Joseph Conrad Research Paper

Joseph Conrad, born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, was a very talented writer who helped shape writing in the early 1900’s (Yale). He was born in Berdichev, Ukraine on December 3rd 1857. At an early age Joseph’s life was very tumultuous. Joseph’s father, Apollo Nalęcz Korzeniowski, was involved in a nationalist movement that was meant to separate Ukraine from Russian rule and was exiled from Poland to Vologda for treason. Joseph and his mother followed his father to the harsh climate of northern Russia and because of the harsh climate Joseph’s mother died from tuberculosis after three years of living in Vologda (Stevenson). Joseph’s father later began translating Shakespeare and Victor Hugo into English to support the family. That was Joseph’s

He later joined an English merchant ship and became a British citizen as well as a master sailor (Columbia). Upon arriving in England he knew barely any English and gained his master mariner’s certificate (Hutchinson). He based many of his early works on the first five or six voyages after becoming a British citizen. He was discovering the worlds he would later write about in An Outcast of the Islands, Almayer’s Folly, and Lord Jim (Britannica). Through most of Joseph’s writing career he draws from the experiences he has gained through sailing (Columbia). Because his works are usually exotic in nature, Joseph began to be viewed as a man who only wrote exotic tales. Joseph’s response was that he did this on purpose to give the characters a sense of isolation whether being at sea with not contact to the mainland or in an exotic jungle where you are cut off from any civilization

After this he mainly resided in England and continued his life as an author. Joseph had many difficulties in life such as poor health, poverty, and temperament. Although when he first came to England he knew almost nothing of the language, he had become one of the greatest writers of English during the time. He had begun to get encouragements from many famour literary figures such as H. G. Wells, Ford Madox Ford, John Galsworthy, and Henry James. These literary figures would become friends that would shape Joseph’s writing. Although he did not make much financial profit for some years later, his financial situation was resolved when he wrote Lord Jim, The Secret Agent, Nostromo, and Under Western Eyes. The Secret Agent, Nostromo, and Under Western Eyes were political or romantic in nature (Britannica). Joseph was an excellent writer of prose and was very talented in creating atmosphere and characters. This talent shows most when one begins to read his works and realize that through the entire story there was an atmosphere of loneliness and isolation. These traits come from Joseph being a modernistic writer and trying to convey the isolation he feels from a changing world with no sure future through prose writing (Columbia). He also manages to craft very complex but simple characters. Since he is a modernistic writer his characters aren’t some hero that can defeat anyone in battle, they are simple people like you would