"Joy and sorrow in this world pass into each other, mingling their forms and their murmurs in the twilight of life as mysterious as an overshadowed ocean, while the dazzling brightness of supreme hopes lies far off, fascinating and still, on the distant edge of the horizon." -- renowned Polish-British writer Joseph Conrad (12/3/1857 - 8/3/1924), from “A Personal Record: Some Reminiscences”, 2005, Cosimo, Inc. Author of such classic works as "Heart of Darkness," "Lord Jim," "Nostromo," and "Under Western Eyes," Conrad has more novels (4) on Modern Library's "100 Best Novels of the 20th Century" than any other author. His writing style influenced many subsequent authors, including William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Graham Greene, and Joan Didion. Conrad's work was so respected that F. Scott Fitzgerald once complained in a letter to H.L. Mencken that he was left off of a list of Conrad imitators.
(photo: Bettman Archives, via Getty Images)
