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Drawing on recent studies on life writing, memory, the narrative turn, and psychology, Conrad, Autobiographical Remembering, and the Making of Narrative Identity is the first major work that extensively explores the dynamic interplay between Conrad's autobiographical remembering and storytelling in relation to his identity construction within a historical and cultural context. This unique perspective makes the book particularly attractive for students, teachers, and researchers of Conrad. Contrary to the prevalent "achievement-and-decline" paradigm that implies a decline in quality of Conrad's works in his later period, this volume contends that Conrad's later works continue to engage with the complex questions of memory, identity, and culture, demonstrating a sustained commitment to exploring the intricacies of the human experiences. Essential reading for Conrad enthusiasts, but also for those who seek to explore how memory studies in literature intersect with psychology, philosophy, and cultural studies.
List of contents
Introduction: The Poetic Rememberer: Contextualizing Conrad's Work of Remembering
Chapter One: Future-oriented Remembering: Almayer's Folly and A Personal Record
Chapter Two: Memory as An Interpretative Feat: "An Outpost of Progress," Heart of Darkness and the Other
Chapter Three: Community-mediated Memory: Remembering Lord Jim
Chapter Four: Emotion-mediated Memory: The Conflation of Past and Present in The Shadow-Line
Conclusion: Towards a New Metaphor of Memory
About the author
Xiaoling Yao is Lecturer of English at East China Normal University in Shanghai, China. She obtained her PhD in English Literature from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her research interests include memory, narrative identity, spatiality, and modernist literature and culture.
Summary
Conrad, Autobiographical Remembering, and the Making of Narrative Identity is the first major work that extensively explores the dynamic interplay between Conrad’s autobiographical remembering and storytelling in relation to his identity construction within a historical and cultural context.
