This chapter will address Conrad's place as a world writer by bringing his life and his art into correspondence. First, the chapter will discuss Conrad's background, identifying the formative influences that equipped him to write the colonial fictions that made him a great commentator on empire; then, it examines two representative samples of Conrad's fiction, one set in Borneo and one in Africa, to illustrate how they interrogate colonialism by attending to the voices of the world they describe; and, finally, the chapter considers Conrad's enduring influence upon world literature.