„SAVĒJĀ" UN „SVEŠĀ" MARGINALITĀTE DŽOZEFA KONRĀDĀ PIRMAJĀ ROMĀNĀ „ALMAJERA MUĻĶĪBA".

The theme of "one's own" and "strange" is topical both in Joseph Conrad's biography and, taking into consideration the autobiographies of the writer, also in his works. The paper analyses marginality of "one's own" and "strange" in Joseph Conrad's first novel "Almayer's Folly". The novel, as well as the majority of the author's writings, is based both on retrospective memories and on the author's youth experience. The novel was written during the time period from 1889 to 1894. It was the time when Conrad was going to finish his sailor's career, mainly because of health problems. He took the manuscript of the book on board the ship "Torrens" on the journey around the world. He emphasised in the work "Personal Record" that the storyteller was born in the sailor's body. The novel marked the beginning of a successful writer's career. Written in the 19th century, the novel "Almayer's Folly" marks the transition from Victorian to modernist novel. Being an expert of realist and neo-romanticist literature, J. Conrad, basing on the previous literary tendencies, developed an innovative modernist world in his novels in the context of the epoch. Nature has an essential role in J. Conrad's time model. Time of nature or cyclical time is a version of eternity; all turning points of civilization are of minor significance against this background. J. Conrad interprets his own past and experience in the form of search and introducing. He did his best to explain coherences and inner logics on the exterior conditions of his life, which were subdued to a certain pattern to the extent that even autobiographical writing was changed into the development of a personal myth. Colonialism was the main trend of England's politics in the 19th century and its main aim was bringing light to primitive and undeveloped tribes. Being a faithful citizen of England, J. Conrad at first supported England's colonial politics. But he started doubting it very soon. In his vision of colonialism J. Conrad repeatedly undermined and diminished the claims of Europeans to racial superiority, deranging a binary opposition between a savage and a civilized human. The writer considers that Western morality is relative and based on habit and on the fear of scandal, gallows, and asylums. When Europeans in the colonies lose the sense of limit, they themselves turn into savages. The world of the novel is not homogeneous; it reflects several opinions. No scene is primary; the narration constantly meanders around the struggle for power, which is moved by the idea of enrichment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]