In her diary

Morrell wrote: "I found Conrad himself standing at the door of the house ready to receive me.... [His] appearance was really that of a Polish nobleman. His manner was perfect, almost too elaborate; so nervous and sympathetic that every fibre of him seemed electric... He talked English with a strong accent, as if he tasted his words in his mouth before pronouncing them; but he talked extremely well, though he had always the talk and manner of a foreigner.... He was dressed very carefully in a blue double-breasted jacket. He talked... apparently with great freedom about his life – more ease and freedom indeed than an Englishman would have allowed himself. He spoke of the horrors of the Congo, from the moral and physical shock of which he said he had never recovered..."

Note: Lady Ottoline Morrell was an English aristocrat and socialite who befriended writers. He visited Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, aka Joseph Conrad, in August (or September) 1913 in his home in London, and the above is an extract of her impression on the Polish-British author. / The caricature is sketched by David Low in 1923.

A Classic in the Summer

It's like an indispensable need – reading a classic in the summer seems to counterbalance the indolence of the season. Joseph Conrad's "A Personal Record" could not have been a better choice.  

There's a light, but not in any way frivolous, temper in Conrad's revealing his thoughts when he narrates certain instances about his family, his adolescence and education in Poland (or Ukraine), then part of the Russian Empire; when he recalls his first barque in Marseille, his travels in Africa and the great influence uncle Tadeusz had on him; when he confesses the reasons that led him to pivotal decisions in his life, including his choosing the English language as his main one - how completely understandable! His comments on the writing process, literary criticism and the human nature are quite insightful and appealing.  

It is considered unreliable and digressive in structure, this diary however is the only formal account of the author's life. It revives the period between the Napoleon era and 1895 (the year he wrote "The madness of Almagier") and the extensive commentary section at the last pages gives a lot of explanatory details that clarify precisely how this time in History interrelates with the author's family.  In that sense, it can be considered as a historical and political record, too. 

The Greek edition (translated by N. Dinopoulou, A.Koutsou - Printa, 2000) includes two editorials – the ones Joseph Conrad wrote himself initially to accompany the two different versions of the "Record" in English and that is something that adds interest to the book. However, I cannot say the same for the appendix by Nobel laureate Czeslaw Milosz where he thoroughly analyzes the life and poetry of Conrad's father – unless it is included for encyclopedic purposes only, it does not contribute to the understanding of Conrad's authorship.  

Worth reading, in any case.