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A Personal Record

Joseph Conrad

3.65 · Rating details · 105 ratings · 17 reviews

A Personal Record (1912) both documents and fictionalizes Joseph Conrad's early life and the opening stages of his careers as a writer and as a seaman. It is also an artistic and political manifesto. The introduction traces Conrad's sources and gives the history of writing and reception. The essay on the text and the apparatus set out the textual history. The notes explain ...more

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Paperback, 92 pages

Published 2017 by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (first published 1912)

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Oct 17, 2013 Ronald Wise rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book leaves me feeling as though I’ve had a long and rewarding conversation with Joseph Conrad. I’m in the process of reading all his books in the order in which they were written, and with each of his novels I’ve become more and more impressed with this man’s mastery of his adopted language – English – and his astute perception of humanity and a great variety of its members.

In this book I found what I had hoped to find in his earlier autobiographical Mirror of the Sea, before being somewha ...more

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Mar 12, 2013 Gary Dale rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I started reading this book believing it would be a stock standard autobiography. Well, it wasn't. And Joseph Conrad himself tells you that it wouldn't be so. However, what you do get is memories of people and periods in Conrad's life that shaped and developed the man. This doesn't tell the man's life story but it does tell the story of his life. I was grateful also for the stories of Conrad's uncle as well and of the genesis of his first novel, Almeyer's Folly. This book is a must for Joseph Co ...more

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Feb 07, 2012 midnightfaerie rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics

A Personal Record by Joseph Conrad gave great insight into the man who wrote the classic "Heart of Darkness". I must say, if one plans on reading this, they must get the copy that has "A Familiar Preface" by Conrad, who spends some time justifying some of his decisions in how he wrote the book to the critics. It was probably one of my favorite parts of the book and found myself agreeing with him on many points. It seems there are two main points that most of the critics focused on, the first bei A Personal Record by Joseph Conrad gave great insight into the man who wrote the classic "Heart of Darkness". I must say, if one plans on reading this, they must get the copy that has "A Familiar Preface" by Conrad, who spends some time justifying some of his decisions in how he wrote the book to the critics. It was probably one of my favorite parts of the book and found myself agreeing with him on many points. It seems there are two main points that most of the critics focused on, the first being that he didn't write in his native language, polish. I won't give it away, but his eloquence in stating so matter of factly his reasons was impressive and it made me admire the man even more. The second criticism that he speaks to is that his father was depicted as a "Revolutionary". Conrad was born in what used to a part of Poland that is now Russia and speaks of his father as a patriot more than a revolutionist and cites the differences in text. Those that have reviewed his book say that much of the book centers around these two themes, his choice to write in English instead of Polish and his "sad" Polish youth. Conrad doesn't necessarily agree. I have to say, I really enjoyed "A Familiar Preface". I think he speaks to many of his critics about many different criticisms, not just the two stated earlier. It's almost sad that he feels that he has to justify himself, but really, don't we all when it comes to artistic expression?

There are two points to these other criticisms that he makes that I find enthralling. The first deals with the fact that his "autobiography" is not in chronological order. It's more a series of essays of various occasions in his life that has influenced him. Who's to say that an autobiography has to be in chronological order? His response to this is (And I find this brilliant) is "Could I begin with the sacramental words, 'I was born on such a date in such a place?' The remoteness of the locality would have robbed the statement of all interest." The wording is just beautiful. I mean who writes/thinks like that? Apparently Conrad does, which is why we love him.

The second point is when he speaks of one of his critics saying that all he writes should have an element of "heroic truth". So there may be some embellishments, or as he says, "impressions" of events that are not all exact fact. His response, again is brilliant. And here I must quote,
"My answer is that if it be true that every novel contains an element of autobiography - and this can hardly be denied, since the creator can only express himself in his creation - then there are some of us to whom an open display of sentiment is repugnant."

He then goes on later to say, "No artist can be reproached for shrinking from a risk which only fools run to meet and only genius dare confront with impunity."

At first I thought, no, this isn't true. But then after contemplation, realized he was right! It was only my defensiveness as an artist that wills the idea of everyone being able to express anything they want and how they want without incrimination. But really, all we have to do is think of even one book that we disliked to know that we condemn so easily, and because of it, how can we call another artist a coward from shrinking from that risk? Talk about enlightenment. In any case, the more I read Conrad the more I want to bow down to this man. Too bad he's dead.

As for the book...Conrad talks of his life, the influence of his uncle, growing up in Russian Poland, and his sailing and the writing of Almayer's Folly. While I find his influences and experiences interesting, it was nowhere near as interesting as "A Familiar Preface" which is in the beginning of the book. After finishing the book and going back to do some Googling on it, I found that this was the case with most people who have read it. The preface was also the part of the book most quoted from, which is completely understandable. The only thing that stands out to me in the book is his weird fascination with the story of his uncle eating the dog when he was starving and in the military. He finds it so fascinating, he uses it in analogies and themes throughout the book, bringing it up over and over again. No, I agree with the critics on how Conrad is all over the place in this piece and seems to jump from topic to topic. It gave a little insight into the man but not anywhere near as good as Heart of Darkness.

