Joseph Conrad

1. Joseph Conrad By : Kevin Dhimitri, Terrence Mallon, Esper Shabazz, Razin Ahmed, Danny Lan

2. Family History Joseph Conrad was a Polish author who was born on December 3, 1857 in Kiev, Ukraine. He was the only child of Apollo Korzeniowski and Ewa Bobrowska. His father, Apollo, was a writer, translator, political activist and revolutionary. His paternal grandfather, Teodor Korzeniowski was the captain of the Polish army during the 1830 Insurrection against Russian rule.

3. Family History continued.. Joseph grew up in a mainly Polish neighborhood, reading many pieces of Polish literature. Since Apollo was a political activist, his family moved repeatedly. In May 1861, his family moved to Warsaw, Poland, so that Apollo could organize underground revolts against Russia.

4. Time Period Joseph Conrad lived at the time of the Victorian Era. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence for Britain. Two especially important figures in this period of British history are the prime ministers Gladstone and Disraeli, whose contrasting views changed the course of history. The Victorian era was a time of unprecedented demographic increase in England. The population rose from 13.897 million in 1831 to 32.528 million in 1901. Two major factors affecting population growth are fertility rates and mortality rates. England was the first country to undergo the Demographic transition and the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions.

5. Time Period continued... The tournament of shadows is also referred to as the great game. The Great Game was a term for the strategic rivalry and conflict between the British Empire and the Russian Empire for supremacy in Central Asia.[1] The classic Great Game period is generally regarded as running approximately from the Russo-Persian Treaty of 1813 to the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907. A less intensive phase followed the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. In the post-Second World War post-colonial period, the term has continued in use to describe the geopolitical machinations of the Great Powers and regional powers as they vie for geopolitical power and influence in the area.

6. Joseph Conrad's works Joseph Conrad's life changed drastically when he joined with the British Merchant Service and joined with his first British ship, the Skimmer of the Sea. When Joseph visited the Belgian Congo from 1890 to 1894, it had brought Joseph Conrad into an unstable state that would affect his health for the rest of his life and also heavily influenced his book, Heart of Darkness. With his mind in fragments, he returned to London, he went into exile and ended a sea career which had spanned for 20 years, which lead to him starting his writing career. In the first stage of his writing career, he was adjusting to a literary culture in which he was not accustomed to. However, he successfully produced two well received novels, Almayer's Folly ,and An Outcast of the Islands. In 1897, Conrad's career was introduced to its prime with the book, The Nigger of the Narcissus, which introduced his use of styles which included "cultivated English" and French literary techniques to the English audience.

7. J. Conrad's works continued... From 1898 to 1902, Conrad became a family man with the birth of his son and continued to struggle to accept his English identity and audience with the books, Youth, Lord Jim, and Heart of Darkness. These books used the character Marlow to find an English identity and voice. In 1904, he wrote the book, Nostromo, which explores man's corruptibility and vulnerability. Until 1913, with the publication of "Change", he became financially stable, however he suffered from rheumatism and died with a heart attack on 1924.

