Analysing The Modernity Of Conrad's Lord Jim

Abstract Joseph Conrad (1857?924) was a great British novelist in the 20th century. Now it is generally agreed that he is one of the forerunners and representatives of modernist British fiction. However, during the 60 years after his death, his fame underwent several ups and downs. Only since 1980 has his position in modem British fiction been established. Lord Jim is Conrad抯 masterpiece. It was published in 1900, standing at the critical juncture between Realism and Modernism. The early critics were likely to praise Lord Jim抯 romance, beautiful language, and realist description of the East, yet they generally failed to see the modernist features of the novel. Many later critics have seen the modernity of the novel, yet they are likely to focus their attention on only one or another aspect of the modernity. The present writer is to make every effort to analyse Lord Jim抯 modernity from different angles simultaneously, in a more detailed way, and somewhat systematically. Such an analysis, the present writer believes, can help the reader understand and evaluate this modernist novel more comprehensively. It can also help the reader enhance his comprehension of Conrad as a great modernist. The body of this thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter One is a general consideration of the modernity of Lord Jim. In this chapter, three modernist features (also typical of modernist fiction) of Lord Jim are pointed out. They are the psychoanalysis, the complex symbolism, and the ingenious narrative technique. These three aspects are dealt with in the following chapters, each discussing one of them in detail. Iv & Chapter Two discusses how Conrad depicts the complexity of his characters?psychology. Here, tbe present writer employs the modem psychoanalytic theory to analyse the main characters?inner world so as to reveal the mystery of human nature and the personalities of the characters. For instance, an analysis of Jim抯 psychological collision of his 搃d?(jumping from the Ptztna to save his life) with his 搒uperego? (his seaman抯 conscience or ethic ringing in his ears) reveals the complexity of his personality. Conrad once stated: 揗y task which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word to make you hear, to make you feel, and, before all, to make you see.?Chapter Three is about how Conrad is faithful to the principle by using a complex set of symbols and images in his Lord Jim. For example, he uses white to symbolize purity, goodness and cleanness and black is used to symbolize evil, death and darkness. The Patna skipper symbolizes the monstrous evil Jim discovers in his heart. Jim抯 action in jumping from the Patmz is symbolic of Conrad抯 own 搄ump?out of Poland at a time when he feels that his country is doomed. Lord Jun抯 foremost modernity lies in its innovative narrative method. Chapter Four investigates this method. The focus is on the identification and evaluation of the narrative techniques by analyzing a dozen texts of varying lengths. The identified devices include authorial narrative, personal narrative, prolepsis, analepsis, and narrative transition from authorial to personal. etc..