I would like to note that although he speaks of Almayer's Folly quite a bit, and I still wish I had read it first, I don't think it is imperative that you read it first. Mostly because in all his talking about it, I don't think it was so much about the story of the book than the fact it was the first thing he wrote. He uses it to discuss becoming a writer and how he came to write. I also find it interesting that he says he never thought to be a writer, almost like it hadn't occurred to him, even though, to the reader, it was quite evident he was meant to. At first I was like, really? But then started to think about my life of writing and realized it was the same for me. It never occurred to me even though I had notebook after notebook filled with writing as a child, even though I was constantly making up stories in my head, and even won contests. Now, thirty years later, I finally realize I'm allowed to dive into a passion that probably won't make me any money and am continually surprised I hadn't done it before. In any case, this is a good addition to some of Conrad's smaller works if you're looking for more information on the author. I look forward to reading many more of Conrad's works.

ClassicsDefined.com ...more

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Jul 21, 2007 Ben rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: joseph conrad fans, men of letters

Shelves: letters, short_stories, travel

My issue, dated 1920, is actually a reprint of Conrad's original "Personal Record," and it includes a new preface along with various, unrelated letters to newspaper editors about current events.

"A Personal Record" is a long, intimate, and at times self-deprecating introspective into Conrad's creative process (or lack thereof), bundled up with assorted memories of his younger life spent in exile. The "Record" often meanders into tangential stories about Conrad's relatives (including a fascinating ...more

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Sep 01, 2013 Kate rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Conrad's sentences and stories are amazing enough; what really knocks me out is that they are written in his THIRD language. I'm not sure what I want to read more: a biography of this singular man or more of his fiction. ...more

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Feb 27, 2019 Alexander Anderson rated it it was amazing

I always get the feeling, when reading anything Conrad, of a continuous, delicious soul scrubbing rush of verbal manna that I am in constant fear is going to wear off but never does, or that I am going to build up a tolerance to but never do. No matter how small or big a hit of his writings I take, it consistently threatens to smother me by ripping the oxygen out of my lungs.

The man could write a chapter on the topic of a filthy commode and I would remain inexplicably transfixed with fascination ...more

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Oct 04, 2018 Turrientes rated it really liked it · review of another edition

“Me atrevería a decir que en la actualidad me siento forzado, inconscientemente forzado, a escribir un volumen tras otro de igual forma que en el pasado me sentí forzado a hacerme a la mar, a emprender un viaje tras otro. Las hojas han de caer unas sobre otras tal como otrora cayeran unas tras otras las leguas marinas, a medida que pasaban los días, sin cesar, hasta llegar a buen puerto...”

*

“Hay quienes, según tengo oído, escriben en un vagón de ferrocarril, y quienes podrían incluso escribir en ...more

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Dec 30, 2019 False added it · review of another edition

Shelves: biography-memoirs-letters

Together with The Mirror of the Sea, Joseph Conrad's A Personal Record (1911) is one of his two openly autobiographical books. A short volume of reminiscences, it was written originally for an ambitious literary periodical.

Conrad was born in Poland, moving to live in France in 1874. He subsequently joined the British merchant navy, and did not begin writing novels until he was nearly forty. In this book he describes his cultural heritage, and the central motives in his life as a seaman and a wri ...more

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Apr 20, 2020 Cyrille Honoré rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Fausse autobiographie ou autobiographie romancée, je ne sais pas comment le décrire. Ce n’est pas un roman, c’est (volontairement) déstructuré. Il est peut-être de bon ton de savoir apprécier ce genre de livre et d’y voir le génie de l’artiste entre deux lignes, (très bien) caché quelque part. Je n’y ai vu personnellement que du verbiage sans grand intérêt.

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Aug 07, 2018 Bruno rated it liked it · review of another edition

Si bien el libro no me resulto demasiado interesante, me resulto atractiva la forma de escribir del autor.

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Nov 04, 2019 Jim Hart added it

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Oct 14, 2016 Matthew rated it it was ok

There are two things I can predict about anybody who reads A Personal Record hoping to learn a good deal about the real Joseph Conrad. Firstly, I can safely say that they will be disappointed. Secondly, I can add that they obviously do not know Conrad’s works very well if they had that expectation. Conrad’s ‘personal record’ is, of course, nothing of the sort.

This is the case with all Conrad’s works including The Mirror of the Sea, Conrad’s other semi-autobiographical work. To some extent all of There are two things I can predict about anybody who reads A Personal Record hoping to learn a good deal about the real Joseph Conrad. Firstly, I can safely say that they will be disappointed. Secondly, I can add that they obviously do not know Conrad’s works very well if they had that expectation. Conrad’s ‘personal record’ is, of course, nothing of the sort.

This is the case with all Conrad’s works including The Mirror of the Sea, Conrad’s other semi-autobiographical work. To some extent all of Conrad’s works are personal expressions of his attitudes, beliefs and experiences.

