On The Narrative Arts In Lord Jim

Lord Jim is currently regarded as the first outstanding modernistic novel in the twentieth century for its exceptionally complex narrative discourse and rich moral significance. In this book, the concept of narrative for Conrad is understood inclusively: it both designates and incorporates the various constituent aspects of its literary world. The purpose of the present article is an attempt to provide a complementary study on this work. It confines itself to the field of Conrad's art, and more specially, it concentrates on the complicated narrative strategies - the devices, functions, variations, and thematic effects. The narrative techniques in Lord Jim is exceptionally sophisticated and varied. The novel explores the interrelationships between its array of narrative techniques, and the intricate moral, philosophical, political, and ideological cruxes that these complex strategies introduce and elaborate. Here what is necessary to note is that Lord Jim has completely showed three typical narrative characteristics of Conradian narrative. They are the 'narrative variation', the 'time shifts' and the 'symbolic deciphering'.In Lord Jim, Conrad has taken good use of the narrative approach 'narrative variation' to make his work well known. It contains elements of both the authorial narrative situation and first-person narrative situation. And these two main variants of Conradian narrative present Jim in different light and therefore help better reveal the moral theme.As to the handling of time, Conrad's narrative strategy is to break the linear historical sequence. Instead, he employs a new technique - time shifts, which begins by arresting the reader's attention with 'a strong impression', and then subjected to a process of prolonged development. He believes, in this way, the fiction can reflect what has happened in real life.Symbolic deciphering is a narrative device particularly to Conrad. It is used for the specific purpose of producing an atmosphere of intensely expectant interrogation. It is the exploitation of this device that deepens the novel's moral theme and enriches the novel's moral significance.Generally speaking, it is the application of these narrative devices in Lord Jim that makes the book remarkably outstanding.