Not all crime novels are Spillane. Not all in this genre have the desperate, gorgeous dame leaning on a P.I.’s desk, tear-stained cheeks, begging said P.I. to solve her mystery. Sure, those noir-type novels are great, but the genre has come a long, long way. This week we’re discussing our […]
Birthdays
On this day, December 3, in 1857, Joseph Conrad was born in Berdichev, Imperial Russia (modern
Ukraine, then a part of Poland). While he settled in England and wrote in English, he always considered himself a Pole. Heart of Darkness, one of the most famous of his 20 novels (which explores colonialism and the attitudes regarding what constitutes a barbarian versus civilized society) is considered one of the best English novels of the 20th century, as is his novel Lord Jim, which chronicles a crew’s abandonment of its disabled ship. Conrad died in England in 1924 at age 66.