Conrad, Joseph, originally J�zef Teodor Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski 1857-1924
British novelist

He was born of Polish parents in Berdichev, Poland (now Ukraine). His father was a revolutionary and writer (he translated Victor Hugo's Les Travailleurs de la mer) who was exiled to Vologda in 1862. In 1878 Joseph joined an English merchant ship, and he was naturalized in 1884 when he gained his certificate as a master. In the 10 years that followed, he sailed to Singapore, Borneo and the Belgian Congo, and his experiences at sea inspired much of his writing. In 1895 he married and soon afterwards settled in Kent, England, where he lived a sedentary life, devoted to writing. His first novel was Almayer's Folly (1894), followed by An Outcast of the Islands (1896), The Nigger of the Narcissus (1897), Lord Jim (1900), Nostromo (1904), The Secret Agent (1907) and Under Western Eyes (1911). He became famous with the publication of Chance in 1914, and it was only then that Lord Jim was recognized as a masterpiece. Perhaps the short story was his true medium - Tales of Unrest (1898), Heart of Darkness (1902), Youth (1902) and Twixt Land and Sea (1912). His semi-autobiographical The Mirror of the Sea (1906) and his Personal Record (1912) testify to his high artistic aims. He also wrote Victory (1919), but his later works, The Arrow of Gold (1919) and The Rescue (1920), owed their popularity largely to his earlier work. His unfinished novel Suspense was published in 1925.

Bibliography: J Baines, Joseph Conrad: a critical biography (1960)