Book description
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY TIM BUTCHER
The silence of the jungle is broken only by the ominous sound of
drumming. Life on the river is brutal and unknown threats lurk in the
darkness. Marlow's mission to captain a steamer upriver into the dense
interior leads him into conflict with the others who haunt the forest.
But his decision to hunt down the mysterious Mr Kurtz, an ivory trader
who is the subject of sinister rumours, leads him into more than just
physical peril.
Józef Teodor Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski was born in the Ukraine on 3
December 1857. His parents were Polish and had both died in exile by the
time Conrad was eleven. His uncle then became his guardian and looked
after him in Krakow until he was sixteen when he went to sea and sailed
on French and British ships. He was made British citizen in 1886 and
changed his name to Joseph Conrad. In 1889 Conrad visited the Congo and
his experiences there inspired
Heart of Darkness
. In 1894 he published his first novel,
Almayer's Folly
and went on to write nineteen more as well as many short stories,
essays and a memoir. In 1896 he married Jessie George and they later had
two sons. Conrad died on 3 August 1924.