However the personal elements are always shrouded in a good deal of artistic and literary language that often leaves the reader uncertain about where Conrad the man fits into his own works. Can you pin down precisely the meaning of Heart of Darkness or Nostromo, or even The Secret Agent or Under Western Eyes?

A Personal Record is no exception. Like Tristram Shandy, it appears to begin with a birth, and then proceeds through a state of digressions to a point where the narrative ends with an anecdote that took place several years earlier than the account began.

In Conrad’s case, that birth is not his own, so much as the birth of his first novel, Almayer’s Folly. Of course we struggle to get a very clear picture of the genesis of Conrad’s writing career. There is an account of another sailor who praised the work, and a supposed meeting with Almayer (presumably the man who inspired the character), but we never really get close to the inspiration or the ideas that Conrad wished to put into the book.

Indeed a good deal of A Personal Record is taken up with describing everyone but Conrad, making this a very impersonal record. Insofar as we glimpse Conrad, it is as a man making a kind of apologia for ‘betraying’ his own birthright.

Conrad left his native Poland and did not take up the fight for its independence from Russia. He also chose to write his works in English rather than his native language. Hence A Personal Record contains allusions to Polish relatives, the fight for Poland, his love of the English and his choice of English as the language for his book. In this, there is a hint of guilt and self-justification.

These stories have a strong element of myth-making about them, and it is characteristic of Conrad that the best passages in this non-fictional personal account are those which sound the most fictional and impersonal. It seems unlikely that Conrad really remembers all the dialogue and incidentals of his anecdotes in quite the vivid detail that he describes them, and a good deal of artistic licence is employed in producing them. Notably when Conrad tries to describe his own thoughts, the language is circumlocutory and abstract.

This makes A Personal Record a rather frustrating read. Perhaps this is one reason why it is hard to find a good deal of analysis of the work. Jocelyn Baines, is complimentary, but spends little time on it in his biography, and the Wikipedia page has little to say either. There is an Introduction in my copy, but that did not shed much light either.

Tristam Shandy is able to get away with a loose digressive narrative, because its purported biography is entirely fictional, and the work is an intentional attempt to humorously break down narrative structures in favour of a loose collection of shaggy dog tales. A Personal Record does not get away with it, in spite of some humorous irony in the telling, because it is supposed to be a factual account, but it ends by leaving us further from the subject matter than when we began.

It is true that the early chapters were not too popular, causing Conrad to abandon writing it, and contenting himself with publishing what he had completed. This may account for the unfinished quality and unsatisfactory ending.

However, it seems hard to imagine that Conrad could ever have hammered these meandering stories into a coherent semi-autobiography. Indeed I doubt that Conrad ever wished to truly bare his soul to the reader, and I imagine that the confusing narrative is intentionally obscure.

There are some enjoyable passages in A Personal Record. However, like The Mirror from the Sea, it seems often like a good deal of finely-written scene setting for a story that never arrives. Conrad never really steps down from the mantle of fiction writing to offer us something truly personal, and this results in a rather uneven work. ...more

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May 17, 2017 Galicius rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: english, polish, biography-autobiography

Chapter 1 recalls his first attempts at Almayer’s Folly which he wrote mostly at sea. His first reader was a passenger on his ship who dies a few weeks later. There are some recollections of early life including the often quoted passage when he was nine year old and looked at a map of Africa and pointed to the blank space and said “When I grow up I shall go there.” (p. 17)

Chapter 2 has more autobiographical recollections of his youth until about the time he ventures out West. He travels to Switz ...more

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Jan 24, 2014 Fábio Fernandes rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2014

Conrad is one of my favorite classic authors. I feel a sort of proximity to him because we both came from countries where English wasn't neither the first nor the second language; Educated in French (I wasn't), Conrad learned English later in life, and became one of the best writers in English of his time. He is one of my personal idols in this respect.

This particular book (another one of my Seattle Collection) is a short one. I took a long time to read it because, like everything Conrad, I lik ...more

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Dec 17, 2015 Israel E rated it liked it

Simplemente unas interesantes memorias de la vida de Conrad, creo que aparte de ser marino algo muy interesante es que parece sentirse alguien sin patria, realmente no puedo decir que hable tan concretamente de su vida en Polonia como cuando vivió en Rusia e Inglaterra vivir así me imagino debe ser frustrarte de cierta forma.

Sigo teniendo esas sensaciones encontradas con las lecturas de Conrad, me gusta el tema la trama pero creo que no me gusta como escribe. sin embargo quiero seguir leyendo má ...more

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Dec 31, 2016 Guida rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: biografies-i-memòries, narrativa

Se´m va fer feixug

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About Joseph Conrad

Joseph Conrad

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Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski ) was a Polish-born English novelist who today is most famous for Heart of Darkness, his fictionalized account of Colonial Africa.

Conrad left his native Poland in his middle teens to avoid conscription into the Russian Army. He joined the French Merchant Marine and briefly employed himself as a wartime gunrunner. He then began to work aboard ...more