JOSEPH CONRAD A SHORT BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Parentage and Early Years

Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, who afterwards adopted the penname of Joseph
Conrad, was by nationality a Pole. He was born in 1857 at Berdichev, a town in the
Polish Ukraine, then under the government of the Russians.
His father, who translated works by Victor Hugo and Shakespeare into Polish, was
arrested by the Russians as a leader in the struggle for Polish independence and sent to
a concentration-camp in North Russia. Conrads mother voluntarily accompanied her
husband and, not being in good health, died three years later. Conrads father returned
to Poland, an embittered and weakened man, and he also died when Conrad was just
eleven years old. Conrad was placed in the care of his uncle for the next six years,
during which time he read widely in French and German.
Decision to Become a Sailor
In 1874, at the age of seventeen, Conrad left for Marseilles to become a sailor. He knew
nothing about the sea or about France beyond what he had read. There was no tradition
of seafaring in the family, and Conrads ideas at that time about life at sea were
probably romantic and false though these ideas shaped his outlook.
Loneliness and the Search for Freedom
Conrads early experiences settled the pattern of his life and provided themes which
often occurred in the books he later wrote. Like many of his heroes, he was lonely and
was seeking independence. His fathers life had taught him that men have to make
hard decisions and take risks for the things they believe in, and that heroism often
leads to tragedy and death. Many characters in his stories sacrifice their happiness or
even their lives for ideals or for people they have not understood. Once Conrad had
taken his decision to go to sea, he would not turn back. He cut himself off from Poland,
a country that offered him little happiness or hope of freedom. But, though he went to
Marseilles and afterwards became a naturalized British Citizen, he could never wholly
become French or English. He remained throughout the rest of his life a man apart His
novels are about men who are set apart from their fellows.
Participation in Gun-Running
From Marseilles Conrad took part in several gun-running expeditions on behalf of the
pretender to the Spanish throne, Don Carlos, and he used these experiences as the
basis of his story, The Arrow of Gold (published in 1919). This story tells how the young
hero, Monsieur George, passes from boyhood to manhood through his adventures as a
gun-runner and his love for Rita, an older woman who finances those expeditions.
As a British Sailor
After four years in the French merchant navy, Conrad got a job on a British ship, the
Mavis. In 1878 he first set foot on English soil at Lowestoft. At this time he was scarcely
able to speak a word of the English language, but he decided that, if he was to be a
sailor, he would be a British sailor. In eight years he obtained a third mates ticket, then
a mates, and finally a masters. He made several voyages to Far Eastern waters,
notably Singapore, Borneo, and the Gulf of Siam, all of which served as material for his
novels. One trip up the Congo led to the writing of one of his best shorter novels, Heart
of Darkness. These places are more than backgrounds to his stories: they have
characters of their own, and the placing of an island or a reef affects the course of
action.
Change from a Sailor to a Writer
The Congo stirred Conrads imagination, but it also made him a victim of malarial
attacks. He returned to sea, but his health could not withstand the hardships of this life.
He had already begun to write, though he had not so far seriously considered becoming
a professional writer. With the encouragement of John Galsworthy, he now turned to
writing as a profession, and his first novel, Almayers Folly was accepted for publication
and appeared in 1895. Thereafter he continued to write, despite some efforts to return
to sea. In 1896, his next novel, An Outcast of the Islands was published. Both these
books got a sympathetic reception from the critics, several of whom recognized the
originality and genius of this new author.
Marriage to Jessie George
Some time between 1893 and 1894, Conrad met, through a friend, a girl called Jessie
George who was working as a typist in London where Conrad now lived. In 1895 he
proposed to the girl, saying that he had not very long to live and that he had no
intention of having children. They were married in March 1896. Jessies life with Conrad
was not altogether an easy one, but with her placid and self-contained temperament
she was in some ways an ideal wife for a man of his genius and nature. They spent the
first months of their married life on a rocky and barren island near Lannion, Britany.
Here, in these early months of the marriage, the pattern of. Conrads life was
establisheddifficulties in writing, bouts of malarial gout and fever, fits of depression,
financial difficulties, and frequent brief visits to the Continent for relief.

Literary Output
In spite of Conrads ultimatum that there should be no children, two sons were born,
Borys in 1898, and John in 1906. During this period his literary output included The
Nigger of the Narcissus, Lord Jim, Typhoon, and Nostromo. However, these works did not
receive the critical acclaim to which they were entitled. Conrads health began to
deteriorate during the writing of Nostromo and then, in January 1904, Jessie injured her
knees in a fall and was to remain a semi-cripple for the rest of her life.

Not a Selling Author

By 1908, when Conrad was fifty, he had added some more works to his output, notably
The Secret Agent. But, although he hit; won critical recognition, he was oppressed by
the fact that he was not a selling author. He was tormented by the need to make
money and the need to retain his artistic integrity. He had made a bid for popularity in
choosing a sensational subject for The Secret Agent; but he was a difficult novelist
whose complex methods of narration and use of broken time-sequences militated
against popularity. His anxiety to present his individual vision compelled him to employ
these methods.
Breakdown in Health
Under severe mental stress, and suffering from malarial gout, Conrad was nevertheless
writing Under Western Eyes, and The Secret Sharer. He finished Under Western Eyes at
the end of 1909, had a furious quarrel with his literary agent, and returned home in
great distress, suffering a complete breakdown in health. Conrad was pessimistic as to
the human condition, and the influence of his pessimism on his work was again not
conducive to popularity.
A Change in His Fortune
But his fortune was about to change. In 1911 he was given a Civil List Pension of a
hundred pounds, and in the following year an American lawyer wrote offering to buy his
manuscripts. But more important, he was then working on a novel he had started six
years earlier and which was to be his first best seller. The novel was Chance which
appeared in 1913. His next work, a short story called Victory, brought him a thousand
pounds for its serialization rights. The Arrow of Gold was published in 1919.
Not Entirely Free from Worries
Jessie had been having a lot of trouble with her knees had had several operations. The
Conrads ware comparatively wealthy nowfilm rights for his books brought them about
four thousand poundsyet Conrad was still in difficulties. I am spending more than I
ought to, he wrote, and he, considered living partly in France to escape heavy taxation.
In 1920 he began what was to be his last work, Suspense, a Napoleonic novel.
The End
Conrad was now one of the most famous living authors in Britain and the United States
and in 1923 he made his only visit to America. When he returned to England he learnt
of the secret marriage of, his son Borys and felt very upset. The remaining period of his
life was taken up by his own and Jessies sickness. In May 1924 he declined the offer of
a knighthood from Ramsay MacDonald, probably feeling that it was inappropriate for an
artist to accept such honours. In July 1924 he suffered a heart attack and on August 3,
1924 he was dead.