Joseph Conrad was born on December 3, 1857 in Berdychiv, in a part of Ukraine that had belonged to the Kingdom of Poland before 1793 and was at the time of his birth under Russian rule.
In 1874 Conrad left Poland to start a merchant-marine career. After nearly four years in France and on French ships, he joined the British merchant marine and for the next fifteen years served under the Red Ensign.
After building up gambling debts, Conrad attempted suicide in 1878 by shooting himself in the chest but was rescued by his uncle who then paid off his debts.
In 1894, aged 36, Conrad reluctantly gave up the sea, partly because of poor health, partly due to unavailability of ships, and partly because he had become so fascinated with writing that he had decided on a literary career.
Conrad is famous for his novels Lord Jim, Nostromo, Heart Of Darkness and The Secret Agent and has been described as ‘one of the greatest English novelists’. This is in spite of the fact that he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties. Even when he finally became proficient in English, he spoke it with a heavy Polish accent, being from Poland. English was Conrad’s third language.
Conrad measured the reviews of his books with a ruler and satisfied himself that the longer they were, the better they were.
The ship in the 1979 sci-fi movie Alien is named for the titular character in Joseph Conrad's Nostromo and means "shipmate" in Italian. The ship from Aliens, the Sulaco is named for the port-town in the novel.
In 1874 Conrad left Poland to start a merchant-marine career. After nearly four years in France and on French ships, he joined the British merchant marine and for the next fifteen years served under the Red Ensign.
After building up gambling debts, Conrad attempted suicide in 1878 by shooting himself in the chest but was rescued by his uncle who then paid off his debts.
In 1894, aged 36, Conrad reluctantly gave up the sea, partly because of poor health, partly due to unavailability of ships, and partly because he had become so fascinated with writing that he had decided on a literary career.
Conrad is famous for his novels Lord Jim, Nostromo, Heart Of Darkness and The Secret Agent and has been described as ‘one of the greatest English novelists’. This is in spite of the fact that he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties. Even when he finally became proficient in English, he spoke it with a heavy Polish accent, being from Poland. English was Conrad’s third language.
Conrad measured the reviews of his books with a ruler and satisfied himself that the longer they were, the better they were.
The ship in the 1979 sci-fi movie Alien is named for the titular character in Joseph Conrad's Nostromo and means "shipmate" in Italian. The ship from Aliens, the Sulaco is named for the port-town in the novel.
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