It was on this date, December 3, 1857, that English author Joseph Conrad was born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski in Berdichev (Berdyczów), Ukraine, a region that had been a part of Poland but was then under Russian rule. Nevertheless, Conrad is considered Polish-born. His father was a poet and translator of English and French literature, and saw to it that Jozef read Polish and French versions of English novels. But by 1869 both Conrad’s parents had died of tuberculosis, so Josef lived in Switzerland with an uncle.

To read more, go to THIS LINK.

Originally published December 2003 by Ronald Bruce Meyer.