Author+Information

=Joseph Conrad= = =

Józef Teodor Conrad Korzeniowski was born on December 3, 1857 in Berdyczów, Ukraine. His father == was a writer and translator of works by authors such as Victor Hugo and William Shakespeare. As a young boy, the city of Berdyczów was under Russian occupation. Since they lived under a tsarist autocracy (a system of government where a tsar holds ultimate power, and under which persons are appointed to carry out his ideas and actions), their household was under nearly constant surveillance due to the political turbulence of Ukraine. In 1861, Conrad's father was arrested due to supporting the serfs and being a part of the Polish National Committee's anti-Russian group. Along with his parents, 4 year-old Joseph was exiled to Vologda, a province in northern Russia. The harsh living conditions had ill effects, which led to both of his parents contracting and dying of tuberculosis. Conrad himself, now age 12, was devastated and suffered from his own health issues which continued throughout his life. He went to live with his maternal uncle, Tadeusz Bobrowski, who was a land owner in Cracow, Poland. His uncle proved to have a positive effect on Conrad, and supported him both morally and financially. As a child, Joseph was fascinated with maps, and wanted to explore a blank spot on the map, which later became known as Africa's Congo region. This part of his life is shown autobiographically as Marlow's exact same interest in //Heart of Darkness//.

Conrad was educated by a student his uncle hired. He spoke Polish, but was also taught to be fluent in Latin and Greek. In order to get away from Russian conscription, Conrad went to the port city of Marseilles, France in 1874. There he was able to find employment with several French vessels, which started his 15 year career as a sailor. This lent greatly to his writing style, as he met many people that would later become the basis for his characters. Many of his stories (including //Heart of Darkness//) also deal with sailing. He worked on many many ships, and even got into smuggling and gunrunning for a period of time. Joseph also liked to gamble, and he eventually got into debt. Unable to pay, Conrad shot himself in the chest, but did not die, as he had intended. His uncle paid off his debts for him, but Conrad was banned from working with the French merchants any longer, so he joined an English ship. By 1886, Conrad earned his Master's certificate in the British Merchant Service and became a citizen of Great Britain. In 1890, he finally began his journey into the 'dark continent' of Africa, which he had always wanted to explore. He began a diary about the Congo, which later became the basis of //Heart of Darkness//.

The Congo proved a huge challenge to Conrad's already weak health. Worst of all was the toll taken on his emotional health. He found himself somewhat insane and suffered a period of deep depression. Conrad still took a few spare hours out of his day to write though. In personal records, Conrad acted as though he was a terrible writer and only very reluctantly would pick up a pen. What he didn't know, was that he was soon to become one of the most recognized authors of his time. He retired from working on the sea, settled in England, got married, had two sons, and turned his attention to writing. After getting many novels published, Conrad began receiving pension, but was still having financial difficulties until the success of his 1914 novel, //Chance//. Conrad then had a better life and traveled a lot. In 1924, Conrad died at home of a heart attack. Though he was skeptical about religion, a service was held for him at St. Thomas' church in Canterbury, England.

=Parallelism in //Heart of Darkness// and Conrad's Life= In addition, //Heart of Darkness// paralleled Conrad's life experiences in many ways. Aside from Marlow and Conrad's joint interest in maps, they both, much later in life, signed up for a trip to the Congo under the office of some 'great man'. Both turned to an aunt in order to get them the position. Marlow gets his job shortly after the death of a captain named Fresleven, and likewise, Conrad also got his position after the the death of someone named Freiesleben. Most of the descriptions of Marlow's journey down the African coast are taken from Conrad's personal diary. The same goes for Marlow's land voyage towards the Central Station, which parallels trips Conrad made from Matadi to Kinshasa. This included a corpse that Conrad had been shocked to see on a trek that Marlow had almost stumbled over. In both cases, the two had learned upon arrival that an accident had befallen the steamer they were to have commanded. Finally, Marlow and Conrad both were sent to retrieve a sick agent who died aboard the steamer after they had been rescued. So, quite interestingly, //Heart of Darkness// reflected many of Conrad's life experiences.