Special thanks to M_Karmine for recommending to discuss Joseph Conrad!
❝Imagination, not invention, is the supreme master of art as of life.❞
-- Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad, original name Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, was an English novelist and short story writer whose works include the novels, Lord Jim (1900), Nostromo (1904), and The Secret Agent (1907), and the short story "Heart of Darkness" (1902). He was born on December 3, 1857 in Berdichev, Ukraine, Russian Empire [now Berdychiv, Ukraine]. He combined his experiences in remote places with an interest in moral conflict and with the individual when faced with nature's invariable unconcern, man's frequent malevolence, and his inner battles with good and evil. During his lifetime Conrad was admired for the richness of his prose and his renderings of dangerous life at sea. He also thought the sea meant above all the tragedy of loneliness. In his early life, his parents, Apollo and Evelina Korzeniowski, were members of the Polish noble class.
Conrad's father was a poet and an ardent Polish patriot, who conspired against oppressive Russian rule. As a consequence, they were arrested and sent to live in the Russian province of Vologda in northern Russia with their four year old son. Evelina died from tuberculosis in 1865. Apollo was translating works of Shakespeare and Victor Hugo in order to support the household. Later on in 1869, Apollo was ill with tuberculosis and died in Kraków. Conrad was raised by his maternal uncle, Tadeusz Bobrowski, a lawyer, who provided his nephew with advice, admonition, financial help, and love.
Conrad's education consisted of school in Kraków and then to Switzerland, but he was bored by school and wanted to go to the sea. In 1874 he left for Marseille with his intention to go to the sea. There he had an introduction to a merchant who was a friend of his uncle, Conrad sailed on several French commercial ships, first as an apprentice and then as a steward. He traveled to the West Indies and South America, and he may have participated in international gun-smuggling. The first mate of the vessel, Saint-Antoine, a Corsican named Dominic Cervoni, was the model for the hero of Nostromo and played a picturesque role in Conrad's life and work.
After a period of debt and a failed suicide attempt, Conrad joined the British merchant marines. After the return journey his ship landed him at Lowestoft, England, in June 1878. It was Conrad's first English landfall, and he spoke only a few words of the language of which he was to become a recognized master. He was employed for 16 years in the British merchant marines. He rose in rank and became a British citizen, and his voyages around the world: sailing to India, Singapore, Australia and Africa, those voyages gave him experiences that he would later reinterpret in his fiction.
After his seafaring years, Conrad began to put down roots on land. In 1896, he married Jessie Emmeline George, daughter of a bookseller; they had two sons. He also had friendships with prominent writers such as John Galsworthy, Ford Madox Ford and H.G. Wells. In 1895, Conrad began his own literary career with his first novel, Almayer's Folly, an adventure tales set in Borneo jungles. Before the new century, he wrote two of his most famous and enduring novels.
Lord Jim (1900) is the story of an outcast young sailor who comes to terms with his past acts of cowardice and eventually becomes the leader of a small South Seas country. Heart of Darkness (1902) is a novella describing a British man's journey deep into the Congo of Africa, where he encounters the cruel and mysterious Kurtz, a European trader who has established himself as a ruler of the native people there. He wrote many more novels and short stories.
Over the last two decades of his life, Conrad produced more autobiographical writings and novels, including The Arrow of Gold and The Rescue. His final novel, The Rover, was published in 1923. Conrad died of a heart attack on August 3, 1924, at his home in Canterbury, England.
Discussion Questions:
Conrad's work influenced numerous later 20th century writers, from T.S. Elliot and Graham Greene to Virginia Woolf and William Faulkner: what elements or themes do you see from Conrad's work that has inspired fellow writers?
Which of Conrad's work do you believe is the least talked about?
Which story do you admire the most?
Always open to additional questions and comments on about Joseph Conrad and his works.
If there is another author you would like to see a discussion on, please post your suggestion in the comments below for a chance to be featured in a future chapter!
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