ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the tension between the past and present, as well as between forgetting and remembering, by juxtaposing Conrad's first novel Almayer's Folly and his memoir A Personal Record, which describes the process by which the former was created. It will demonstrate how, in Conrad's praxis, memory and writing cross-fertilise. The rupture of Conrad's life experience – the ending of his seafaring career and the death of his quasi-father figure uncle – produced anxiety and disorientation. Narrative, for Conrad, facilitated understanding and communication with his past. Meanwhile, Conrad's formless past is condemned to disappear unless narrated and given impetus to move forward. Autobiographical memory in this sense is inherently narrative and future-oriented. Through the discussion of how Conrad organises, translates, and commemorates his lost past through different narrative strategies, this chapter argues that Conrad's autobiographical remembering does not only recreate a version of his past, but also reflects the desires of his creating self in the present, and orients towards the identity as a British citizen that he adopts in the future.
