Heart of Darkness, written By Joseph Conrad

Chris writes:
The book I am reading is Heart of Darkness, written By Joseph Conrad at the age of forty four. Conrad, born Józef Teodor Conrad Korzeniowski in 1857, began life in a very hostile environment. He grew up in Russian occupied Ukraine with his Polish nationalist parents, Evelina Bobrowska (1832–1865) and Apollo Korzeniowski, (1820–1869), under constant surveillance by the Russians. In 1861 his father was arrested and along with his wife and young Joseph, exiled to Vologda, a province in the north of Russia. His mother and father both contracted and died from tuberculosis, due to the harsh conditions of northern Russia, between 1865 and 1869. Orphaned, Joseph went to live with his uncle. While there, he learned Latin, Greek, Geography and Mathematics in addition to the Polish and French he already spoke fluently. Like any good uncle, Tadeusz Bobrowski (d.1894) helped Joseph escape from the watchful eye of the Russians to Marseilles, France in 1874. Here he began his fifteen year stint as a seaman. Because of gambling debts accumulated as a seaman with the French, Conrad attempted suicide. Failing in this and having lost respect of French traders, Conrad joined an English ship, ‘Mavis’. After becoming an English citizen and officially changing his name to Joseph Conrad, his life at sea finally helped him accomplish his lifelong dream of visiting ‘the dark continent’ of Africa. There, he recorded ‘Congo diary’ which became his muse for Heart of Darkness. When he returned to England frailed by the hard life of the congo, he began his climb towards fame, and towards becoming one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. He continued writing almost to his death, due to heart attack, in 1924.