Misplaced Pages

#769230

76-588: Nobody Runs Forever , also called The High Commissioner , is a 1968 British political neo noir spy thriller action film directed by Ralph Thomas and based on Jon Cleary 's 1966 novel The High Commissioner . It stars Rod Taylor as Australian policeman Scobie Malone and Christopher Plummer as the Australian High Commissioner in Britain caught up in corrupt dealings, during delicate negotiations. Taylor's production company

152-449: A "straightforward, devoted, quite competent" companion. Similarly, Jones remarks that, despite whatever difficulties the marriage endured, "there can be no doubt that the relationship sustained Conrad's career as a writer", which might have been much less successful without her. When in 1923 Jessie Conrad published A Handbook of Cookery for a Small House , it came with a preface from Joseph Conrad praising "the conscientious preparation of

228-686: A European-dominated world—including imperialism and colonialism —and that profoundly explore the human psyche . Conrad was born on 3 December 1857 in Berdychiv ( Polish : Berdyczów ), Ukraine , then part of the Russian Empire ; the region had once been part of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland . He was the only child of Apollo Korzeniowski —a writer, translator, political activist, and would-be revolutionary—and his wife Ewa Bobrowska. He

304-401: A conscious decision, usually gives rise to... internal tensions, because it tends to make people less sure of themselves, more vulnerable, less certain of their... position and... value... The Polish szlachta and... intelligentsia were social strata in which reputation... was felt... very important... for a feeling of self-worth. Men strove... to find confirmation of their... self-regard... in

380-477: A correct accent), some knowledge of Latin, German and Greek; probably a good knowledge of history, some geography, and probably already an interest in physics. He was well read, particularly in Polish Romantic literature . He belonged to the second generation in his family that had had to earn a living outside the family estates. They were born and reared partly in the milieu of the working intelligentsia ,

456-488: A disappointment in scholarship and integrity. Jessie was an unsophisticated, working-class girl, sixteen years younger than Conrad. To his friends, she was an inexplicable choice of wife, and the subject of some rather disparaging and unkind remarks. (See Lady Ottoline Morrell's opinion of Jessie in Impressions .) However, according to other biographers such as Frederick Karl , Jessie provided what Conrad needed, namely

532-507: A government grant (" civil list pension") of £100 per annum, awarded on 9 August 1910, somewhat relieved his financial worries, and in time collectors began purchasing his manuscripts . Though his talent was early on recognised by English intellectuals, popular success eluded him until the 1913 publication of Chance , which is often considered one of his weaker novels. Conrad was a reserved man, wary of showing emotion. He scorned sentimentality; his manner of portraying emotion in his books

608-587: A house surrounded by a magnificent rose garden. Research has confirmed that in Port Louis at the time there was a 17-year-old Alice Shaw, whose father, a shipping agent, owned the only rose garden in town. More is known about Conrad's other, more open flirtation. An old friend, Captain Gabriel Renouf of the French merchant marine, introduced him to the family of his brother-in-law. Renouf's eldest sister

684-699: A loss of $ 1,185,000. It recorded admissions in France of 44,083. Political thriller Political thrillers can be based on facts such as the assassination of John F. Kennedy or the Watergate Scandal . There is a strong overlap with the conspiracy thriller . Some early examples, can be found in the historical novels of Alexandre Dumas (particularly his Three Musketeers novels, which often involve political conspiracies), as well as such literary works as Joseph Conrad 's novel The Secret Agent . Gilles (1936) contains an early example of

760-525: A non-English colonial setting freed him from an embarrassing division of loyalty: Almayer's Folly , and later " An Outpost of Progress " (1897, set in a Congo exploited by King Leopold II of Belgium ) and Heart of Darkness (1899, likewise set in the Congo), contain bitter reflections on colonialism . The Malay states came theoretically under the suzerainty of the Dutch government ; Conrad did not write about

836-611: A passenger. His sole captaincy took place in 1888–89, when he commanded the barque Otago from Sydney to Mauritius . During a brief call in India in 1885–86, 28-year-old Conrad sent five letters to Joseph Spiridion, a Pole eight years his senior whom he had befriended at Cardiff in June 1885, just before sailing for Singapore in the clipper ship Tilkhurst . These letters are Conrad's first preserved texts in English. His English

