Youth: A Narrative and Two Other Stories
The principal short-fiction collection and a strong introduction to Conrad's maritime narration and mature style.
Author guide
Joseph Conrad Books in Order
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924), born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski in Berdychiv, Ukraine, was a Polish-born British writer and former merchant mariner. He became one of the major English-language novelists of the modern period, known for psychologically complex narratives, maritime settings, framed narration, and sustained examinations of imperialism, political violence, moral responsibility, and cultural dislocation. He also wrote short-fiction collections, memoirs, essays, plays, and collaborative fiction with Ford Madox Ford.
modernist fictionliterary fictionmaritime fictionshort storiesnovellasmemoiressaysdrama
Catalog record updated .
Not sure where to begin?
Start with one of these
Lord Jim
A representative major novel combining adventure, moral psychology, and complex narrative structure.
The Mirror of the Sea: Memories and Impressions
The best entry point to Conrad's autobiographical maritime nonfiction.
Outside the series
Bibliography by category
Novels (15)
- Almayer's Folly
novel · 1895
The well-known shrill voice startled Almayer from his dream of splendid future into the unpleasant realities of the present hour. An unpleasant voice too. He had heard it for many years, and with every year he liked it less. No matter;…
- An Outcast of the Islands
novel · 1896
Conrad’s Second novel (An Outcast of the Islands) is about the colonial enterprise and their faults while they take a region. The characters are complex and deep. It makes for a great read.Please Note: This book is easy to read in true…
- Lord Jim
novel · 1900
This compact novel, completed in 1900, as with so many of the great novels of the time, is at its baseline a book of the sea. An English boy in a simple town has dreams bigger than the outdoors and embarks at an early age into the…
- Typhoon
novella · 1902
Calm, stoic captain Mac Whirr has just been given command of a new steamship, the Nan-Shan. He and his crew are transporting Asian workers across the China Sea when a sudden drop in atmospheric pressure alerts Mac Whirr of, "some…
- Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard
novel · 1904
- The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale
novel · 1907
- Under Western Eyes
novel · 1911
"It was I who removed de P- this morning." With these chilling words Victor Haldin shatters the solitary, industrious existence of Razumov, his fellow student at St Petersburg University. Razumov aims to overcome the denial of his noble…
- Chance: A Tale in Two Parts
novel · 1913
- Victory: An Island Tale
novel · 1915
- The Shadow-Line: A Confession
novel · 1917
The story of a young and inexperienced sea captain whose first command finds him with a ship becalmed in tropical seas and a crew smitten with fever. As he wrestles with his conscience and with the sense of isolation that his position…
- The Arrow of Gold: A Story between Two Notes
novel · 1919
- The Rescue: A Romance of the Shallows
novel · 1920
- The Rover
novel · 1923
- Suspense: A Napoleonic Novel
unfinished-novel · 1925
"Published posthumously in 1925, Suspense is set in Genoa in early 1815. This edition of Conrad's last novel, established through modern textual scholarship, presents the text in a form more authoritative than any so far printed. The…
Nonfiction (3)
- A Personal Record
memoir · 1912
A Personal Record is writer Joseph Conrad's autobiography. The writing is lyrical and atmospheric and commonly believed to be somewhat embellished. It does, however, give great insight into his Polish childhood, his sailing adventures and…
- To Poland in War-time: A Journey into the East
travel-memoir · 1919
- My Return to Cracow
travel-memoir · 1919
Short fiction (12)
- Tales of Unrest
short-story-collection · 1898
Of the five stories in this volume, The Lagoon, the last in order, is the earliest in date. It is the first short story I ever wrote and marks, in a manner of speaking, the end of my first phase, the Malayan phase with its special subject…
- Youth: A Narrative and Two Other Stories
short-story-collection · 1902
- Typhoon and Other Stories
short-story-collection · 1903
Joseph Conrad’s long experience as a working seaman enriched and deepened his literary gifts, making him the most brilliant and convincing writer of seafaring’s greatest age. In the three sea stories collected here, he makes deft use of…
