Joseph Conrad | |
|---|---|
 Conrad in 1904 by George Charles Beresford | |
| Born | Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski 3 December 1857 Berdychiv, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire |
| Died | 3 August 1924 (aged 66) Bishopsbourne, Kent, England |
| Resting place | Canterbury Cemetery, Canterbury |
| Occupation | Novelist, short-story writer, essayist |
| Nationality | Polish–British[1] |
| Period | 1895–1923 |
| Genre | Fiction |
| Literary movement | |
| Notable works | The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' (1897) Heart of Darkness (1899) Lord Jim (1900) Typhoon (1902) Nostromo (1904) The Secret Agent (1907) Under Western Eyes (1911) |
| Spouse |
Jessie George (m. 1896) |
| Children | 2 |
| Parents | Apollo Korzeniowski Ewa Bobrowska |
| Signature | |
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Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, Polish: [ˈjuzɛf tɛˈɔdɔr ˈkɔnrat kɔʐɛˈɲɔfskʲi] ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Polish-British novelist and story writer.[2][note 1] He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language and although he did not speak English fluently until his twenties, he became a master prose stylist who brought a non-English sensibility into English literature.[note 2] He wrote novels and stories, many in nautical settings that depict crises of human individuality in the midst of what he saw as an indifferent, inscrutable and amoral world.[note 3]
Conrad is considered a literary impressionist by some and an early modernist by others,[note 4] though his works also contain elements of 19th-century realism.[9] His narrative style and anti-heroic characters, as in Lord Jim, for example,[10] have influenced numerous authors. Many dramatic films have been adapted from and inspired by his works. Numerous writers and critics have commented that his fictional works, written largely in the first two decades of the 20th century, seem to have anticipated later world events.[note 5]
Writing near the peak of the British Empire, Conrad drew on the national experiences of his native Poland—during nearly all his life, parceled out among three occupying empires[16][note 6]—and on his own experiences in the French and British merchant navies, to create short stories and novels that reflect aspects of a European-dominated world—including imperialism and colonialism—and that profoundly explore the human psyche.[18]
- ^ Brownstone & Franck 1994, p. 397
- ^ Brownstone, David M.; Franck, Irene M. (1994). Timelines of the Arts and Literature. HarperCollins. p. 397. ISBN 978-0-062-70069-8.
- ^ Conrad, Joseph; Moore, Gene M.; Knowles, Owen; Stape, John Henry (1983). The collected letters of Joseph Conrad. Vol. 3. Cambridge University Press. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-521323871.
- ^ Middleton, Tim (2006). Joseph Conrad. Routledge. p. xiv. ISBN 9780415268523.
- ^ Meyers (1991), p. 209.
- ^ Najder (2007), p. ix.
- ^ Meyers (1991), p. 166.
- ^ Robson (2017), p. 93.
- ^ Stape (2014), pp. 103–04.
- ^ Stape (2014), p. 70.
- ^ Tóibín (2018), p. 11.
- ^ Tóibín (2018), p. 8.
- ^ Tóibín (2018), p. 9.
- ^ Hochschild (2018), pp. 150–55.
- ^ Hochschild (2018), pp. 150–51.
- ^ Najder (2007), pp. 290, 352.
- ^ Zins (1998), p. 63.
- ^ Najder (2007), pp. 448–49.
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