History Creator / JosephConrad

For reasons such as this, Conrad is perennially part of UsefulNotes/SchoolStudyMedia as well as a popular author to this day.

Several of his books have been adapted to films. Most notable examples are ''Film/{{Sabotage|1936}}'' (1936) by Creator/AlfredHitchcock which adapts ''The Secret Agent'' [[note]]Not to be confused by the Hitchcock film ''Film/{{Secret Agent|1936}}'' which adapts W. Somerset Maugham's ''Ashenden''[[/note]], Carol Reed's adaptation of ''An Outcast on the Islands'' and Richard Brooks' adaptation of ''Literature/LordJim''. The most famous one of course is ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' which adapts his 1899 novella ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'' through SettingUpdate from the Belgian Congo to the Vietnam War. Likewise, Creator/DavidLean planned to adapt ''Nostromo'' for his last film but [[DiedDuringProduction he died before production began]]. In addition, numerous ships in ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' are [[ShoutOut named after]] elements of Conrad's book, including the Nostromo and its shuttle Narcissus, and later the Sulaco, after the town in ''Nostromo''.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Many of Conrad's protagonists either have a DarkSecret (e.g. Razumov in ''Under Western Eyes'', Verloc in ''The Secret Agent'', Willems in ''An Outcast of the Islands'', the eponymous characters of ''Lord Jim'' and ''Nostromo'') or are mistaken for shady characters with a dark past because of their strange personality traits (e.g. Heyst in ''Victory'', Dr. Monygham in ''Literature/Nostromo'').

An ethnic Pole (see UsefulNotes/{{Poland}}), but born within the dominions of what was then the Russian Empire (actually present-day UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}}, but see also UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}), Conrad lived an early life upset by considerable political turmoil. He eventually settled in England, finding work as a merchant sailor (and even becoming TheCaptain of his own ship) before turning to writing.

Conrad’s youth as a merchant sailor on French and British vessels provides [[WriteWhatYouKnow the background]] for most of his seafaring works. Most of his time at sea was working trade routes around Africa and India at the height of UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire, which informs most of his other works. In his lifetime, he was regarded as a great talent by the likes of Creator/HenryJames, Creator/RudyardKipling and he later influenced artists like Creator/{{Graham Greene|Author}}, Creator/TSEliot, Creator/OrsonWelles, Creator/ThomasPynchon, Creator/ErnestHemingway, Creator/FScottFitzgerald, Creator/WilliamFaulkner, Creator/WilliamSBurroughs, and Creator/CormacMcCarthy.

** Elmer Almayer, the hapless protagonist of ''Almayer's Folly'', is a secondary character in ''An Outcast of the Islands''.

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Many of his characters go nuts when they confront their illusions and failed hopes. It happens to all the terrorists in ''The Secret Agent'', as well as Razumov in ''Under Western Eyes''. In ''Literature/{{Nostromo}}'', Decoud is driven to madness and suicide by being forced to spend a few days alone on an island with nothing but his self-doubt to keep him company. Peter Willems comes close to doing the same after being intentionally marooned on an estuary island as punishment for his betrayal of Captain Lingard in ''An Outcast of the Islands''.

Conrad’s youth as a merchant sailor on French and British vessels provides [[WriteWhatYouKnow the background]] for most of his seafaring works. Most of his time at sea was working trade routes around Africa and India at the height of UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire, which informs most of his other works. In his lifetime, he was regarded as a great talent by the likes of Creator/HenryJames, Creator/RudyardKipling and he later influenced artists like Creator/{{Graham Greene|Author}}, Creator/TSEliot, Creator/OrsonWelles, Creator/ThomasPynchon, Creator/ErnestHemingway, Creator/FScottFitzgerald, Creator/WilliamFaulkner and Creator/CormacMcCarthy.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Many of Conrad's protagonists either have a DarkSecret (e.g. Razumov in ''Under Western Eyes'', Verloc in ''The Secret Agent'', Willems in ''An Outcast of the Islands'', the eponymous characters of ''Lord Jim'' and ''Nostromo'') or are mistaken for shady characters with a dark past because of their strange personality traits (e.g. Heyst in ''Victory'', Dr. Monygham in ''Nostromo'').

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Many of Conrad's protagonists either have a DarkSecret (e.g. Razumov in ''Under Western Eyes'', Verloc in ''The Secret Agent'', Willems in ''An Outcast of the Islands'', the eponymous characters of ''Lord Jim'' and ''Nostromo'') or are mistaken for shady characters with a dark past because of their strange personality traits (e.g. Heyst in ''Victory'').

* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: Averted. Conrad was deeply unsympathetic to revolutionaries, he sees self-calling freedom fighters who use violence as thrill-seekers who use ideology to justify taking innocent lives. His novels ''The Secret Agent'' and ''Under Western Eyes'' both depict terrorist attacks that condemn these actions in no uncertain terms as senseless and brutal. Literature/{{Nostromo}} expresses a similarly low opinion of populist liberation movements in developing countries.

* DownerEnding: If you ever find a happy ending in a Conrad story, it’s like winning a lottery. Even [[BittersweetEnding when events turn in favor of the main characters]], it's usually at the price of the death or ruin of other characters, e.g. Wait's death in ''The Nigger of the Narcissus''.