SECTION 10

#1732786753770

912-700: A political thriller in a chronological format. The former ABC and Netflix series Designated Survivor depicts the political power struggle that follows as a result of a terrorist attack that destroys the United States Capitol during the State of the Union , assassinating the President and all but one of his line of succession . 2015's Okkupert (English: Occupied) quickly became Norway's most expensively produced TV series, depicting Russia and

988-568: A result, Conrad fell into debt and, in March 1878, he attempted suicide. He survived, and received further financial aid from his uncle, allowing him to resume his normal life. After nearly four years in France and on French ships, Conrad joined the British merchant marine, enlisting in April 1878 (he had most likely started learning English shortly before). For the next fifteen years, he served under

1064-734: A social class that was starting to play an important role in Central and Eastern Europe. He had absorbed enough of the history, culture and literature of his native land to be able eventually to develop a distinctive world view and make unique contributions to the literature of his adoptive Britain. Tensions that originated in his childhood in Poland and increasing in his adulthood abroad contributed to Conrad's greatest literary achievements. Zdzisław Najder , himself an emigrant from Poland, observed: Living away from one's natural environment—family, friends, social group, language—even if it results from

1140-822: A source of lifelong guilt for Conrad. Because of the father's attempts at farming and his political activism, the family moved repeatedly. In May 1861 they moved to Warsaw , where Apollo joined the resistance against the Russian Empire. He was arrested and imprisoned in Pavilion X – the dread Tenth Pavilion – of the Warsaw Citadel . Conrad would write: "[I]n the courtyard of this Citadel—characteristically for our nation—my childhood memories begin." On 9 May 1862 Apollo and his family were exiled to Vologda , 500 kilometres (310 mi) north of Moscow and known for its bad climate. In January 1863 Apollo's sentence

1216-415: A tooth. Conrad's physical afflictions were, if anything, less vexatious than his mental ones. In his letters he often described symptoms of depression; "the evidence", writes Najder, "is so strong that it is nearly impossible to doubt it." In March 1878, at the end of his Marseilles period, 20-year-old Conrad attempted suicide, by shooting himself in the chest with a revolver. According to his uncle, who

1292-718: A trading and transport station in Matadi . In 1903, as British Consul to Boma, Casement was commissioned to investigate abuses in the Congo , and later in Amazonian Peru, and was knighted in 1911 for his advocacy of human rights . Casement later became active in Irish Republicanism after leaving the British consular service. Conrad left Africa at the end of December 1890, arriving in Brussels by late January of

1368-483: Is considered a literary impressionist by some and an early modernist by others, though his works also contain elements of 19th-century realism . His narrative style and anti-heroic characters, as in Lord Jim , for example, have influenced numerous authors. Many dramatic films have been adapted from and inspired by his works. Numerous writers and critics have commented that his fictional works, written largely in

1444-495: Is contrasted with the London diplomatic scene throughout the film. Taylor accepted the role on the proviso he could rewrite some of the script. In particular, the opening scene where Scobie Malone arrests Jacko ( Charles Tingwell ) is Rod's work. Ralph Thomas later said "I was a hired hand" on the film; "It was ok". There were several key changes from the novel, including: introducing Scobie Malone as an outback policeman, reducing

1520-403: Is generally correct but stiff to the point of artificiality; many fragments suggest that his thoughts ran along the lines of Polish syntax and phraseology . More importantly, the letters show a marked change in views from those implied in his earlier correspondence of 1881–83. He had abandoned "hope for the future" and the conceit of "sailing [ever] toward Poland", and his Panslavic ideas. He

1596-671: Is hard put to raise a couple of laughs from his snobbish reactions to an Australian from the outback. The script rambles along without rhyme or reason, and the most obvious opportunities for suspense (like the attempted assassination on the Centre Court at Wimbledon) are badly mishandled. The film has something of the flavour of a middle-period Hitchcock , but not a trace of the Master's talent." The film earned rentals of $ 455,000 in North America and $ 150,000 elsewhere. It recorded

SECTION 20

#1732786753770

1672-438: Is one example. A political thriller that happens in the backdrop of Bihar and Indian politics is Fawaz Jaleel's 2021 Nobody Likes an Outsider . Several Alfred Hitchcock films already contain elements of the political thriller, such as The Man Who Knew Too Much , The 39 Steps , and Foreign Correspondent . In 1962, John Frankenheimer made a film adaptation of The Manchurian Candidate . The late 1960s and 1970s saw