8. Joseph Conrad's List of Works 1895 Almayer's Folly (Macmillan) (novel) 1896 An Outcast of the Islands (D. Appleton) (novel) 1897 The Nigger of the "Narcissus": A Tale of the Forecastle (Heinemann); pub in America as The Children of the Sea: A Tale of the Forecastle (Dodd); rpt The Nigger of the "Narcissus": A Tale of the Sea (1926) (novel) 1898 Tales of Unrest (Scribner): "Karain," "The Idiots," "An Outpost of Progress," "The Return," "The Lagoon" 1900 Lord Jim (Doubleday & McClure) (novel) 1901 with Ford Maddox Hueffer, later Ford Maddox Ford, The Inheritors (McClure, Phillips) (novel) 1902 Typhoon and Other Stories (Putnam): "Typhoon," "Amy Foster," "Falk," "Tomorrow"; rpt Heinemann, 1903 1902 Youth: A Narrative, and Two Other Stories (Blackwood): "Youth," "The End of the Tether," Heart of Darkness (novella) 1903 with Hueffer, Romance (Smith, Elder) (novel) 1904 Nostromo (Harper & Brothers) (novel) 1906 The Mirror of the Sea (Harper & Brothers) -- autobiography 1907 The Secret Agent (Harper & Brothers) (novel) 1908 A Set of Six (Methuen): "The Informer," "Gaspar Ruiz," "The Brute," "An Anarchist," "The Duel," "Il Conde" 1911 Under Western Eyes (Harper & Brothers) (novel) 1912 Twixt Land and Sea (Hodder & Stoughton): "A Smile of Fortune," "The Secret Sharer," "Freya of the Seven Isles" 1912 Some Reminiscences (E. Nash); pt in America as A Personal Record (Harper & Brothers) 1913 Chance (Doubleday, Page) (novel) 1915 Victory (Doubleday, Page) (novel) 1915 Within the Tides (Dent): "The Planer of Malata," "The Partner," "The Inn of the Two Witches," "Because of the Dollars" 1917 The Shadow Line (Doubleday, Page) (novel) 1919 The Arrow of Gold (Doubleday, Page) (novel) 1920 The Rescue (Doubleday, Page) (novel) 1921 Notes on Life and Letters (Doubleday, Page) -- essays 1921 Notes on My Books (Doubleday, Page) -- essays 1923 The Rover (Doubleday, Page) (novel) 1924 with Hueffer, The Nature of a Crime (Doubleday, Page) (novel?) 1925 Suspense: A Napoleonic Novel (Doubleday, Page) (novel) 1925 Tales of Hearsay (Doubleday, Page): "The Warrior's Soul," "Prince Roman," "The Tale," "The Black Mate" 1926 Last Essays (Doubleday, Page) 1928 The Sisters (C. Gaige) (novel?)

9. Joseph Conrad and Marlow Joseph Conrad and Marlow have many parallels. It is quite obvious that Joseph Conrad and Marlow are both racists, mainly to Africans. They are both perfectionists, seeking to be the best at whatever they are trying to accomplish. Also, they are both strong in the pursuit of change. They push for, and fight for change. Yes, Marlow and Joseph Conrad are very similar.

10. References “The brown current ran swiftly out of the heart of darkness, bearing us down towards the sea with twice the speed of our upward progress; and Kurtz’s life was running swiftly, too, ebbing, ebbing out of his heart into the sea of inexorable time. . . . I saw the time approaching when I would be left alone of the party of ‘unsound method.’” - (3.36). "All that had been Kurtz's had passed out of my hands: his soul, his body, his station, his plans, his ivory, his career. There remained only his memory and his Intended – and I wanted to give that up, too, to the past, in a way – to surrender personally all that remained of him with me to that oblivion which is the last word of our common fate." - (3.50)

11. References Continued... "Mind, none of us would feel exactly like this. What saves us is efficiency--the devotion to efficiency. But these chaps were not much account, really. They were no colonists; their administration was merely a squeeze, and nothing more, I suspect. They were conquerors, and for that you want only brute force--nothing to boast of, when you have it, since your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others. They grabbed what they could get for the sake of what was to be got. It was just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind--as is very proper for those who tackle a darkness. The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. What redeems it is the idea only. An idea at the back of it; not a sentimental pretence but an idea; and an unselfish belief in the idea." (1.13)

12. Bibliography Najder, Zdzislaw. "Joseph Conrad's Biography." Joseph Conrad's Biography. Najder, 16 Aug. 2002. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. Hay, Eloise Knapp. "JOSEPH CONRAD BIOGRAPHY" Joseph Conrad's Biography. Eloise, 6 Nov. 2003. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.

13. Bibliography Continued... Karl, Frederick R. Joseph Conrad: The Three Lives. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1979. Knowles, Owen. "Conrad’s Life." The Cambridge Companion to Joseph Conrad. Ed. J.H. Watts, Cedric. "Heart of Darkness." The Cambridge Companion to Joseph Conrad. Ed. J.H. Stape. Cambridge University Press, 1996: 45-62.