"Cliff Notes - Lord Jim" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cliff Notes)

Lord Jim, through Marlow)--he was the literary heir of Henry
James, the novelist he admired above all others. But Conrad
took the device farther than James had, limiting the point of
view so strictly to one character (and removing the impersonal
"narrator") that he paved the way for such 20th-century writers
as James Joyce and William Faulkner, who delved directly into
their characters' minds through the device known as interior
monologue. Conrad's use of fractured chronology--that is,
narrating events out of their time-sequence, a later one before
an earlier one--became a major technique in 20th-century
fiction. (See this Guide's section on Form and Structure.) His
early novels, especially Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim, are
more experimental in this direction than his later ones. In
addition to Conrad's influence on the style and technique of
fiction writers, the profundity--and bleakness--of his vision
have shaped the outlook of many writers.

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LORD JIM: THE PLOT

Jim is a young man with a vivid, romantic imagination, who
decides to become a sailor after reading sea stories. He loves
picturing himself as a hero, but he misses his chance when it
comes. As a student on a training ship, he hangs back from a
rescue mission during a storm because the storm frightens him
so.

Later, Jim signs on as first mate of the Patna, a rusty old ship
that's been hired to take 800 Muslims on a pilgrimage. One calm
night the ship is damaged at sea, and the other white members of
the crew--the obese German captain and the three
engineers--decide to flee in one of the lifeboats. Jim is
horrified: They're responsible for 800 other lives. But
considering the damage, the Patna seems certain to sink any
moment. At the last minute, Jim leaps overboard and into the
escaping lifeboat.

The five men are soon rescued, and they report the sinking of
the Patna. But later it turns out that the Patna hasn't sunk:
A French gunboat discovered it and towed it into port. Jim and
his mates look like cowards to the rest of the world. An
inquiry is held, though Jim is the only one of the runaways who
actually attends. The German captain has fled; the first and
second engineers are hospitalized; the third engineer died
during the escape. At the end, the court revokes Jim's license
to serve as a ship's officer.

During the course of the inquiry Jim meets Captain Marlow, who's
twenty years his senior. Marlow becomes interested in Jim's
story and invites Jim back to his hotel; Jim, relieved to have a