1748-604: Is the soul of all Poland]". In the autumn of 1866, young Conrad was sent for a year-long retreat for health reasons, to Kyiv and his mother's family estate at Novofastiv  [ de ] . In December 1867, Apollo took his son to the Austrian-held part of Poland , which for two years had been enjoying considerable internal freedom and a degree of self-government. After sojourns in Lwów and several smaller localities, on 20 February 1869 they moved to Kraków (until 1596

1824-749: The Pictorial Review and Romance ; mass-circulation dailies like the Daily Mail and the New York Herald ; and illustrated newspapers like The Illustrated London News and the Illustrated Buffalo Express . He also wrote for The Outlook , an imperialist weekly magazine, between 1898 and 1906. Financial success long eluded Conrad, who often requested advances from magazine and book publishers, and loans from acquaintances such as John Galsworthy. Eventually

1900-646: The European Union cooperating to get Norway to restore its gas and oil production. The series had a budget of over 90 million Norwegian Krona (3.8 Million GBP). It was first broadcast on TV2 in Norway, and then broadcast on Sky Arts in the United Kingdom. It was later added to Netflix worldwide. The 2017 ABS-CBN 's Revenge Crime-Political Suspense Epic Wildflower tells of a woman named Ivy Aguas/Lily Cruz ( Maja Salvador ) plots her vengeance for

1976-529: The Indian Ocean , Conrad developed a couple of romantic interests. One of these would be described in his 1910 story "A Smile of Fortune", which contains autobiographical elements (e.g., one of the characters is the same Chief Mate Burns who appears in The Shadow Line ). The narrator, a young captain, flirts ambiguously and surreptitiously with Alice Jacobus, daughter of a local merchant living in

2052-511: The November 1830 Uprising of Poland-Lithuania against the Russian Empire. Conrad's fiercely patriotic father Apollo belonged to the "Red" political faction, whose goal was to re-establish the pre-partition boundaries of Poland and that also advocated land reform and the abolition of serfdom. Conrad's subsequent refusal to follow in Apollo's footsteps, and his choice of exile over resistance, were

2128-683: The Red Ensign . He worked on a variety of ships as crew member (steward, apprentice, able seaman ) and then as third, second and first mate, until eventually achieving captain's rank. During the 19 years from the time that Conrad had left Kraków , in October 1874, until he signed off the Adowa , in January 1894, he had worked in ships, including long periods in port, for 10 years and almost 8 months. He had spent just over 8 years at sea—9 months of it as

2204-715: The September 11 attacks or terrorism in general. The 1990 British drama serial House of Cards is a political thriller set after the end of Margaret Thatcher's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, with a Chief Whip Francis Urquhart attempting to rise to Prime Minister. The subsequent Netflix adaptation starring Kevin Spacey is set in the United States and details Congressman Francis Underwood 's machinations to become elected president. Shonda Rhimes ' television series Scandal contains many elements of

2280-616: The American James Fenimore Cooper and the English Captain Frederick Marryat . A playmate of his adolescence recalled that Conrad spun fantastic yarns, always set at sea, presented so realistically that listeners thought the action was happening before their eyes. In August 1873 Bobrowski sent fifteen-year-old Conrad to Lwów to a cousin who ran a small boarding house for boys orphaned by the 1863 Uprising ; group conversation there

2356-821: The American involvement in Vietnam during the First Indochina War . Richard Condon 's The Manchurian Candidate (1962) is set in the aftermath of the Korean War and the days of McCarthyism . In Frederick Forsyth 's The Day of the Jackal , an assault on Charles de Gaulle has to be prevented. Other authors of political thrillers include Jeffrey Archer and Daniel Silva . In Bengali literature , Samaresh Majumdar 's Aat Kuthuri Noy Dorja (বাংলা: আট কুঠুরি নয় দরজা, meaning: "Eight Rooms and Nine Doors")

Nobody Runs Forever - Misplaced Pages Continue

2432-680: The Misses Renouf. A couple of days before leaving Port Louis, Conrad asked one of the Renouf brothers for the hand of his 26-year-old sister Eugenie. She was already, however, engaged to marry her pharmacist cousin. After the rebuff, Conrad did not pay a farewell visit but sent a polite letter to Gabriel Renouf, saying he would never return to Mauritius and adding that on the day of the wedding his thoughts would be with them. On 24 March 1896 Conrad married an Englishwoman, Jessie George. The couple had two sons, Borys and John. The elder, Borys, proved

