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Fiction

Notes When he was not at sea, writing letters or writing in journals, Joseph was exploring other
means of making money. Unlike his father, who abhorred money, Conrad was obsessed by it;
he was always on the lookout for business opportunities.
Once the author had worked his way up to shipmaster, he made a series of eastern voyages
over three years. Conrad remained in the English port of Mauritius for two months, during
which time he unsuccessfully courted two women. Frustrated, he left and journeyed to England.
In England in the summer of 1889, Conrad began the crucial transition from sailor to writer
by starting his first novel, Almayer’s Folly. Interestingly, he chose to write in English, his third
language.
A journey to the Congo in 1890 was Joseph’s inspiration to write Heart of Darkness. His
condemnation of colonialism is well documented in the journal he kept during his visit. He
returned to England and soon faced the death of his beloved guardian and uncle. In the
meantime, Conrad became closer to Marguerite, an older family friend who was his closest
confidant. For six years he tried to establish intimacy with her, but he was eventually discouraged
by the age difference and the disparity between their social positions.
Then, 1894 was a landmark year for Conrad: his first novel was published; he met Edward
Garnett, who would become a lifelong friend; and he met Jessie George, his future wife. The
two-year courtship between the 37-year-old Conrad and the 21-year-old Jessie was somewhat
discontinuous in that Conrad pursued other women during the first year of their relationship,
but his attention became strongly focused on Jessie by the autumn of 1895. Garnett disapproved
of the match, especially since Jessie was miles behind Joseph in education. Nonetheless, they
married in March 1896.
The children who followed the union were not warmly welcomed by their father; an absent-
minded sort, he expressed surprise each time Jessie delivered a baby. His days were consumed
with writing, a struggle no doubt exacerbated by the gaps in his knowledge of the English
language.
The major productive phase of Conrad’s career spanned from 1897 to 1911, during which time
he composed The Nigger of the Narcissus, Youth, Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, Nostromo, The
Secret Agent, and Under Western Eyes, among other works. During this period, he also experienced
serious financial difficulties, often living off of advances and state grants, there being little in
the way of royalties. It was not until the publication of Chance in 1914 that he experienced
some level of commercial success.

As the quality of his work declined, he grew increasingly comfortable in his wealth and status.
Conrad had a true genius for companionship, and his circle of friends included talented
authors such as Stephen Crane and Henry James.
Still always writing, he eventually returned to Poland, and he then traveled to America, where
he died of a heart attack in 1924 at the age of 67. Conrad’s literary work would have a
profound impact on the Modernist movement, influencing a long list of writers including T.S.
Eliot, Graham Greene, Virginia Woolf, Thomas Mann, Andre Gide, Ernest Hemingway, F.
Scott Fitzgerald, and William Faulkner.

31.1.2 Introduction to the Text

A novella, Heart of Darkness is Joseph Conrad’s most famous work and a foundational text
on the subject of colonialism. Heart of Darkness is based in part on a trip that Conrad took
through modern-day Congo during his years as a sailor. He captained a ship that sailed down
the Congo River. Conrad gave up this mission because an illness forced him to return to
England, where he worked on his novella almost a decade later.

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