By: Olivia Edler, Blake Neal, Alexa Shadle, and Olivia Stroble Class: Period #6 Teacher: Mrs. Menzen (Joseph Conrad).

He was born on December 3, 1857 He is from Berdichev, Ukraine His parents were Polish nobles They were Polish Patriots and were fighting against the oppressive leadership of Russia. Because of this, they were sent to live in the Russian Province of Vologda (Joseph Conrad). (Family Background and Early Years)

Several years later his parents died His Uncle took Joseph to live with him in Poland He first received education from his father and then went to school in Krakow. He also furthered his education with private schooling (Joseph Conrad)

At age 16, Conrad left his home in Poland to travel to France and begin his Career as a Mariner. He sailed on a few French Commercial ships as an apprentice and then was promoted to Steward It is questioned that he may have been involved in international gun-smuggling He had a brief period of debt and he attempted suicide (Joseph Conrad).

He became a British citizen He joined the British Merchant Marine and was employed for 16 years He sailed to India, Singapore, Africa, and Australia-these places gave him ideas for his fictional works. In 1896 he married Jessie Emmeline George (Joseph Conrad)

His early travels greatly contributed to the inspiration of his stories His wife’s father was a bookseller He was friends with prominent authors like John Galsworthy, Ford Madox Ford, and and H.G. Wells In 1895 he published his first novel “Almayer’s Folly (Joseph Conrad) (Alternate Gothic)

A few of his most famous works were: Lord Jim-1900 Heart of Darkness-1902 Nostromo-1904 The Secret Agent-1907 The Secret Sharer-1912 (Heart of Darkness) (Joseph Conrad)

far-away settings conflict is human vs. nature individualism surfaces the inner darkness of human nature themes of racial prejudice Most of his books followed the ideas of the literary movement of that time period, aka Modernism (Heart of Darkness)

The story is set in Africa and contains some of Conrad’s own experiences as Captain of a steamer. The story follows a man named Marlow and he an ivory trader sent to search through Africa for a man named Kurtz. It was arguable that this man Kurtz had gone mad and the local Africans had begun to treat him as a god. The purpose of the story is to test the power of good and evil and the difference between sanity and insanity (Heart of Darkness).

The Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe spoke out against the novella He claimed that it showed racism towards Africans and portrayed them as barbaric He said that Conrad’s language was “beautiful and seductive” but it was wrong (Heart of Darkness) (Chinua Achebe, 82)

He began publishing autobiographies such as his novel The Arrow of Gold His last novel was The Rover in 1923 He died of a heart attack on August 3, 1924 at his home in England His works inspired other authors of the 20 th century such as T.S. Elliot, and Virginia Woolf His books have been translated into different languages and are often used in high school and University curriculums (Joseph Conrad).

Works Cited Alternate Gothic April Chinua Achebe, April Family Backround and Early Years. n.d. 10 April Heart of Darkness April Joseph Conrad April Joseph Conrad. 25 December April Joseph Conrad. n.d. 10 April