Kurtz (Heart of Darkness) circumstances and remote settings to assert power over others. It is widely believed that Conrad drew influence from these characters, as well as Stevenson's plot lines, when writing "Heart of Darkness". In the 1958 loose adaptation for the CBS television anthology series "Playhouse 90" Kurtz was played by Boris Karloff. This version uses the encounter between Marlow and Kurtz as its final act, and adds a backstory in which Marlow had been Kurtz's adopted son. 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
Youth (Conrad short story) Youth (Conrad short story) "Youth" is an autobiographical short story by Joseph Conrad. Written in 1898, it was first published in "Blackwood's Magazine", and included as the first story in the 1902 volume "Youth, a Narrative, and Two Other Stories". This volume also includes "Heart of Darkness" and "The End of the Tether", stories concerned with the themes of maturity and old age, respectively. "Youth" depicts a young man's first journey to the East. It is narrated by Charles Marlow who is also the narrator of "Lord Jim", "Chance", and "Heart of Darkness". The narrator's introduction suggests this is the