2508-637: The Premier, has become the only suspect in a 17-year-old murder case. Upon his arrival at the Australian High Commission in London , Malone meets Lady Quentin and her husband, as well as Sir James's secretary. Sir James does not object to being arrested, but he asks for a few days to conclude delicate peace negotiations. As Malone waits as a guest of the High Commission, he uncovers a plot to assassinate Sir James, masterminded by

2584-632: The UK, achieving the BBC 's highest viewing figures since 2008. The series depicts PS David Budd, a British Army war veteran suffering from PTSD . He is working for the Metropolitan Police within their Royalty and Specialist Protection Branch . He is assigned to protect the ambitious Home Secretary , Julia Montague, whose politics stand for everything he despises. It was released on Netflix worldwide on 24 October 2018. A playwright who has embraced

2660-455: The area's British dependencies, which he never visited. He "was apparently intrigued by... struggles aimed at preserving national independence. The prolific and destructive richness of tropical nature and the dreariness of human life within it accorded well with the pessimistic mood of his early works." Almayer's Folly , together with its successor, An Outcast of the Islands (1896), laid

2736-507: The capital of Poland), likewise in Austrian Poland. A few months later, on 23 May 1869, Apollo Korzeniowski died, leaving Conrad orphaned at the age of eleven. Like Conrad's mother, Apollo had been gravely ill with tuberculosis. The young Conrad was placed in the care of Ewa's brother, Tadeusz Bobrowski . Conrad's poor health and his unsatisfactory schoolwork caused his uncle constant problems and no end of financial outlay. Conrad

2812-524: The chief supporting roles in Conrad's literary career, had—like Unwin's first reader of Almayer's Folly , Wilfrid Hugh Chesson —been impressed by the manuscript, but Garnett had been "uncertain whether the English was good enough for publication." Garnett had shown the novel to his wife, Constance Garnett , later a translator of Russian literature. She had thought Conrad's foreignness a positive merit. While Conrad had only limited personal acquaintance with

2888-686: The countryside was owned by the Polish szlachta (nobility), to which Conrad's family belonged as bearers of the Nałęcz coat-of-arms . Polish literature, particularly patriotic literature, was held in high esteem by the area's Polish population. Poland had been divided among Prussia, Austria and Russia in 1795 . The Korzeniowski family had played a significant role in Polish attempts to regain independence. Conrad's paternal grandfather Teodor had served under Prince Józef Poniatowski during Napoleon's Russian campaign and had formed his own cavalry squadron during

2964-519: The emergence of political thrillers that actively reflected the backdrop of the Vietnam and Watergate Scandal eras in US military and political history and presented a largely unvarnished view of the machinations and cynicism of modern-day political leadership, including assertions around the convergence of politicians and the secret services colluding to create a so-called deep state focused on neutralizing

3040-542: The emphasis on the peace conference being for the Vietnam War and making it something more vague, Scobie having sex with Maria Cholon. The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Despite a basically promising situation, a distinguished cast and plenty of gloss, this thriller is a catastrophic failure on any level. The actors are scarcely able to conceal their embarrassment with the impossible dialogue they are given, Daliah Lavi and Camilla Sparv are wasted, and even Clive Revill

3116-574: The establishment for just over a year when in September 1874, for uncertain reasons, his uncle removed him from school in Lwów and took him back to Kraków. On 13 October 1874 Bobrowski sent the sixteen-year-old to Marseilles , France, for Conrad's planned merchant-marine career on French merchant ships, providing him with a monthly stipend of 150 francs. Though Conrad had not completed secondary school, his accomplishments included fluency in French (with

Nobody Runs Forever - Misplaced Pages Continue

3192-431: The example of Gustave Flaubert , notorious for searching days on end for le mot juste —for the right word to render the "essence of the matter." Najder opined: "[W]riting in a foreign language admits a greater temerity in tackling personally sensitive problems, for it leaves uncommitted the most spontaneous, deeper reaches of the psyche, and allows a greater distance in treating matters we would hardly dare approach in

