Karain: A Memory
"Karain: A Memory" is a short story by the Polish-British author Joseph Conrad, first published in Blackwood's Magazine in 1897.[1] It was later included in his 1898 collection Tales of Unrest.
Background[edit]
The story was Conrad's first story commissioned for Blackwood's Magazine, popularly known as the Maga. It was based on the Polish folktale "Czaty" by Adam Mickiewicz.[2]
Plot[edit]
The story is told through a double frame narrative.[3] An unnamed narrator encounters Karain, a haunted Malay chief, on a schooner. Karain recounts his past in the form of a story. The narrative centres on Karain's loyalty to his friend Pata Matara, who seeks to restore his family's honour by killing his sister, who eloped with a Dutch trader. Karain and Matara travel for many years, during which Karain is haunted by the sister's vision. Eventually they find the sister and Dutchman. Matara orders to Karain to shoot the Dutchman, while he kills his sister. But at the fatal moment, Karain kills Matara, saving the others' lives. Karain then states that he his haunted by the ghost of his dead friend. Karain asks the crew of the schooner to help him put an end to the haunting. One of the crew give him a gilded sixpence,[4] telling him that it is a charm. Karain accepts the charm and believes that he has finally been exorcised. The story ends with a coda, in which the narrator and one of the crew meet in London, and reflect on the story they have been told.
Significance[edit]
- Imperialism: "Karain" is one of Conrad's early published works, and the first to deal with British imperialism explicitly. [5]
Critical reception[edit]
Finkelstein notes that "there is nothing in the piece to disturb the general tenor of Maga's presentation of Empire".[6]
GoGwilt notes that while the story "contains all the ingredients of the imperial adventure tale" popularised by writers such as H. Rider Haggard, Conrad "ultimately produced a tale that turns its popular material against the assumptions of the genre".[5] GoGwilt also states that Conrad's attempt to represent "native" Malay experience is a nearly unique feature of the text amongst Conrad's oeuvre.[7]
Notes[edit]
- ^ Peters, p. 7.
- ^ Conrad 2008, p. xi.
- ^ Peters, p. 49.
- ^ The coin is a Jubilee coinage silver sixpence, gilded to look like a half-sovereign: a coin 20 times as valuable [Conrad 2008, p. 195].
- ^ a b GoGwilt, p. 78
- ^ Finkelstein, p. 34
- ^ GoGwilt, pp. 86-7
References[edit]
- Adams, David (2001). ""REMORSE AND POWER": CONRAD'S KARAIN AND THE QUEEN". Modern Fiction Studies. 47 (4). The Johns Hopkins University Press: 723–752. ISSN 0026-7724. JSTOR 26286495. Retrieved 2024-04-27.
- Conrad, Joseph (2008-05-08). Heart of Darkness and Other Tales. Oxford: OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-953601-6.
- Conroy, Mark (1994). "GHOSTWRITING (IN) 'KARAIN'". The Conradian. 18 (2). Joseph Conrad Society UK: 1–16. ISSN 0951-2314. JSTOR 20874053. Retrieved 2024-04-27.
- Finkelstein, David (2009). "Decent Company: Conrad,". Conradiana. 41 (1). Texas Tech University Press: 29–47. ISSN 0010-6356. JSTOR 24635191. Retrieved 2024-04-27.
- Gogwilt, Christopher (1991). "The Charm of Empire: Joseph Conrad's". Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature. 24 (1). University of Manitoba: 77–91. JSTOR 24780696. Retrieved 2024-04-27.
- Herbert, Wray C. (1976). "CONRAD'S PSYCHIC LANDSCAPE: THE MYTHIC ELEMENT IN "KARAIN"". Conradiana. 8 (3). Texas Tech University Press: 225–232. ISSN 0010-6356. JSTOR 24633918. Retrieved 2024-04-27.
- Paccaud, Josiane (2019). "The "Obscure Odyssey" of the Object in Conrad's "Karain"". Fathom. 6. doi:10.4000/fathom.1416.
- Peters, John (2006). The Cambridge Introduction to Joseph Conrad. Cambridge University Press.
- Watts, Cedric (2003). "Fraudulent Signifiers: Saussure and the Sixpence in". The Conradian. 28 (2). Joseph Conrad Society UK: 12–28. ISSN 0951-2314. JSTOR 20874225. Retrieved 2024-04-27.
External links[edit]
- Tales of Unrest at Project Gutenberg (containing Karain)
- Original text in Blackwood's Magazine