A Personal Record

 (2 정도) one's literary life must turn frequently for sustenance to

memories and seek discourse with the shades, unless one has made

up one's mind to write only in order to reprove mankind for what

it is, or praise it for what it is not, or--generally--to teach

it how to behave. (A Personal Record, A Familiar Preface)

Those who read me know my conviction that the world, the temporal world, rests on a few very simple ideas; so simple that they must be as old as the hills. It rests notably, among others, on the idea of Fidelity. At a time when nothing which is not revolutionary in some way or other can expect to attract much attention I have not been revolutionary in my writings. The revolutionary spirit is mighty convenient in this, that it frees one from all scruples as regards ideas. Its hard, absolute optimism is repulsive to my mind by the menace of fanaticism and intolerance it contains. No doubt one should smile at these things; but, imperfect Esthete, I am no better Philosopher. (xix)

CONRAD, JOSEPH. Delphi Complete Works of Joseph Conrad (Illustrated) (Kindle Locations 129888-129893). Delphi Classics. Kindle Edition.

It seems now to have had a moral character, for why should the memory of these beings, seen in their obscure, sun-bathed existence, demand to express itself in the shape of a novel, except on the ground of that mysterious fellowship which unites in a community of hopes and fears all the dwellers on this earth? (9)

I understood no more than the people who called upon me to explain myself. There was no precedent. I verily believe mine was the only case of a boy of my nationality and antecedents taking a, so to speak, standing jump out of his racial surroundings and associations. For you must understand that there was no idea of any sort of “career” in my call. (121 - 조국을 등진 것) [PR을 꼼꼼이 읽을 필요]