3268-518: The eyes of others... Such a psychological heritage forms both a spur to ambition and a source of constant stress, especially if [one has been inculcated with] the idea of [one]'s public duty... Some critics have suggested that when Conrad left Poland, he wanted to break once and for all with his Polish past. In refutation of this, Najder quotes from Conrad's 14 August 1883 letter to family friend Stefan Buszczyński, written nine years after Conrad had left Poland: ... I always remember what you said when I

3344-467: The first two decades of the 20th century, seem to have anticipated later world events. Writing near the peak of the British Empire , Conrad drew on the national experiences of his native Poland—during nearly all his life, parceled out among three occupying empires —and on his own experiences in the French and British merchant navies , to create short stories and novels that reflect aspects of

3420-460: The following year. He rejoined the British merchant marines, as first mate, in November. When he left London on 25 October 1892 aboard the passenger clipper ship Torrens , one of the passengers was William Henry Jacques, a consumptive Cambridge University graduate who died less than a year later on 19 September 1893. According to Conrad's A Personal Record , Jacques was the first reader of

3496-659: The foundation for Conrad's reputation as a romantic teller of exotic tales—a misunderstanding of his purpose that was to frustrate him for the rest of his career. Almost all of Conrad's writings were first published in newspapers and magazines: influential reviews like The Fortnightly Review and the North American Review ; avant-garde publications like the Savoy , New Review , and The English Review ; popular short-fiction magazines like The Saturday Evening Post and Harper's Magazine ; women's journals like

3572-456: The genre is Gary Mitchell , who in the 2000s became "one of the most talked about voices in European theatre ... whose political thrillers have arguably made him Northern Ireland's greatest playwright". Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski , Polish: [ˈjuzɛf tɛˈɔdɔr ˈkɔnrat kɔʐɛˈɲɔfskʲi] ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924)

3648-548: The head of a dangerous spy ring, Maria Cholon. In August 1966 Cleary said Frank Sinatra was interested in buying the film rights. Film rights were sold in December 1966. Filmed in Australia and London, this was the last big-screen appearance of Franchot Tone , who plays the American ambassador. Rod Taylor has a rare opportunity to play an Australian, even though it was his native land. Taylor's unsophisticated integrity

3724-455: The inspiration for some of Conrad's characters, such as the title character of the 1904 novel Nostromo . Conrad visited Corsica with his wife in 1921, partly in search of connections with his long-dead friend and fellow merchant seaman. In late 1877, Conrad's maritime career was interrupted by the refusal of the Russian consul to provide documents needed for him to continue his service. As

3800-410: The language of our childhood. As a rule it is easier both to swear and to analyze dispassionately in an acquired language." In 1894, aged 36, Conrad reluctantly gave up the sea, partly because of poor health, partly due to unavailability of ships, and partly because he had become so fascinated with writing that he had decided on a literary career. Almayer's Folly , set on the east coast of Borneo ,

3876-448: The loss of her family and is willing to determine to dethrone the exploitative and oppressive Ardiente Political Dynasty. Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan is an American action political thriller streaming television series, based on characters from the fictional "Ryanverse" created by Tom Clancy, that premiered on August 31, 2018, on Amazon Prime Video . In 2018, British political thriller Bodyguard quickly achieved popularity throughout

SECTION 50

#1732786753770

3952-440: The man who from the very first page showed a serious, professional approach to his work, presented his start on Almayer's Folly as a casual and non-binding incident... [Y]et he must have felt a pronounced need to write. Every page right from th[e] first one testifies that writing was not something he took up for amusement or to pass time. Just the contrary: it was a serious undertaking, supported by careful, diligent reading of

4028-403: The masters and aimed at shaping his own attitude to art and to reality.... [W]e do not know the sources of his artistic impulses and creative gifts. Conrad's later letters to literary friends show the attention that he devoted to analysis of style, to individual words and expressions, to the emotional tone of phrases, to the atmosphere created by language. In this, Conrad in his own way followed

4104-415: The orbit of English literature. Most of all, though, he read Polish Romantic poetry . Half a century later he explained that "The Polishness in my works comes from Mickiewicz and Słowacki . My father read [Mickiewicz's] Pan Tadeusz aloud to me and made me read it aloud.... I used to prefer [Mickiewicz's] Konrad Wallenrod [and] Grażyna . Later I preferred Słowacki. You know why Słowacki?... [He

