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3.28 AVERAGE
3.28 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The last word is not said, — probably shall never be said. Are not our lives too short for that full utterance which through all our stammerings is of course our only and abiding intention? I have given up expecting those last words, whose ring, if they could only be pronounced, would shake both heaven and earth. There is never time to say our last word — the last word of our love, of our desire, faith, remorse, submissions, revolt. The heaven and the earth must not be shaken, I suppose — at least, not by us who know so many truths about either.
I get what he was trying to do, but I think Conrad could have done it so much better. Narrative play is usually something I really enjoy, but in this work I had difficulty with keeping things organized (mainly of who is speaking) and did not get any enjoyment out of it.
Maybe in ten years I'll read it again and enjoy it, but as I am now, I hated this book.
Maybe in ten years I'll read it again and enjoy it, but as I am now, I hated this book.
Oh, it hurts to say this (because I really loved Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," I mean, really), but Lord Jim is a book only an English teacher could love.
Looking back on it, it starts promisingly. In fact, it reminds me of a plane journey I made once from Detroit to Amsterdam, back in the days when Schiphol Airport was being re-done.* Not that I truly understood at the time how the construction added to the chaos and uncertainty one always feels in airports--maybe those of you who have been to Schiphol Airport can appreciate how a major construction project would have altered the normal courses and customs of that hub of many travelers--but I did feel keenly the inconvenience attendant upon negotiating a redundant series of obstacles (though at the time, I did not, as I have said, fully appreciate the extent of their redundance), coming, as it did, at the end of an already long journey.
Where was I?
Oh yes, it starts promisingly. Actually, I'm inclined to think that if Conrad had stayed true to his original intent (of writing a short story, told in the third-person, based on the actual loss at sea of the S.S. Jeddah in 1880) he would have turned out a far superior specimen of literature. The first few pages are really quite gripping stuff. The narration remains, for the most part, close to the action--"on deck," so to speak; and the descriptive passages, though atmospheric, are far from being a distraction. I give thanks for the fact that the novel was serialized so that Conrad was robbed of the opportunity to return to the first few chapters prior to publication and edit them to match the rest.
*Probably a reference to the renovation of Departure Lounge 2, completed in 2000. Though Day completed her journey to Europe in 1999, she would have read about the subsequent construction in the papers.
Looking back on it, it starts promisingly. In fact, it reminds me of a plane journey I made once from Detroit to Amsterdam, back in the days when Schiphol Airport was being re-done.* Not that I truly understood at the time how the construction added to the chaos and uncertainty one always feels in airports--maybe those of you who have been to Schiphol Airport can appreciate how a major construction project would have altered the normal courses and customs of that hub of many travelers--but I did feel keenly the inconvenience attendant upon negotiating a redundant series of obstacles (though at the time, I did not, as I have said, fully appreciate the extent of their redundance), coming, as it did, at the end of an already long journey.
Where was I?
Oh yes, it starts promisingly. Actually, I'm inclined to think that if Conrad had stayed true to his original intent (of writing a short story, told in the third-person, based on the actual loss at sea of the S.S. Jeddah in 1880) he would have turned out a far superior specimen of literature. The first few pages are really quite gripping stuff. The narration remains, for the most part, close to the action--"on deck," so to speak; and the descriptive passages, though atmospheric, are far from being a distraction. I give thanks for the fact that the novel was serialized so that Conrad was robbed of the opportunity to return to the first few chapters prior to publication and edit them to match the rest.
*Probably a reference to the renovation of Departure Lounge 2, completed in 2000. Though Day completed her journey to Europe in 1999, she would have read about the subsequent construction in the papers.
I first started reading this in college, and couldn't finish it. I resolved to finally complete it, and my opinion on it hasn't changed - I found it extremely tedious to plod through. I typically enjoy historical fiction, but this one was so full of descriptive walls of text, with randomly scattered plot progression it made me want to scream "GET ON WITH IT!"
Lord Džim je sukobljeni iz naslova romana koji je možda i najautentičniji, najljudskiji, najpromišljeniji i definitivno najcelovitiji portret fiktivnog lika koji sam ikada pročitao. Konrad je ovo pisao u isto vreme kao i Srce Tame i to se oseća (iako je po mom mišljenju ovo daleko, daleko uspelije delo; ipak, na neki način nisu toliko u konkurenciji, koliko su kompanjoni, dva lica istog novčića). Strani svet, mračan, ali i lep (kao što je i Konradov stil - neke rečenice su me ostavljale u šoku). Tu je i pripovedač Marlou koji ima ovde kambek ali sa daleko važnijom ulogom od proste narativne smicalice. Tu je i fascinantan glavni lik oko kojeg se sve upliće i zapliće, samo gde je Kurz bio definicija mraka i više u pozadini, Džim je... Džim. Lik koji se nalazi izmedju romantike i stvarnosti, izmedju morala i realnosti, lik kojeg je svet zaboravio. I umesto daljeg preseravanja (pošto stvarno ne znam šta da kažem), citiraću deo jedne stranice romana koja meni puno znači, rečenicu koju kao da sam čekao da mi neko kaže, jer to je ono što dobri romani rade:
’She knew him to be strong, true, wise, brave. He was all that. Certainly. He was more. He was great – invincible – and the world did not want him, it had forgotten him, it would not even know him. (...) "Why?" she murmured. (...) „Because he is not good enough.“ I said. (...) „Nobody, nobody is good enough.“‘
Ali ovaj roman jeste.
p.s. wordsworth-ovo izdanje za sirotinju (kada sam video u knjižari za trista dinara samo što nisam u nesvest pao) je knjigu od 450 stranica uspelo da prešalta na 250, sadističkim pakovanjem teksta do granice čitljivosti. Ja mislim da to zaslužuje neku nagradu.
5+
’She knew him to be strong, true, wise, brave. He was all that. Certainly. He was more. He was great – invincible – and the world did not want him, it had forgotten him, it would not even know him. (...) "Why?" she murmured. (...) „Because he is not good enough.“ I said. (...) „Nobody, nobody is good enough.“‘
Ali ovaj roman jeste.
p.s. wordsworth-ovo izdanje za sirotinju (kada sam video u knjižari za trista dinara samo što nisam u nesvest pao) je knjigu od 450 stranica uspelo da prešalta na 250, sadističkim pakovanjem teksta do granice čitljivosti. Ja mislim da to zaslužuje neku nagradu.
5+
Considered one of Joseph Conrad’s best novels, Lord Jim is set in colonial south-east Asia in the second half of the 19th century. Sea captain Marlow (the narrator of Heart of Darkness) tells the story of a young man, Jim, who seeks some kind of redemption after he fails to live up to his romantic ideals when put to the test. With another seaman sharing narration, Marlow uses Jim’s adventures to try to understand human motives and morality and how we can survive in a cruel godless world. It features Conrad’s precise but complex use of language to explore big moral and philosophical questions which make this a slow, sometimes frustrating read despite some more exciting passages. By characterising the narrators, allowances can be made for the now-dated treatment of the Asian characters, with the story told almost exclusively from the perspective of the colonial Westerners, although this may be problematic to some modern post-colonial readers.
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes