The Modernist Features Of Conrad's Lord Jim

Lord Jim is not only an important work of Conrad,but also one of the pioneering works of British modernist novels,which shows distinctive modernist features.From the perspective of the theme,Lord Jim shows the pain and split of human spiritual world,the loneliness and separation of inner world,and the alienation of society to human beings,reflecting the modernist tendency of "turning inward".These modernist themes in the novel are inseparable from Conrad’s ill fated experience,while Lord Jim reflects the influence of the author’s personal experience on the emergence of his modernist consciousness in a comprehensive way.The narrative method of Lord Jim is also full of modernism.First of all,Conrad adopts the unique "frame narrative" structure in Lord Jim,and creates Marlow as the narrator of the story,the existence of this image also widens the distance between the author and the plot of the work,so that the author can avoid being directly involved in the work.At the same time,he also combines Marlow’s narrative perspective with other perspectives,which greatly broadens the depth and breadth of the work.Secondly,Lord Jim uses a lot of impressionist techniques,completely abandoning the traditional linear narrative,constantly shuttling and leaping between the past,the present and the future.In addition,the writer also pays attention to the configuration and scheduling of light and color when using impressionist techniques,resulting in the contrast between light and darkness,black and white,showing their symbolic significance.The relationship between the symbol and the symbolized in Lord Jim is not as clear and definite as in traditional works,but full of uncertainty.In addition,Conrad’s unique techniques of delayed decoding and thematic apposition are also fully used in Lord Jim,which also show his breakthrough in traditional narrative methods based on time,causation,and other logical relationships.The use of these creative techniques not only reflects Conrad’s self-consciousness and innovation in the art of fiction,but also helps readers to have a deeper grasp of the characters and themes of the story.In order to give the work an internal order and to make the work connect the past and the present,and have a deeper and broader connotation,many modernist novelists in the 20 th century turns to ancient Greek and Roman mythology and the Bible to absorb nutrition,and so does Lord Jim.By establishing a parallel contrast with the characters and structures in the Bible,Conrad gives a deep inner order to the chaotic narrative surface,providing a new reference point for understanding and reading the characters,and at the same time enabling the work to transcend the boundaries of time and space,obtaining a sense of historical depth and a high degree of artistic generalization,which greatly expands the ideological connotation of the work.The analysis of the modernist features of Lord Jim will not only help to further understand the artistic uniqueness of this work and its important position in the history of British modernist literature,but also help to deepen the understanding of the achievements and characteristics of British modernist literature.