Lord Jim, a book by Joseph Conrad, published in 1900. Jim, a young British sailor, becomes first fellow on the Patna, a ship full of devotees travelling to Mecca for the hazz. When the ship starts speedily taking on water and disaster seems approaching, Jim follows his captain and other crew members in leaving the ship and its passengers. A few days later, they are lifted by a British ship. However, the Patna and its passengers are later also rescued, and the disgraceful actions of the crew are revealed. The other contributors avoid the judicial court of enquiry, leaving Jim to the court alone. He is publicly criticised for this action and the novel follows his later efforts at coming to terms with his past. At trial, Jim meets Marlow and Marlow fixes Jim a position as a post manager at a remote colonial territory known as Patusan. Jim establishes a new identity at Patusan, and soon becomes a leader of great fame. The residents respect him as a spiritual and political force, a kind of father/protector of the people.
Joseph Conrad was a Polish-born English novelist, considered as one of the prominent novelists to write in the English language. He was born on 3 December 1857. Though he did not speak English fluently until his twenties, he came to be considered a master prose stylist who guide a non-English sensibility into English literature. He was assigned British nationality in 1886 but always regarded himself a Pole. He enrolled the French Merchant Marine and began to work on British ships, learning English from his shipmates. He was made a master mariner and worked more than sixteen years before an event motivated him to try his hand at writing. He wrote stories and novels, many with a nautical setting, that represents trials of the human spirit in the middle of an unexpressive, transparent universe. During his lifetime Conrad was praised for the assets of his prose and his offerings of dangerous life at sea and in foreign places. His works include the novels Almayer's Folly (1895), Lord Jim (1900), Nostromo (1904), and The Secret Agent (1907) and the short story 'Heart of Darkness ' (1902). He died in August 1924.
