A truly excellent book let down in places by Conrad’s verbose ramblings; the narrative repeatedly drifting away on so many diversions that it was sometimes difficult to remember where it had come from, especially when – as was frequently the case – those diversions occurred mid conversation, forcing this reader, at least, to flick back to the original departure point to determine what that conversation had been about. That said the novel does take the reader through an emotional roller coaster dragging them remorselessly through harrowing to triumph to tragedy. Powerful doesn’t begin to describe that journey.
Most of us have had childhood career ambitions that were never realistically likely to be realised – romantic careers such as astronaut, explorer, adventurer – as well as character ambitions – heroic, courageous, honourable – equally likely to be disappointed. Some few achieve such ambitions but most of us end up with rather more prosaic realities. The key thing is how we retreat from those glorious but unlikely ambitions. For most of us this is a gradual acceptance of our own strengths and weaknesses and learning to live with them; a process that whilst humbling is usually not too traumatic; with maturity we come to realise that not everyone will qualify for astronaut or be bedecked with medals for bravery and that’s okay because that’s how the real world is. Occasionally, though, some will fail those expectations in dramatic and devastating ways long before they have learned to make that adjustment to reality. The first part of this story is the harrowing tale of how our hero Jim spectacularly fails his self-expectation and the subsequent scorn of his peers is nothing compared to his own scorn for himself. This part of the story is a hard emotional read with Conrad extremely effective at making us empathise with Jim, taking us with him through his own personal hell.
The next part of the story is easier to read as Jim becomes Tuan Jim (‘Lord’ Jim) and we are given a triumphant redemption. It would have been too easy to leave the story there and in a way Conrad does. Lord Jim is a story narrated by one Captain Marlow, the same narrator as Heart of Darkness (and, I suspect, modelled on Conrad himself) and this section of the story is somewhat similar to that book though more utopian than the dark dystopia of Hear of Darkness. But that narration, given to an undescribed collection of friends, ends at this point with only one of those friends given the final ending of the story; more an extended epilogue really. And that ending - both triumphant in its own way as well as tragic – firmly categorises this book as a romantic tragedy.
Most of us have had childhood career ambitions that were never realistically likely to be realised – romantic careers such as astronaut, explorer, adventurer – as well as character ambitions – heroic, courageous, honourable – equally likely to be disappointed. Some few achieve such ambitions but most of us end up with rather more prosaic realities. The key thing is how we retreat from those glorious but unlikely ambitions. For most of us this is a gradual acceptance of our own strengths and weaknesses and learning to live with them; a process that whilst humbling is usually not too traumatic; with maturity we come to realise that not everyone will qualify for astronaut or be bedecked with medals for bravery and that’s okay because that’s how the real world is. Occasionally, though, some will fail those expectations in dramatic and devastating ways long before they have learned to make that adjustment to reality. The first part of this story is the harrowing tale of how our hero Jim spectacularly fails his self-expectation and the subsequent scorn of his peers is nothing compared to his own scorn for himself. This part of the story is a hard emotional read with Conrad extremely effective at making us empathise with Jim, taking us with him through his own personal hell.
The next part of the story is easier to read as Jim becomes Tuan Jim (‘Lord’ Jim) and we are given a triumphant redemption. It would have been too easy to leave the story there and in a way Conrad does. Lord Jim is a story narrated by one Captain Marlow, the same narrator as Heart of Darkness (and, I suspect, modelled on Conrad himself) and this section of the story is somewhat similar to that book though more utopian than the dark dystopia of Hear of Darkness. But that narration, given to an undescribed collection of friends, ends at this point with only one of those friends given the final ending of the story; more an extended epilogue really. And that ending - both triumphant in its own way as well as tragic – firmly categorises this book as a romantic tragedy.
