At a glance: "Lord Jim"

Joseph Conrad's one of the most important novels, "Lord Jim", first published serially from 1899-1900 in  "Blackwood's Magazine" is a psychological novel that details the account of Jim's life as a sailor. Charles Marlow who plays a great role in his previous successful novel, "Heart of Darkness" is here acted the role of a narrator.

The novel is divided into two parts. The 1st one describes Jim's life on the ship Patna and the humiliating trial and the abandonment of the ship and the 2nd part gives the details of his subsequent success in the settlement Patusan and his tragic death. The novel, when it was first appeared, was admired by all, but its two different parts fall the critics into dilemma. Some critics praise the 1st part and argue that 2nd part is a forceful attempt to round off the complicated narrative. On the other hand, other critics say that it is intimately connected with the first part.

Though "Lord Jim" is mostly autobiographical , its story is partly based on the real story of an Englishman, Augustine Podmore Williams, who just like Jim, left the ship which carries the pilgrims to Mecca.

Heroism is a very important theme of the novel. Not only Jim's heroic identity ,  there are many other heroic characters in this novel, like Captain Brierly, a highly respected and successful officer and French lieutenant who helps saving the abandoned Patna. Even there is profound heroism visible in the narrator Marlow, whose attempt to rescue Jim reveals the gulf between ideal life and the harsh realistic life.