Autobiography

I am an author whose writing derives predominantly from personal experience, and so am, in many respects, my characters. In youth I coped with my father's political exile within the Russian empire, and my mother's poor health, until age eleven, by which point both had passed away. My uncle took me in, though he quite leniently permitted me to gain sea-legs and travel abroad. Perhaps I could be described as an adventurer (goodness knows I've traveled enough—Venezuela to Congo to British India—to qualify), but primarily I am an observer. I've seen my share of human nature aboard boat and upon foreign soil, and, however unfortunate, it is not so pretty a picture. I suppose that seeking out humanity brings out the same in myself, and inward insights have a tendency to taint my literature. Which is not necessarily bad, in the presence of decent, moral judgment; but I fear a rather bleak and pessimistic streak must cross my works: seeing more of the world makes me only doubt it all the more. Yet I am at ease now in Britain, content to write myself into fiction and unafraid of presenting what subjective view of the world I have accrued in my sixty-seven years within it—and eighty-two more without.

—Joseph Conrad

P.S. You may be familiar with my story, "Heart of Darkness?" Please feel free to constructively critique it, and I will gladly entertain your suggestions.