Józef Teodor Konrad, renowned as Joseph Conrad was born on December 3, 1857. His parents were Polish; as a result, he was raised primarily in Poland and received education there. He was implanted with a lot of revolutionary ideas and this changed after he became orphaned at the age of 12. Tadeusz Bobrowski, his maternal uncle took it as his job to teach the young mind some discipline. His career was associated with seafaring and he worked for the French merchant marines and the British marines also. Conrad wrote many novels like Heart of Darkness, The Secret Agent and Lord Jim, and short stories which show the conflict of ideas which became an integral part of him because of his upbringing. However, there are some interesting facts that one must know about Conrad which are not seen in many books:
Joseph Conrad Interesting Facts: Suicide attempt
Before the legacy of Conrad as a writer, he was a gambler and took life in his own terms in a rather self-governing manner. In the year of 1878, he was immersed in debts because of gambling and to escape Conrad shot himself. The bullet was aimed at his heart; although the bullet did pierce his chest it missed the heart, enabling him to live for the next 46 years. The resurgence of the man took place after the incident and he took more liking into a creative life rather than sordid death, producing some of the history’s greatest prose writings.
Joseph Conrad Interesting Facts: English
The third language: Joseph Conrad was poor in English for a good span of over twenty years. English was in his curriculum as a third language and it is understandable because he was Polish by birth. However, through his seafaring experience Conrad learnt the art of speaking fluently in English and French; he developed his writing skills also because of his exposure to different parts of the world. Today, some of his novels like Heart of Darkness and The Secret Agent are included in the English syllabus so that children can learn appropriate language skills.
Joseph Conrad Interesting Facts: Heart of Darkness
The magnum opus of Joseph Conrad is close to him and often considered as autobiographical because Conrad’s experience in Africa was horrid. His emotions, spiritual beliefs, psychological cognition, etc. were stirred wildly and this showed on his health as well. He suffered from gout and fever frequently. The horrific darkness, evil and isolation he felt in his heart came out as the experiences of Charles Marlow, the protagonist of the novel.
Joseph Conrad Interesting Facts: Measuring the critics
It is hilarious to know that Conrad never read the work of his critics, instead he measured the length of the review. Interestingly, the longer the review the happier Conrad felt.
Joseph Conrad Interesting Facts: Suspense
Unfortunately, Joseph Conrad died on August 3, 1924 and was buried at the Canterbury cemetery, Kent. His last work was titled “Suspense” and it never saw printing days during the life of Conrad and was published posthumously.
Joseph Conrad’s influence on the later novelists and the age of Modernism is tremendous. He wrote 20 novels, essays and many short stories; all of them are technically accurate and provide great message to humanity.
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