This is an image of the current queen of England as a child in the 1930s chasing a Congolese parrot that had belonged to King George V since the 1880s. The image occurs on a lovely history blog called Wonders & Marvels (this entry is by historian Adrienne Mayor, who wrote a fun recent book on the history of the Amazons).
I thought the image (and the story) connected well with last week’s discussion of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, which as we noted strikingly underplays non-human animals. George V’s grey parrot, another “product” of the Congo, was a long-lived and articulate creature. Parrots, with their intelligence and ability to speak, challenge the human/non-human boundary in all sort of ways, and they are worth paying attention to. This creature’s lasting presence in the royal court of Britain also helps attest the commodification and coopting of Africa in European culture and mind.
I saw/heard a reference to "Heart of Darkness" today in relation to the new Whitey Bolger movie. It passed quickly, but I think the point was that we would journey into his heart of darkness by watching the film. Fascinating the way the title (and hopefully the content) of Conrad's novel continue to resonate (as with the photograph in the Art Institute).
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