Joseph Conrad (redirected from Józef Teodor Nalecz Korzeniowski)

Conrad, Joseph 

(pseudonym of Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski). Born Dec. 3, 1857, in Berdichev, Ukraine; died Aug. 3, 1924, in Bishopsbourne, near Canterbury. British writer.

A Pole by nationality, Conrad was the son of a participant in the Polish Uprising of 1863. He worked as a sailor and became a British subject. After publishing the novel Almayer’s Folly (1895; Russian translation, 1923), Conrad devoted himself entirely to writing. He was attracted by adventure and by exotic countries, for example, the novel The Nigger of the Narcissus (1897; Russian translation, 1925) and the collection Tales of Unrest (1898; Russian translation, 1925). A young man’s quest for moral courage is the theme of his novel Lord Jim (1900; Russian translation, 1926). His short novel “Heart of Darkness” (1902) is an exposé of imperialist colonialists. Conrad’s heroes are outcasts from the bourgeois world, bravely confronting the blows of fate (”The End of the Tether,” 1902). Conrad’s belief that the social revolution would not succeed is reflected in his novels Nostromo (1904; Russian translation, 1928) and Under Western Eyes (1911), which reveals the influence of F. M. Dostoevsky. His later works, notably the novels Chance (1913; Russian translation, 1925) and The Shadow-Line (1917; Russian translation, 1925), show signs of an intellectual crisis. Conrad’s articles on G. de Maupassant (1904) and I. S. Turgenev (1917) are an important contribution to literary history.

WORKS

The Works, vols. 1–22. London-Toronto, 1923–28.
In Russian translation:
Sobr. soch., vols. 1–5. Moscow-Leningrad, 1924–26.
Izbrannoe, vols. 1–2. Moscow, 1959.

REFERENCES

Urnov, M. V. Na rubezhe vekov: Ocherki angliiskoi literatury. Moscow, 1970.
Leavis, F. R. The Great Tradition. London, 1955.
Baines, J. J. Conrad. 3rd ed. London [1960].
Jablkowska, R. J. Conrad. Wroclaw, 1961.
Conrad: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. [1966].

M. A. NERSESOVA