Why did Joseph Conrad avoid using English, except when it came to the arduous task of writing fiction? And how do we account for his extensive borrowing from French writers? This psycholinguistic examination delves into the creative mind of Conrad in an attempt to decipher his learning and use of three languages, Polish, French, and English. Following a trail of syntactical eccentricities and considerable stylistic variations, Lucas shows how these features interact to produce Conrad's idiosyncratic style.