Lord Jim

By Joseph Conrad

Lord Jim is a novel by Joseph Conrad. Jim a young British seaman becomes first mate on the Patna, a ship full of pilgrims travelling to Mecca for the hajj. When the ship starts rapidly taking on water and disaster seems imminent, Jim joins his captain and other crew members in abandoning the ship and its passengers. A few days later, they are picked up by a British ship. However, the Patna and its passengers are later also saved, and the reprehensible actions of the crew are exposed. The other participants evade the judicial court of inquiry, leaving Jim to the court alone. The court strips him of his navigation command certificate for his dereliction of duty. Jim is angry with himself, both for his moment of weakness, and for missing an opportunity to be a 'hero'.

At the trial, he meets Charles Marlow, a sea captain, who in spite of his initial misgivings over what he sees as Jim's moral unsoundness, comes to befriend him, for he is "one of us". Marlow later finds Jim work as a ship chandler's clerk. Jim tries to remain incognito, but whenever the opprobrium of the Patna incident catches up with him, he abandons his place and moves further east.

Later, Marlow's friend Stein suggests placing Jim as his factor in Patusan, a remote inland settlement with a mixed Malay and Bugis population, where Jim's past can remain hidden. While living on the island he acquires the title 'Tuan' ('Lord'). Here, Jim wins the respect of the people and becomes their leader by relieving them from the predations of the bandit Sherif Ali and protecting them from the corrupt local Malay chief, Rajah Tunku Allang. Jim wins the love of Jewel, a woman of mixed race, and is "satisfied... nearly". The end comes a few years later, when the town is attacked by the marauder "Gentleman" Brown. Although Brown and his gang are driven off, Dain Waris, the son of the leader of the Bugis community, is slain. Jim returns to Doramin, the Bugis leader, and willingly takes a fatal bullet in the chest from him as retribution for the death of his son.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookRix
• Release date: Jun 9, 2019
• ISBN: 9783736802490

Joseph Conrad

Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) was a Polish-British writer, regarded as one of the greatest novelists in the English language. Though he was not fluent in English until the age of twenty, Conrad mastered the language and was known for his exceptional command of stylistic prose. Inspiring a reoccurring nautical setting, Conrad’s literary work was heavily influenced by his experience as a ship’s apprentice. Conrad’s style and practice of creating anti-heroic protagonists is admired and often imitated by other authors and artists, immortalizing his innovation and genius.

Reviews for Lord Jim

[jvioland_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Conrad pits a flawed man against the primitive where he reigns in honor, while those of his kind hold him out as a coward. He tries to redeem himself and loses his life a better man. Always a good read and a gifted writer.

[kcshankd · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Read as I revisit Conrad from front to back. This is the culmination of his early novels - many familiar threads from the works up to this one, right up to the long Marlowe monologue. Conrad's ambivalence to race, especially compared to the time he was writing, stands out to the modern reader.

[miguelnunonave · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Interesting book on colonialism and travelling. But it dwells in so many details and the structure is so dense that it becomes a real chore to try and read it.

[kirmuriel-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

He is indeed romantic. He is more idealist than Julian (The Red and the Black).
Conrad's narrative is impressive.
After finishing: very very sad, I almost cried. Why don't the authors leave their characters alone!!! Foken Brown!

[mofictionwriter · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lord Jim is one of the finest novels written in the English language. It's story of lost honor is timeless; and Conrad's narrative structure is as innovative and daring as that foundin Joyce's Ulysses.

[wagner5sarah35 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I struggled a lot to get through this book and I liked it less the more I read. It is a very interesting book, however, in terms of its themes and philosophy. Jim is an incredibly human character, who must live with the shame and guilt of his mistakes in a very stratified world of British seamanship and imperialism. My primary compliant is that this is a very psychological novel but the author never really gets into the main character's head.

[dtal_7 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Hard to go through the narrative form of the story. The first 30 chapters are tedious and the tale flows slowly for my taste. Conrad dives into many details and goes hence and forth in time. This book demanded from me a great deal of concentration. In spite of this, the "finale" was a compensation for all this.

[whatthedickens_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I am writing this review fresh after finishing Lord Jim. This was a dense book . . . so many layers and themes to digest. The narration of the story was clever and at the same time very distracting. All of the shifts in perspective made the story difficult to navigate. All in all worth reading and recommended, but it is unlikely I will tackle this work again.

[russellbittner · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Difficult to follow. I'm currently reading an early edition, which may have a lot to do with the difficulty.

[carterchristian1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you love a sea story you can't resist this. Has it all, handsome white,young sailor, British empire, starcrossed lovers, swashbuckling, wonderful descriptions. Loved it, old as the tale is.

[charlie68_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A good book and perhaps disturbing in that it chronicles a man with a romantic view on life and himself, but when the finger points to him he falls short. Perhaps there is a bit of Jim in all of us. Superbly written narrative, it is hard to believe that English isn't his first language.

[rajivc_18 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a great book to read in terms of the lyrical style of the writing. I got lost in the ebb and flow of the writing, and got a little lost in the plot. This is not a simple tale, and I would need to come back to it again. I shall read it a bit more slowly than I did, and shall take it bit by bit. I hope that they do not teach it in schools, because it is far too complex for most school kids.While I got lost in the plot, I must say that I loved the writing.

[bookomaniac-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Intrigerend en meeslepend. Qua constructie duidelijke tweedeling: incident met de Patria en leven in PatusanCentraal: gewetensconflict van Jim en hoe hij dat probeerde recht te zetten door elders “goed” te doen en grootheid te bereikenOp achtergrond ook imperialisme-kolonialisme debat: niet zo heel duidelijk wel standpunt Conrad inneemt (zeker niet politiek); wel cultureel: nefaste invloed van westerse inmenging op locale cultuur, maar die wordt zeker niet als model gesteld

[kishields · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nice edition with copious notes and a decent introduction. The book moves along nicely in the beginning and the end, but becomes quite dense and slow in the middle. Tuan Jim finds his path to glory after a stumble in his youth, and snatches redemption in the end by facing up at last to his fatal flaw. Marlow narrates and provides the contrasting viewpoint of an older, more jaded, observer, who can still recall his own young, romantic ideals.

[auntieknickers · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Here's another one that I read, wrote a paper on, and don't really remember much about. This Guardian list is not only giving me a lot of books to read, but a surprising number to reread.

[joanna.conrad · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Meh. Descriptions of scenery were overwrought. Marlow often relates incidents told to him by someone else, and occasionally the person who told him was told by a third person, yet Marlow claims to know the internal motivations of the participants. The romantic pairing was implausible, as the woman Jim falls in love with is, conveniently, the only hot chick in the jungle amongst the rest of the dirty filthy savages. Dated. Definitely does not hold up over time.

[niecierpek · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A retro read. It was one of the most thought provoking and influential books of my youth. On human nature, nature of honour, romantic dreams, and how we don’t know what fabric we are made of until we are tried. Still very good, even though some episodes could have been shorter.