Robert Louis Stevenson, especially his 1886 novella "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde", were among Machen's most significant influences when writing "The Great God Pan". Critic John Gawsworth also sees Machen's novella as reminiscent of the horror stories of Edgar Allan Poe and Sheridan Le Fanu. Aaron Worth noted similitude between the death of Helen Vaughan and the theories of alchemist Thomas Vaughan, who is the character's namesake and Helen's disintegration recalls the alchemical concept of the prima materia. John C. Tibbetts observes similarities between Helen Vaughan and Ayesha, the sexually liberated demonic priestess from H. Rider Haggard's "" (1886). Machen wrote that several critics felt that Joris-Karl Huysmans's novels "À rebours" (1884) and "Là-bas" (1891) had inspired "The Great God Pan", though he did not read either book until after "Pan" was published. Upon reading the two novels, Machen concluded that "my critics had not read them either."
It has also been suggested that Jeremias Gotthelf's nineteenth century novella, "The Black Spider", was heavily influenced by the Arachne story from Ovid's "Metamorphoses". In the novella, a woman is turned into a venomous spider having reneged on a deal with the devil.
Charles Dickens is the most famous Victorian novelist. Extraordinarily popular in his day with his characters taking on a life of their own beyond the page; Dickens is still one of the most popular and read authors of the world. His first novel, "The Pickwick Papers" (183637) written when he was twenty-five, was an overnight success, and all his subsequent works sold extremely well. The comedy of his first novel has a satirical edge and this pervades his writing. Dickens worked diligently and prolifically to produce the entertaining writing that the public wanted, but also to offer commentary on social problems and the plight of the poor and oppressed. His most important works include "Oliver Twist" (1837–39), "Nicholas Nickleby" (183839)", A Christmas Carol" (1843), "Dombey and Son" (1846–48), "David Copperfield" (184950), "Bleak House" (185253), "Little Dorrit" (185557), "A Tale of Two Cities" (1859), and "Great Expectations" (186061). There is a gradual trend in his fiction towards darker themes which mirrors a tendency in much of the writing of the 19th century.
The Slow Regard of Silent Things is a fantasy novella and one of the companion tales in "The Kingkiller Chronicle" series written by American author Patrick Rothfuss. It includes illustrations by Nate Taylor and was first published by DAW Books in the United States on October 28, 2014.
Fitzwilliam Darcy, generally referred to as Mr. Darcy, is one of the two central characters in Jane Austen's novel "Pride and Prejudice". He is an archetype of the aloof romantic hero, and a romantic interest of Elizabeth Bennet, the novel's protagonist. The story's narration is almost exclusively from Elizabeth's perspective; the reader is given a one-sided view of Darcy for much of the novel, but hints are given throughout that there is much more to his good character than meets the eye. The reader gets a healthy dose of dramatic irony as Elizabeth continually censures (with some prejudice) Mr. Darcy's character despite the aforementioned hints (via the narrative voice and other characters' observations) that Mr. Darcy is really a noble character at heart, albeit somewhat prideful. Usually referred to only as "Mr. Darcy" or "Darcy" by characters and the narrator, his first name is mentioned twice in the novel.
Eric Northman is a fictional character in "The Southern Vampire Mysteries," a series of thirteen books written by "New York Times" bestselling author Charlaine Harris. He is a vampire, slightly over one thousand years old, and is first introduced in the first novel, "Dead Until Dark" and appears in all subsequent novels. Since the book series is told from the first person perspective of Sookie Stackhouse, what readers perceive of his character is influenced by what Sookie comprehends. HBO's television series "True Blood" is based on this book series and the character of Eric Northman is portrayed somewhat differently. A list of "True Blood" characters has a detailed description of Eric's character from the TV show.
Francis Ford Coppola's acclaimed Vietnam War film "Apocalypse Now" (1979) centers on the protagonist's mission to find and kill the renegade Colonel Kurtz (played by Marlon Brando), based on Conrad's character, who has gone rogue far up a river, deep in the Southeast Asian jungle. The script acknowledges "Heart of Darkness" as a source of information, and the last words of Colonel Kurtz, "The horror! The horror!", echo those of his namesake in the novel.
There have been many proposed sources for the character of the antagonist, Kurtz. Georges-Antoine Klein, an agent who became ill and later died aboard Conrad's steamer, by scholars and literary critics as a basis for Kurtz. The principal figures involved in the disastrous "rear column" of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition have also been identified as likely sources, including column leader Edmund Musgrave Barttelot, slave trader Tippu Tip and the expedition leader, Welsh explorer Henry Morton Stanley. Conrad's biographer Norman Sherry judged that Arthur Hodister (1847–1892), a Belgian solitary but successful trader, who spoke three Congolese languages and was venerated by the Congolese villagers among whom he worked to the point of deification, served as the main model, while later scholars have refuted this hypothesis. Adam Hochschild, in "King Leopold's Ghost", believes that the Belgian soldier Léon Rom influenced the character. Peter Firchow mentions the possibility that Kurtz is a composite, modelled on various figures present in the Congo Free State at the time as well as on Conrad's imagining of what they might have had in common.
The video game "," released on 26 June 2012, is a direct modernised adaptation of "Heart of Darkness". The player assumes the role of special-ops agent Martin Walker as he and his team search Dubai for survivors in the aftermath of catastrophic sandstorms that left the city without contact to the outside world. The character John Konrad, who replaces the character Kurtz, is a reference to the author of the novella.
"Prince of Darkness" was poorly received critically upon release. In his review for the "Washington Post", Richard Harrington wrote, “At one point Pleasence vows that 'it's a secret that can no longer be kept.' Here's another: "The Prince of Darkness" stinks.' It too deserves to be shut up in a canister for 7 million years". Liam Lacey, in his review for "The Globe and Mail", wrote, “There is no character really worth caring about, no sympathy to any of these characters. The principal romantic couple, Jameson Parker and Lisa Blount, are unpleasant enough to create an unfortunate ambivalence about their eternal destinies”. In his review for the "New York Times", Vincent Canby called the film a "surprisingly cheesy horror film to come from Mr. Carpenter, a director whose work is usually far more efficient and inventive." Nigel Floyd in "Time Out" gave a positive review of the film, calling "Prince of Darkness" "engrossing" and adding "the claustrophobic terror generated by fluid camerawork and striking angles" leads "to a heart-racing climax".