- Falk, Amy Foster, To-Morrow: Three Stories
short-story-collection · 1903
- A Set of Six
short-story-collection · 1908
The six stories in this volume are the result of some three or four years of occasional work. The dates of their writing are far apart, their origins are various. None of them are connected directly with personal experiences. In all of…
- 'Twixt Land and Sea: Tales
short-story-collection · 1912
Ever since the sun rose I had been looking ahead. The ship glided gently in smooth water. After a sixty days' passage I was anxious to make my landfall, a fertile and beautiful island of the tropics. The more enthusiastic of its…
- Within the Tides: Tales
short-story-collection · 1915
In the private editorial office of the principal newspaper in a great colonial city two men were talking. They were both young. The stouter of the two, fair, and with more of an urban look about him, was the editor and part-owner of the…
- The Tale
short-story · 1919
"The Tale brings together in one collection four stories by the celebrated author of Heart of Darkness. Set onboard a ship during an unnamed war, the title story is a harrowing account of guilt and responsibility, showing Conrad at his…
- Prince Roman
short-story · 1920
- The Warrior's Soul
short-story · 1920
- Confidence
short-story · 1920
- Tales of Hearsay
short-story-collection · 1925
Essays and speeches (21)
- The Mirror of the Sea: Memories and Impressions
essay-collection · 1906
First published in 1906, The Mirror of the Sea was the first of Joseph Conrad's two autobiographical memoirs. Discussing it, he called the book "a very intimate revelation. . . . I have attempted here to lay bare with the unreserve of a…
- Well Done!
essay-collection · 1918
- The First News
essay · 1918
- The Shock of War: Through Germany to Cracow
essay · 1919
- The North Sea on the Eve of War
essay · 1919
- Tradition
essay · 1919
- The Polish Question: A Note on the Joint Protectorate of the Western Powers and Russia
political-essay · 1919
- Autocracy and War
political-essay · 1919
- Guy de Maupassant
literary-essay · 1919
- Henry James: An Appreciation
literary-essay · 1919
- Anatole France
literary-essay · 1919
- Tales of the Sea
essay · 1919
- An Observer in Malay
essay · 1920
- Books
essay · 1920
- Alphonse Daudet
literary-essay · 1920
- Anatole France: "L'Ile des Pingouins"
literary-essay · 1920
- Notes on Life and Letters
essay-collection · 1921
- Last Essays
essay-collection · 1926
Plays (1)
- One Day More
play · 1917
Posthumous collections (1)
- The Congo Diary and Other Uncollected Pieces
posthumous-essay-and-diary-collection · 1978
Collaborations (3)
- The Inheritors
co-authored-novel · 1901
DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "The Inheritors" by Joseph Conrad, Ford Madox Ford. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced…
- The Nature of a Crime
co-authored-novella · 1924
Frequently asked questions about Joseph Conrad
Who was Joseph Conrad, and what was his real name?
Joseph Conrad was born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski (1857–1924), a Polish-born mariner and writer who became a British citizen in 1886.
How did Joseph Conrad's career at sea influence his writing?
Conrad spent roughly two decades in the French and British merchant services, rising to become a ship's master. His voyages supplied the maritime settings, cross-cultural encounters, and moral conflicts central to much of his fiction.
Sources: bloomsbury.com (opens in a new tab)encyclopedia.com (opens in a new tab)
Why did Joseph Conrad write in English despite being Polish?
English was not Conrad's first language: he learned it in his twenties while working in the British merchant service. After settling in Britain, he adopted English as his literary language and became one of its major prose stylists.
Sources: cambridge.org (opens in a new tab)encyclopedia.com (opens in a new tab)
What were Joseph Conrad's main influences?
His seafaring experiences and the political upheavals of his Polish background were major influences. He also admired writers including Gustave Flaubert, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Ivan Turgenev, and Henry James.
Why is Joseph Conrad still important, and did he win a Nobel Prize?
Conrad is remembered as a major English prose stylist and an important bridge between Victorian and modernist fiction, especially for his innovative narration and psychologically complex treatment of imperialism and moral responsibility. He never received the Nobel Prize and declined a British knighthood in 1924.