Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) came from a Polish family and learned English only after his arrival in Great Britain in 1878. After a relatively short career as an officer in the merchant marine, he began working as a writer in 1890. At the center of Conrad's stories are often solitary figures, such as ship officers or colonists cut off from civilization, who are on the verge of breaking down due to their isolation. The longer sea story "The End of the Affair" was published by Conrad in 1902.