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Joseph Conrad Facts

Joseph Conrad Facts
Joseph Conrad was a Polish novelist and short story writer best known for Heart of Darkness and The Lagoon. He was born Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski on December 3rd, 1857 in Berdichev, Ukraine, to Apollo Korzeniowski and Ewa Bobrowska. He was raised in Poland, but moved a lot because of his father's involvement in political activism. His family was exiled to Vologda in 1862 after his father had been imprisoned and they later were sent to Chernihiv after his father's sentence was commuted. His mother died in 1865, and his father homeschooled him. In 1869 when Joseph was only 11 years old, his father died. After living with his uncle for two years Joseph decided to become a sailor. At 16 Joseph's uncle sent him to France to become a sailor.
Interesting Joseph Conrad Facts:
Joseph Conrad made several memorable voyages as a French merchant marine and later as a first mate and eventual commander in the British Merchant Navy.
Joseph Conrad was granted British nationality in 1886.
Joseph Conrad's sailing trips took him to South America, Australia, South Pacific Island, Malay States, Borneo, the Gulf of Siam, and ports of the Indian Ocean. He also took a trip down the Congo River in Africa. His voyages served as inspiration and information for one of his most famous novels Heart of Darkness.
Most of the characters in Joseph Conrad's novels were inspired by people he had met in his travels. He often used names of people he had actually met as well.
In 1896 Joseph Conrad married Jessie Emmeline George. She was a bookseller's daughter. Joseph and Jessie had two sons together, John, and Borys.
It was common at the time for many of an author's works to be serialized in magazines and later published in the complete form as a novel. This was also true for many of Joseph's novels.
Joseph Conrad's first novel was Almayer's Folly (1895). He followed this novel with An Outcast of the Islands (1896), The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' (1897), Tales of Unrest (1898), Heart of Darkness (1899), Lord Jim (1900), Typhoon (1902), Nostromo (1904), The Secret Agent (1907), Under Western Eyes (1911), Chance (1913), Victory (1915), The Shadow Line (1917), The Arrow of Gold (1919), The Rescue (1920), and The Rover (1923).
Joseph Conrad co-wrote The Inheritors (1901), Romance (1903), and The Nature of a Crime (1923) with Ford Madox Ford.
Suspense: A Napoleonic Novel (1925) was published after Joseph Conrad died.
Several films have been adapted from Joseph Conrad's works including Victory (1919), Lord Jim (1925), Sabotage (1936), The Rover (1967), and Apocalypse Now (1979).
Heart of Darkness, which was adapted into the film Apocalypse Now, was also made into an Opera in 2011.
A World War II Polish Navy cruiser was named ORP Conrad after the author.
Joseph Conrad died on August 3rd, 1924 at the age of 66 in Bishopsbourne, England. It is believed that he died of a heart attack in his home.
Joseph Conrad's novels have been translated into dozens of languages around the world and are still used for teaching purposes today in schools and in universities.


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