4180-466: The peoples of Maritime Southeast Asia , the region looms large in his early work. According to Najder, Conrad, the exile and wanderer, was aware of a difficulty that he confessed more than once: the lack of a common cultural background with his Anglophone readers meant he could not compete with English-language authors writing about the English-speaking world . At the same time, the choice of

4256-634: The political thriller: in one of the book's subplots the protagonist Gilles Gambier finds himself embroiled in an left-wing assassination plot against the Prime Minister. The plot falls apart due to the ineptness of the conspirators, and Gilles ends with the protaganist leaving to fight in the Spanish civil war . The actual political thriller came to life in the early days of the Cold War . Graham Greene 's The Quiet American (1955) tells about

4332-425: The ship to look at the local mines. Sanderson continued his voyage and seems to have been the first to develop closer ties with Conrad. Later that year, Conrad would visit his relatives in Poland and Ukraine once again. In the autumn of 1889, Conrad began writing his first novel, Almayer's Folly . [T]he son of a writer, praised by his [maternal] uncle [Tadeusz Bobrowski] for the beautiful style of his letters,

4408-446: The simple food of everyday life, not the... concoction of idle feasts and rare dishes." The couple rented a long series of successive homes, mostly in the English countryside. Conrad, who suffered frequent depressions, made great efforts to change his mood; the most important step was to move into another house. His frequent changes of home were usually signs of a search for psychological regeneration. Between 1910 and 1919 Conrad's home

4484-601: The still-unfinished manuscript of Conrad's Almayer's Folly . Jacques encouraged Conrad to continue writing the novel. Conrad completed his last long-distance voyage as a seaman on 26 July 1893 when the Torrens docked at London and "J. Conrad Korzemowin"—per the certificate of discharge—debarked. When the Torrens had left Adelaide on 13 March 1893, the passengers had included two young Englishmen returning from Australia and New Zealand: 25-year-old lawyer and future novelist John Galsworthy ; and Edward Lancelot Sanderson, who

4560-851: The will of the people and actively taking out dissension. Films such as All the President's Men (based on the Watergate Scandal), The Parallax View , whose opening scene actively draws on the conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy , The Conversation and Three Days of The Condor , took political and conspiracy thrillers to new heights of paranoia, narrative complexity and realism. Other examples of political thrillers are Seven Days in May , Z , V for Vendetta , Romero , JFK , City Hall , Blow Out , Air Force One , Snowden and The Post . Several post-9/11 political thriller films refer to

4636-471: Was a Polish-British novelist and story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language and although he did not speak English fluently until his twenties, he became a master prose stylist who brought a non-English sensibility into English literature . He wrote novels and stories, many in nautical settings that depict crises of human individuality in the midst of what he saw as an indifferent, inscrutable and amoral world. Conrad

SECTION 60

#1732786753770

4712-437: Was christened Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski after his maternal grandfather Józef, his paternal grandfather Teodor, and the heroes (both named "Konrad") of two poems by Adam Mickiewicz , Dziady and Konrad Wallenrod . His family called him "Konrad", rather than "Józef". Though the vast majority of the surrounding area's inhabitants were Ukrainians, and the great majority of Berdychiv's residents were Jewish, almost all

4788-449: Was commuted, and the family was sent to Chernihiv in northeast Ukraine, where conditions were much better. However, on 18 April 1865 Ewa died of tuberculosis . Apollo did his best to teach Conrad at home. The boy's early reading introduced him to the two elements that later dominated his life: in Victor Hugo 's Toilers of the Sea , he encountered the sphere of activity to which he would devote his youth; Shakespeare brought him into

4864-527: Was essential that he learn a trade; his uncle thought he could work as a sailor-cum-businessman, who would combine maritime skills with commercial activities. In the autumn of 1871, thirteen-year-old Conrad announced his intention to become a sailor. He later recalled that as a child he had read (apparently in French translation) Leopold McClintock 's book about his 1857–59 expeditions in the Fox , in search of Sir John Franklin 's lost ships Erebus and Terror . Conrad also recalled having read books by

4940-464: Was full of restraint, scepticism and irony. In the words of his uncle Bobrowski , as a young man Conrad was "extremely sensitive, conceited, reserved, and in addition excitable. In short [...] all the defects of the Nałęcz family." Conrad suffered throughout life from ill health, physical and mental. A newspaper review of a Conrad biography suggested that the book could have been subtitled Thirty Years of Debt, Gout, Depression and Angst . In 1891 he

