Other editions of book Lord Jim & Nostromo

Lord Jim is a novel by Joseph Conrad originally published as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine from October 1899 to November 1900. An early and primary event is the abandonment of a ship in distress by its crew including the young British seaman Jim. He is publicly censured for this action and the novel follows his later attempts at coming to terms with his past. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Lord Jim No. 85 on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.

LORD JIM (1900) is the story of a ship which collides with “a floating derelict” and will doubtlessly “go down at any moment” during a “silent black squall.” The ship, old and rust-eaten, is voyaging across the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea. Aboard are eight-hundred pilgrims. Terror possesses the captain and several of his officers, who jump, and thus wantonly abandon the sleeping passengers who are unaware of their peril. For the crew members safe in their life-boat, dishonor is better than death. In the words of the story’s narrator, Captain Marlow, LORD JIM portrays “those struggles of an individual trying to save from the fire his idea of what his moral identity should be. . . .” That individual is Jim, who serves as the chief mate of the Patna and who also “jumps.” Recurringly Jim envisions himself as “always an example of devotion to duty and as unflinching as a hero in a book.” But his heroic dream of “saving people from sinking ships . . . ” does not square with what he really represents: one who falls from grace, and whose “crime” is “a breach of faith with the community of mankind.” Jim’s is also the story of a man in search of some form of atonement once he recognizes that his . . . his dream of “the success of his imaginary achievements,” constitute a romantic illusion. This WISEBLOOD CLASSIC EDITION contains a powerful interpretive essay by Professor George Panichas. WISEBLOOD BOOKS is an Editing & Publishing Line dedicated to preserving, editing, and publishing fiction, essays, and other works fit for the world stage. We believe many manuscripts that should be published widely remain buried in desk drawers because they cannot meet the New York publishing industry's often dubious demands. We aim to remedy that. WISEBLOOD CLASSICS brings hard-to-find works back into being, and introduces forgotten writings of great merit to a new generation. Visit us at www.wisebloodbooks.com.

Lord Jim tells the story of a young, idealistic Englishman-"as unflinching as a hero in a book"-who is disgraced by a single act of cowardice while serving as an officer on the Patna, a merchant-ship sailing from an eastern port. His life is ruined: an isolated scandal has assumed horrifying proportions. But then he is befriended by an older man named Marlow who helps to establish him in exotic Patusan, a remote Malay settlement where his courage is put to the test once more. Lord Jim is about courage and cowardice, self-knowledge and personal growth. It is one of the most profound and rewarding psychological novels in English. Set in the context of social change and colonial expansion in late Victorian England, it embodies in Jim the values and turmoil of a fading empire.