“But the memory remains”: Recollection, Globalization, and Empire in “Karain”

In "Karain: A Memory," Conrad presents a sustained reflection on the interplay between the political forces of globalization and the personal influence of memory on writing, interrogating the mechanisms by which a landscape from the past may be recalled, molded, and reified in ink on paper.(1) The story subjects the role of memory, acting across extraordinary spatiotemporal ranges to influence and be influenced by the narration and perception of an increasingly modernizing, globalized world, to extensive and palpably self-conscious contemplation. Conrad's maritime travels in Southeast Asia and their subsequent recollection play a crucial role in the rendering of colonial space in "Karain," serving as the backdrop for reflection on the dynamics of the British Empire's symbolic global influence. Acting as a disembedded institution whose function is encoded most saliently through the gilt sixpence given by the sailors to Karain, the Empire is rendered as inextricably intertwined with trauma in individual and collective memory. Conrad's story also reflects on the protean possibilities afforded by writing in response to this trauma, carrying extraordinary, though often unrealized, salvific potential with the capacity to shape personal and public perceptions of the past, colonial space, and imperialist enterprise.