As the twentieth century draws to its close, Conrad's position in the front rank of its literature seems to have become (after several up and down fluctuations) unquestionable. Also, it is now generally agreed that he was an exceptional writer. Various arguments for his eminence and reasons for his exceptionality have been given (also in the present volume), and they are – and will continue to be – much discussed. Here I wish to look at an aspect of his work which until now has not attracted much attention: his Europeanism. What follows is, however, only a tentative outline of a study, which I hope will be written some day.

Joseph Conrad was a European writer in several senses of this expression, in several aspects. Let us begin by listing the most important.

1. As a writer he blended (successfully) elements of three cultures: Polish, French and English. What were these elements? What did he absorb from these cultures and make use of? In brief:

Poland: honour, fidelity and duty as essential moral values; a Romantic literary tradition – with its striking imagery and characteristic problems of moral responsibility and of the individual and his relations with society; the idea of nation as a spiritual unity; the importance of friendship. And thus, generally: elements of the imagery and basic ethical concepts and problems.