"Born Jó zef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski in Berdychiv, Russian Empire, Joseph Conrad (1857- 1924) was the only child of Ewa Bobrowska and the Polish poet Apollo Korzeniowski. In May 1862, when Conrad was four, they were exiled to Vologda in Northern Russia. Conrad lost his mother in 1865, and was homeschooled by his father. Apollo introduced him to the works of William Shakespeare, Victor Hugo, and Polish literature. After his death in May 1869, the eleven-year-old Conrad went to live with his uncle, Tadeusz Bobrowski. Almayer's Folly (1895) was Conrad's first novel. In 1897, Conrad published his novella The Nigger of the ' Narcissus' . From 1898 to 1906, Conrad wrote for The Outlook, a weekly magazine. Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness was first published in Blackwood's Magazine in 1899 as a three-part serial story. Giving a critical insight into hypocrisy of European imperialism, it brings to light the absurdity of evil. It was published in book form in 1902 and has remained one of Conrad's best works. Among his other outstanding works are Lord Jim (1900); Nostromo (1904); The Secret Agent (1907); Under Western Eyes (1911); and Chance (1914). "