Résumé
Résumé de Lord Jim
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
For readers who love moral puzzles, thoughtful storytelling, and sea tales with an inner life. It also speaks to anyone who has felt ashamed of an act and wondered how to rebuild their sense of honour.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
What if one frightened moment could undo everything you ever believed about yourself? Lord Jim, by Joseph Conrad, follows a young English sailor who dreams of being a hero. Then, aboard a crowded steamer, he abandons the people in his care. Conrad was a sailor before he was a writer, and he based the crisis on a real case. Most of the tale is told by Marlow, an older seaman who cannot stop thinking about Jim. Is Jim a coward, a dreamer, or simply one of us?
Dans ce résumé
- 1A parson's son dreams of heroismFree
- 2The Patna sails with eight hundred pilgrims
- 3In one moment Jim jumps
- 4The inquiry judges the facts, not the man
- 5Marlow sees himself in Jim
- 6Friends try to help, and Jim keeps running
- 7Stein sends Jim to Patusan
- 8Honour, imagination and the weight of one act
- 9A story told in loops by Marlow
Point clé 1 sur 9
A parson's son dreams of heroism
Jim is one of five sons of an English country clergyman. As a boy he reads sea stories that fill his head with scenes of himself calm, brave and admired.
At a training ship for merchant officers he does well. Yet one day a boat is launched to help a ship in trouble, and Jim is caught up in his own imagining. Others go without him.
He decides he was simply not given a fair chance. The book keeps asking how well anyone knows what they would do when fear arrives all at once.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Jim
- A young English sailor raised on heroic dreams, Jim seeks to prove himself honourable to himself and others.
- Marlow
- An experienced seaman, Marlow befriends Jim after the inquiry and tells his troubled history to listeners.
- Stein
- A merchant and butterfly collector, Stein helps Marlow find Jim a fresh start in Patusan.
- The Captain of the Patna
- Jim's bullying German captain commands the crowded pilgrim steamer and puts his own safety before his passengers.
- Captain Brierly
- A successful sea captain, Brierly sits on the inquiry panel and finds Jim's case deeply disturbing.
- Jewel
- A young woman in Patusan, Jewel grows close to Jim but fears the claims of his past.
- Doramin
- The powerful chief of Patusan's Bugis settlers, Doramin is the father of Jim's friend Dain Waris.
- Dain Waris
- Doramin's son, Dain Waris is a respected young Bugis leader who becomes Jim's close friend.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 133,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 8 h 50 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary; paperback, hardcover and large print at cost
- LanguagesEnglish and 12 other languages
Questions about Lord Jim
What is Lord Jim about?
It follows Jim, a young English sailor who abandons a ship full of pilgrims in a moment of fear, faces a public inquiry, and then tries to rebuild his sense of honour in a remote Eastern settlement.
Who is Marlow in Lord Jim?
Marlow is an experienced sailor who attends Jim's inquiry and becomes his friend. He tells most of the story to a group of listeners, and he also narrates Conrad's Heart of Darkness.
Is Lord Jim based on a true story?
It was inspired by a real event, the 1880 abandonment of the steamer Jeddah by its officers. The novel itself is fiction, published in 1900 after magazine serial form in 1899 and 1900.
Is Lord Jim hard to read?
No. The story is told by Marlow, a warm narrator who talks to his listeners over cigars and walks us through Jim's tale. The plan is simple: a young sailor, a ship, a court, and a far river.
What is the main message of Lord Jim?
The novel suggests that honour is tested in sudden moments, that imagination can both inspire and deceive us, and that people cannot be judged simply as brave or cowardly.