Joseph Conrad (Dec.3, 1857- Aug.

3, 1924)
Jzef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski

Quick Notes:
Polish-British
Joined British Merchant Marine in 1878
Was granted British nationality in 1886
Was not fluent in english until his early twenties
Nautical theme throughout written works
Considered an early modernist, though works contain 19th century realism
Distinctive narrative style and anti-heroic characters

Written Works:
Almayers Folly (first novel)
Heart of Darkness
Lord Jim
The Secret Agent
Nostromo
Under Western Eyes

Early Life:
Born in the Ukraine
Parents (Apollo and Evelina) were high up on the social class
They were against the Russian control and oppression of Poland
When Joseph was four, the Russian government took Apollos land and forced him and
his family to move to Vologda (Russian province)
When Josephs parents died he was raised by his uncle Tadeusz Bobrowski
Polish by birth (polish, french, english)
Parents were well-to-do Polish Catholics who had broad cultural interests
Joseph Conrad inherited his love for literature from his father
His father, Apollo, was a scholarly intellectual who became an active revolutionary, a
patriotic idealist
Because of these strong views his family was forced to leave Poland and seek exile in
Russia
Apart from his political activities, he was very interested in French and English literature
 He was a poet and dramatist, and he translated work by Victor Hugo and Shakespeare
into Polish
Exile, and the death of his wife (tuberculosis) caused Apollo to become depressed and
defeated
Joseph lived in his fathers world which was devoid of hope, so as a coping mechanism,
he took refuge in his imagination and in books
This lonely period of his childhood is expressed in his later emphasis on individual
responsibility and self control
When his father died in 1869 he was taken care of by his uncle, to whom he revealed that
he wanted to go to sea someday
When he was nine years old, while looking at a map of Africa, he placed his finger on the
blank space that represented the unsolved mystery of the continent and declared to
himself When I grow up I shall go there. (which he actually put into Marlows
dialogue)

Timeline:
1857 - Dec 3. Joseph Conrad is born in Berdychiv to Apollo Korzeniowski (poet, playwright,
translator, clandestine political activist) and Ewelina Bobrowska
1861 - Conrads father is arrested for conspiracy
1862 - Conrads family is exiled to Vologda, Russia
1863 - Apollos sentence is lightened and they are sent to Chernihiv, Ukraine
1864 - Conrads mother passes away from tuberculosis
1869 - Conrads father passes away from tuberculosis
- Conrad is taken in by his maternal uncle Tadeusz Bobrowski
1874 - Conrad goes to Marseilles where he travels on the sea for the first time
1875 - He becomes a trainee seaman
1877 - Conrad is involved in gun smuggling to Spanish rebels
1878 - Conrad attempts to commit suicide
1890 - Conrad works on river-steamer on the Congo River for the Societe Anonyme pour le
Commerce du Haut-Congo
1892 - Conrad retires from his marine career
1895 - Conrad publishes his first novel Almayer's Folly
1899- Heart of Darkness is published
1924 - Joseph Conrad passes away from a heart attack
Writing Style:
winding, indirect, tautological, and sometimes frustratingly ambiguous narrative
structure - Dominic Davies
Prose
Alliteration - The courage, the composure, the confidence (An Outpost of
Progress)
Repetition - with primitive nature and primitive man (Heart of Darkness)
Use of more complicated hyponyms/synonyms
a word of more specific meaning than a general or superordinate term applicable
to it - some just call it convoluted
Text examples
Use of adjectives & adverbs
Uses adjectives to slow the text, forcing the us to read more slowly, meaning
well be able to pick up on more subtle ideas/images
Use of confident adverbs such as only, certainly, obviously creates a more certain
narrative
Ex. unmitigated savagery, discomposing intrusion
Multilingual
Fluent: Polish, French, English (didnt learn until his twenties)
Knowledge of: Latin, German Greek
English is so plastic if you havent got a word you need you can make it,
but to write French you have to be an artist . - Conrad
Travel
Themes used in novels reflects his life experiences (travel, morality, loneliness)
Heart of Darkness
Significance of a story within a story (framed narrative)
Comparison of Marlow and Conrad
Both english wandering seamen
Might be his chance make alternative decisions through Marlow
Exaggerated autobiography
He visited the Congo, hence the accurate, detailed description
Maybe its exaggerated due to exaggerated memories, trying to remember
the Congo how he wants to remember it
Language choices that he makes (would now be considered racist)
Was trying to criticize imperialism but only had the language of the time
Westerners take Kurtz away who was important to the local people, he
dies on the journey, can be seen as a criticism of how imperialism tried to
 take/understand/adjust to their own liking characteristics of other
societies/cultures
Chinua Achebe, in the 1970s accused the book of having racist content
matter
Projects Africa as inferior and African characters arent given
much depth representing how they are still thought of more
mysterious/savage

Cites:
L: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Conrad
L: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Conrad
L:https://books.google.ca/books?id=G6rdYf3qhlkC&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=joseph+conra
d+when+i+grow+up+i+shall+go+there&source=bl&ots=rxYds2-aOL&sig=JjIZ3G_N96RGkwE
p_K0dWM1aD4Y&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjT5YPQ4azTAhVi94MKHQd2CkMQ6AEIRj
AH#v=onepage&q=joseph%20conrad%20when%20i%20grow%20up%20i%20shall%20go%20t
here&f=false
A, K, L: http://www.biography.com/people/joseph-conrad-9255343
K https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Conrad
K http://www.openlettersmonthly.com/joseph-conrads-tragic-predicament/
A:https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/api/datastream?publicationPid=uk-ac-man-scw:1m276
8&datastreamId=POST-PEER-REVIEW-PUBLISHERS-DOCUMENT.PDF
http://conrad-centre.w.interiowo.pl/pages/chronology_en.html
A http://www.itiscannizzaro.net/Ianni/booksweb/sitodarkness/papers/francescomario.htm
A http://papyr.com/hypertextbooks/grammar/conrad_heart_of_darkness.htm
Ahttp://rawlangs.com/2012/12/27/multilingualism-and-literature-10-authors-who-write-in-other-
languages/
A https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/h/heart-of-darkness/critical-essays/use-of-the-frame-tale
A http://www.mantex.co.uk/2014/03/18/joseph-conrad-prose-style/
A Joseph Conrad at http://writersinspire.org/content/joseph-conrad by Dominic Davies
K http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/conrad/chron.html
K http://conrad-centre.w.interiowo.pl/pages/chronology_en.html