Joseph Conrad
(1857-1924)

Died aged c. 67

Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, Polish: [ˈjuzɛf tɛˈɔdɔr ˈkɔnrat kɔʐɛˈɲɔfskʲi]; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language; though he did not speak English fluently until his twenties, he came to be regarded a master prose stylist who brought a non-English sensibility into English literature. He wrote novels and stories, many in nautical settings, that depict crises of human individuality in the midst of what he saw as an indifferent, inscrutable and amoral world. Conrad is considered a literary impressionist by some and an early modernist by others, though his works also contain elements of 19th-century realism. His narrative style and anti-heroic characters, as in Lord Jim, for example, have influenced numerous authors. Many dramatic films have been adapted from and inspired by his works. Numerous writers and critics have commented that his fictional works, written largely in the first two decades of the 20th century, seem to have anticipated later world events. Writing near the peak of the British Empire, Conrad drew on the national experiences of his native Poland—during nearly all his life, parceled out among three occupying empires—and on his own experiences in the French and British merchant navies, to create short stories and novels that reflect aspects of a European-dominated world—including imperialism and colonialism—and that profoundly explore the human psyche. Postcolonial analysis of Conrad's work has stimulated substantial debate; in 1975, author Chinua Achebe published an article denouncing Heart of Darkness as racist and dehumanising, whereas other scholars, including Adam Hochschild and Peter Edgerly Firchow, have rebutted Achebe's view.

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Commemorated on 4 plaques

Joseph Conrad 1857-1924 novelist lived here

17 Gillingham Street, Westminster, SW1, London, United Kingdom where they lived

Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) lived/died here

Oswalds, Bishopsbourne, United Kingdom where they lived and died (1924)

Joseph Conrad (Józef Teodor Konrad Koszeniowski) novelist 1857-1924 lived in a house on this site from March 1897 to October 1898

The Crooked Billet, Stanford-le-Hope, United Kingdom where they lived

Site of The Mont Blanc Restaurant where leading writers, including Belloc, Chesterton, Conrad and Galsworthy, met regularly in the early years of the 20th Century

15-16 Gerrard Street W1, London, United Kingdom where they met regularly