Heart of Darkness: & Other Stories

Joseph Conrad was born in the Ukraine in 1857. Hegrew up surrounded by upheaval; his Polish fatherwas exiled to northern Russia for political activities, and Conrad was orphaned by the age of 11. He leftfor Marseilles in 1874 and began training as aseaman. After an attempt at suicide, Conrad joinedthe British merchant navy and became a Britishsubject in 1886. Following the publication of his firstnovel, Almayer's Folly in 1895 he left the sea behindand settled down to a life of writing. Troubledfinancially for many years, Conrad faceduncomplimentary critics and an indifferent public.He finally became a popular success with Chance in1913, fourteen years after the publication of hismasterpiece, Heart of Darkness, in 1899. He died in1924, his status as one of the great writers of histime already assured