Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, 1857-­1924) was a Polish-­British writer regarded as one of the greatest novelists to write in the English language. Though he did not speak English fluently until his twenties, he was a master prose stylist who brought a non-­English sensibility into English literature. Conrad wrote stories and novels that depict trials of the human spirit in the midst of what he saw as an impassive, inscrutable universe. Conrad is considered an early modernist, though his works contain elements of 19th-­century realism. His narrative style and anti-­heroic characters have influenced numerous authors, and many films have been adapted from, or inspired by, his works.