Conrad, Joseph

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British 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), also the short novels Heart of Darkness (1902) and 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 was brought up in Russia and Poland. He went to sea at the age of 17, and in 1878 landed in England at Lowestoft, Suffolk, with no knowledge of English. In 1886 he gained his master mariner's certificate and became a naturalized British subject. He retired from the sea in 1894 to write, living in Kent from 1896. 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. His critical reputation and influence have grown steadily since his death.

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