Reading Order
Lord Jim Reading Order
Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim (1900) is a standalone novel — there is no series and no sequel. Jim, a young British merchant sailor, abandons a sinking ship full of pilgrims and spends the rest of his life trying to redeem himself from that moment of cowardice. One of Conrad's major works and a foundational text in the literature of imperialism and the psychology of failure.
Where to start
Lord Jim
Complete Lord Jim Book List
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Lord Jim
Joseph Conrad·1900·The novel itself — approximately 400 pages; narrated primarily by Marlow (the same narrator who appears in Heart of Darkness); Conrad's first great full-length novel; the translation question does not apply — it was written in English; published serially in Blackwood's Magazine in 1899–1900 - Buy
Heart of Darkness
OptionalJoseph Conrad·1899·The novella that Conrad published in the same year as Lord Jim's serialization — both use Marlow as narrator; under 100 pages; the best entry point to Conrad; shows the same colonial world as Lord Jim from a different angle - Buy
Nostromo
OptionalJoseph Conrad·1904·Conrad's most ambitious novel — a fictional South American republic, a silver mine, and the corruption that follows the mine's 'material interests'; generally considered his masterwork and the natural next Conrad novel after Lord Jim
Lord Jim — Frequently Asked Questions
What is Lord Jim about?
Jim is a young British mate on a ship called the Patna, which is carrying 800 Muslim pilgrims across the Indian Ocean. When the ship appears to be sinking in the night, Jim jumps into the water with the rest of the crew, abandoning the pilgrims. The ship does not sink — it is towed to port — and Jim is disgraced in a formal inquiry. The rest of the novel follows Jim's attempts to rebuild his life and sense of honor, first across a series of minor trading posts in the Far East, and finally as the protector ('Tuan Jim' — 'Lord Jim') of an isolated Malay community.
How does Lord Jim relate to Heart of Darkness?
Lord Jim and Heart of Darkness were written and published almost simultaneously — Heart of Darkness was serialized in 1899; Lord Jim serialization began in 1899 and the novel was published in 1900. Both use Marlow as narrator, both are set in the British colonial world (the Malay Archipelago and the Congo), and both are concerned with the gap between the colonial ideal of the British gentleman and the reality of how people behave under pressure. Jim is a character who fails that ideal catastrophically and spends his life trying to redeem himself; Kurtz is a character who abandons it entirely.
What does Lord Jim mean by honor?
Honor in Lord Jim is Jim's sense of who he should be — the self-image of a British officer of the merchant marine, a man who keeps his post and his duty under any circumstances. His jump from the Patna violates this image catastrophically, and the rest of his life is an attempt to prove to himself, through increasingly extreme means, that he is not the man who jumped. Conrad is deeply interested in the psychology of this: the novel suggests that Jim's real failure was not the jump itself but his inability, afterward, to see himself clearly rather than through the lens of his romantic self-image.
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