5016-424: Was going to help his father run a boys' preparatory school at Elstree . They were probably the first Englishmen and non-sailors with whom Conrad struck up a friendship and he would remain in touch with both. In one of Galsworthy's first literary attempts, The Doldrums (1895–96), the protagonist—first mate Armand—is modelled after Conrad. At Cape Town, where the Torrens remained from 17 to 19 May, Galsworthy left

5092-440: Was hospitalised for several months, suffering from gout , neuralgic pains in his right arm and recurrent attacks of malaria. He also complained of swollen hands "which made writing difficult". Taking his uncle Tadeusz Bobrowski's advice, he convalesced at a spa in Switzerland. Conrad had a phobia of dentistry , neglecting his teeth until they had to be extracted. In one letter he remarked that every novel he had written had cost him

5168-435: Was in French. The owner's daughter recalled: He stayed with us ten months... Intellectually he was extremely advanced but [he] disliked school routine, which he found tiring and dull; he used to say... he... planned to become a great writer.... He disliked all restrictions. At home, at school, or in the living room he would sprawl unceremoniously. He... suffer[ed] from severe headaches and nervous attacks... Conrad had been at

5244-406: Was involved in making the film, as was the American company Selmur Productions. Sergeant Scobie Malone of the New South Wales Police (NSW Police) is summoned to Sydney by the gruff Premier of New South Wales , Mr Flannery, who asks Malone to travel to London and arrest the senior Australian diplomat in Britain, Sir James Quentin, High Commissioner to the UK. Sir James, a political rival of

5320-424: Was leaving [Kraków]: "Remember"—you said—"wherever you may sail, you are sailing towards Poland!" That I have never forgotten, and never will forget! In Marseilles Conrad had an intense social life, often stretching his budget. A trace of these years can be found in the northern Corsica town of Luri , where there is a plaque to a Corsican merchant seaman, Dominique Cervoni, whom Conrad befriended. Cervoni became

5396-530: Was left with a painful sense of the hopelessness of the Polish question and an acceptance of England as a possible refuge. While he often adjusted his statements to accord to some extent with the views of his addressees, the theme of hopelessness concerning the prospects for Polish independence often occurs authentically in his correspondence and works before 1914. The year 1890 marked Conrad's first return to Poland, where he would visit his uncle and other relatives and acquaintances. This visit took place while he

5472-460: Was not a good student; despite tutoring, he excelled only in geography. At that time he likely received only private tutoring, as there is no evidence he attended any school regularly. Since the boy's ill health was clearly of nervous origin, the physicians supposed that fresh air and physical work would harden him; his uncle hoped that well-defined duties and the rigors of work would teach him discipline. Since he showed little inclination to study, it

5548-493: Was published in 1895. Its appearance marked his first use of the pen name "Joseph Conrad"; "Konrad" was, of course, the third of his Polish given names , but his use of it—in the anglicised version, "Conrad"—may also have been an homage to the Polish Romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz 's patriotic narrative poem, Konrad Wallenrod . Edward Garnett , a young publisher's reader and literary critic who would play one of

5624-423: Was summoned by a friend, Conrad had fallen into debt. Bobrowski described his subsequent "study" of his nephew in an extensive letter to Stefan Buszczyński , his own ideological opponent and a friend of Conrad's late father Apollo . To what extent the suicide attempt had been made in earnest likely will never be known, but it is suggestive of a situational depression. In 1888 during a stop-over on Mauritius , in

5700-457: Was the wife of Louis Edward Schmidt, a senior official in the colony; with them lived two other sisters and two brothers. Though the island had been taken over in 1810 by Britain, many of the inhabitants were descendants of the original French colonists, and Conrad's excellent French and perfect manners opened all local salons to him. He became a frequent guest at the Schmidts', where he often met

5776-706: Was waiting to proceed to the Congo Free State , having been hired by Albert Thys , deputy director of the Société Anonyme Belge pour le Commerce du Haut-Congo . Conrad's association with the Belgian company, on the Congo River , would inspire his novella, Heart of Darkness . During this 1890 period in the Congo , Conrad befriended Roger Casement , who was also working for Thys, operating

#769230