Joseph Conrad's reputation as a major modern writer rests almost exclusively on his novels and short fiction. But even if his five volumes of occasional writings only infrequently achieve the high distinction of his creative work, they deserve attention for the considerable light they throw on the mind, character, and art of such a significant author.

Conrad was born Teodor Józef Konrad Korzeniowski in the Polish Ukraine, the son of Apollo Korzeniowski, a translator, poet, dramatist and political activist. Exiled for their involvement in anti-Russian activities, his parents, their health undermined, died when he was still a boy--his mother, Ewa Bobrowska Korzeniowski, in 1865 and his father in 1869. The dream of going to sea, unusual in a Pole, brought him to Marseilles in 1874 and then in 1878 to England, at that time the world's greatest maritime power. His deep water voyages to the Far East and Australia are...