Joseph Conrad

Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) was a Polish-born British novelist, born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski in Berdychiv, then in the Russian Empire (now Ukraine). Orphaned young, he went to sea and spent years as a merchant sailor, gaining experience that shaped his fiction. He became a British subject in 1886 and wrote in English, his third language. Conrad’s novels and tales explore moral ambiguity, imperialism, and the pressures of isolation, often through seafaring settings and framed narration. Major works include *Heart of Darkness* (1899), *Lord Jim* (1900), *Nostromo* (1904), and *The Secret Agent* (1907).