Korzeniowski

He Was Not a Literary Man

On Dec. 6, 1857, Josef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski was born in the Ukraine, the son of Polish parents. In his boyhood, he pointed out the Congo on the map and decided that it was the place he wanted to visit.

His father published a review, which was suppressed; his parents were for a time in exile. Meanwhile, under an uncle's care, he was put to school in Cracow.

At 17, at his earnest desire, his father secured him a berth on a French collier, sailing from Marseilles. From then until 1895 he lived upon the sea. At first, he served on French vessels; later, aboard English ships. He rose through all the grades of seamanship-- from man 'before the mast to master. There was no sea that did not know him. Not infrequently, health failed him for a time. One of these occasions was when he made his only visit to the Congo, the land which had first inspired his wanderings. In 1884, he became an English subject and in the same year obtained his Master's ticket. When he changed his allegiance from Russia to England, he also changed his name, retaining only part of it, anglicizing its spelling--thus becoming Joseph Conrad.

It was five years later, in 1889, that he began to write. With the choice of several languages -- French, German, Russian, Polish--he elected to write in English, which he preferred as a medium of expression. It was four years later still before he showed his manuscript to anyone. On a voyage to Australia aboard the Torrens, he had, as passenger, a Cambridge man. Conrad asked him: "Would it bore you very much reading a manuscript in a handwriting like mine?"

Let Conrad tell the incident:

"Next day Jacques--that was his name--entered my cabin with the manuscript in his hand. He tendered it to me with a steady look, but without a word. I took it in silence; and he sat down on the couch and still said nothing.

" 'Well, what do you think of it?' I asked at length. 'Is it worth reading?'

" 'Distinctly.'

" 'Were you interested? Is the story perfectly clear to you as it stands?'

" 'Yes, perfectly.' "

In the course of the next year, Conrad completed the novel, which was Almayer's Folly; in another year it was published. This first book was seven years from the writing of its first word to its printing. That same year saw Conrad's marriage. Shortly afterwards he gave up the sea, settled down at what he called his "farmhouse" near Hythe, Kent. There he continued writing novels of the sea, of the life he loved. He made plans, at times, to return to his sea life, but there were always hindrances which prevented him.

His only visit to the U. S. took place in the Spring and Summer of 1923. He came as the guest of Frank N. Doubleday, his publisher. He arrived very quietly, neither spoke nor lectured, spent the greater part of his few weeks in this country on Long Island at his host's estate. He got, however, a view of the Manhattan skyline from across the bay--a seaman's view, as much of a country as a seaman cares to look upon.

Last week at his home in Kent, he became suddenly ill with asthma. An attack of heart disease followed. Oxygen was administered to him. On Sunday morning, he died resting in his chair after breakfast.

He said of himself while in America: "I'm not a literary man." Strangely enough, James Huneker got the same impression of him: "a man of the world, neither sailor nor novelist, just a simple-mannered gentleman whose welcome was sincere, whose glance was slightly veiled, far away at times, whose ways were Polish, French, anything but bluff or English or 'literary.' "

Joseph Conrad's published books include:

Almayer's Folly, 1895; An Outcast of the Islands, 1896; The Nigger of the Narcissus, 1897; Tales of Unrest, 1898; Lord Jim, 1900; Youth and Other Tales, 1902; Typhoon, 1903; Nostromo, 1904; The Mirror of the Sea, 1906; A Set of Six, 1908; Under Western Eyes, 1911; Chance, 1914; Victory, 1915; Within the Tides, 1915; The Arrow of Gold, 1919; The Rescue, 1920; Notes on Life and Letters, 1921; The Rover, 1923.