Lord Jim (original 1900; edition 1990)

It goes on and then on some more.

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. ( )

Read as audiobook. This relatively short novel was stretched to almost 14 hours.

At its heart, this is a novel about attempting to overcome one's own haemartia, or tragic flaw. While the Greek audiences of Aristotle's time found the hero sympathetic because of his important error. Setting aside the complexities of the term itself, it would seem that by the time in which Marlow narrates Jim's tale, the tone is a combination of horror, amused contempt, and pity. Were Jim not "one of us," an often-repeated sentiment, I assume there would have been more Schadenfreude than pity. If the story and highly predictable plot about seeking first escape from, then redemption for, one's misdeeds are set aside, the more interesting aspect of the novel is the question of "one of us" versus one of them and how identification or rejection of commonality affects Marlow's storytelling. Since Marlow's narration is the frame for several of Conrad's novels (including [b:Heart of Darkness|4900|Heart of Darkness (Green Integer)|Joseph Conrad|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165482062s/4900.jpg|2877220]), it would be interesting to compare his reasons for and degree of relationship to the people whose stories he animates. In some ways "one of us" is a theme for Conrad's [b:The Secret Agent|86658|The Secret Agent|Joseph Conrad|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171075859s/86658.jpg|3876535] as well. ( )

O refrão de Zóssima - eu me castigo pela minha vida toda, por toda a minha vida eu me castigo, -seriviria bem para Lord Jim.
A história é muito interessante, e maravilhosamente bem contada. A linguagem de Conrad é impressionante. ( )

Jim, for we don’t know him by anymore of a name, is the Chief Mate on the Patna, a vessel transporting hundreds of passengers on pilgrimage. When the vessel collides with something and begins to take on water, the officers abandon the ship in cowardice and fear. Jim abandons the ship with the rest of the crew, though it is unclear, even to him, why he does so. The ship and its passengers survive and, when the rest of the crew disappears, Jim alone stands trial and is stripped of his officer certification. Jim meets Marlow, a man who has watched the trial fascinated with the young officer, when Jim is at his lowest, ashamed and near the point of suicide. Marlow, seeing something noble and principled in Jim even if Jim doubts it in himself, introduces Jim to a friend who employees him on a remote island as a post manager. There, Jim begins to escape his past and rebuild his life and confidence, leading a native rebellion against a cruel despot and falling in love. But when a pirate besets the island and kills one of Jim’s best friends and allies, he embraces a final act of honor and sacrifice to finally be rid of the shame that has haunted him.

Joseph Conrad’s [Lord Jim] is a masterpiece of non-linear narrative. Marlow, the narrator, recounts the story of Jim’s life to colleagues, in an attempt to understand the young man. Marlow’s knowledge of Jim and his exploits come from a variety of sources, and not completely from Jim himself. Marlow pieces the events of the Patna together from the versions told him by Jim, told during the trial, told by one of the judges at the trial, and told by other seamen he meets later in life. Marlow’s accounts of Jim’s later life are primarily from the people who knew Jim on the island. And Marlow comes by this information in fits and starts, telling it without chronology but as he learned it. The result is a tale that folds back on itself many, many times, always offering a new and varying understanding of Jim and his life.

Conrad’s appeal is his ability to tell an exciting and readable story while still managing to layer in deep philosophical ideas about honor, redemption, and human nature. Conrad’s novels, and [Lord Jim] most particularly, are obsessed with the idea of a hero in search of his personal identity, torn between yearnings or shortcomings and an ambition for a nobler self. The novel’s place in the canon of literature, and that it remains a very popular novel, say something about what we see of ourselves in that struggle.

Bottom Line: A beautiful, philosophical tale of redemption, told as a thrilling adventure story.

5 bones!!!!!
A favorite for the year! ( )