Pen name of Teodor Jozef Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski

 English novelist, born in Ukraine of Polish parents. His greatest works include the novels Lord Jim (1900),
 Nostromo (1904), The Secret Agent (1907), and Under Western Eyes (1911); the short story Heart of
 Darkness (1902); and the short novel 'The Shadow Line' (1917). These combine a vivid and sensuous
 evocation of various lands and seas with a rigorous, humane scrutiny of moral dilemmas, pitfalls, and
 desperation.

 Conrad went to sea at the age of 17 and first learned English at 21. He is regarded as one of the greatest of
 modern novelists. His prose style, varying from eloquently sensuous to bare and astringent, keeps the reader
 in constant touch with a mature, truth-seeking, creative mind.

 He was brought up in Russia and Poland. He landed at Lowestoft, Suffolk, in 1878 with no knowledge of
 English, but in 1886 he gained his master mariner's certificate and became a naturalized British subject. He
 retired from the sea 1894 to write, living in Kent from 1896. He was encouraged in his work by critics and
 by a growing circle of literary friends, including John Galsworthy, H G Wells, Henry James, Arnold Bennett,
 and Ford Madox Ford, though for some years this esteem was not translated into sales.

 Lord Jim and Heart of Darkness both place men in extreme situations far from their European homes. For
 Conrad exotic locations became metaphors for the hidden and often savagely barbaric parts of human inner
 nature. In his sea stories, such as Youth (1902) and Typhoon (1903), human waywardness and weakness
 are set against the contrasting virtues of fidelity and courage, which permit people to stand against nature and
 fate. Although Conrad is often thought of as a novelist of the sea and distant places, The Secret Agent is set
 in London and Under Western Eyes in Geneva. Both are about revolutionary intrigues. Nostromo, on a
 similar subject, remains one of the most evocative accounts of South American politics.

 The novel Chance (1912) was Conrad's first triumphant success. Thereafter he was regarded as one of the
 greatest modern authors, although his subsequent output was small. His last works were The Rescue
 (1920), The Rover (1922), and Suspense published posthumously in 1925. His critical reputation and
 influence have grown steadily since his death. Although his prose is often mannered and difficult, his use of
 English is equally often arresting and immediate, and his interest in the limits of humanity and his
 concentration on subjective consciousness in his narratives are strikingly modern.
 
 
 
 
 

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