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MonkeyNotes-Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
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LITERARY / HISTORICAL INFORMATION
Conrad had already written three novels and five stories set in the
Eastern seas when he began writing Lord Jim in 1898. He
originally planned it to be a short story. It is based on the tale of an
actual ship called Jeddah that was filled with 1,000 Muslim
pilgrims. During a storm, the ship and the pilgrims were
abandoned in rough seas by its European officers, who were
rescued and taken to the port of Aden. Thinking that the ship
would never survive the storm, the officers reported it to be lost.
Amazingly, the Jeddah was towed into Aden the next day. All the
Muslim pilgrims were still on board and alive. The naval officers
were fully disgraced, tried, and found guilty.
Like all Conrad's major works, Lord Jim is influenced by various
literary and cultural traditions. Further, the novel is deeply
personal, with roots in Conrad's past. Conrad's wide-ranging
reading in English, French and Polish classical literature, his
experiences at sea and in the Far East, and his reliance on real-life
situations and persons all contributed to the composition of Lord
Jim. Jim, the main character, is modelled after Jim Lingard, who
Conrad met on board the Viden in 1887. The sailors of the Viden
called him "Lord Jim." The Patusan section of the novel is based
on Conrad's personal knowledge of the adventures of James
Brooke, an English adventurer, who became the Raja of Sarawak.
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