British literature summaries - 2020

Short summary - Lord Jim
Joseph Conrad

He was six feet tall, perhaps one or two inches shorter than the build of a strong man, and he walked right at you with his head bowed and staring intently from the bottom. He stood as if stubbornly insisted on his rights, although there was nothing hostile in this, it seemed he attributed this equally to himself and to everyone else. He was always dressed immaculately, from head to toe - in white. It is unlikely that at the turn of the past century, in the seaports east of Suez: in Bombay, Calcutta, Rangoon, Penang, Batavia, one could find the best sea clerk - a representative of trading companies supplying ships with everything necessary. He was very disposed to himself, and the owners were terribly annoyed when he suddenly left them, usually moving further east and taking with him the carefully kept secret of his inconstancy. He was not always a sea clerk and did not forever remain him. He, the son of an English village priest, was simply called Jim, but the Malays from the forest village, where he eventually flew away from something unbearable, called him Tuan Jim, that is, Lord Jim himself. He was not yet twenty-four years old. From childhood he raved about the sea, got a license for navigation, sailed as assistant captain in the southern seas. Having recovered from the wound after one unsuccessful voyage, he was planning to return to England, but instead unexpectedly entered the Patna, a small and rather decrepit steamer, who was going to Aden with eight hundred Muslim pilgrims. The team consisted of several white sailors, led by a German skipper, a rude fat man with repulsive manners. The magnificent calm of the sea was not disturbed by anything, when in the middle of the night the ship experienced a slight jolt. Later, during the trial, experts agreed that it was most likely an old sunken ship, sailing keel up in the water. Inspection of the bow held the team in horror: the water quickly arrived through the hole, the ship was kept from flooding only by a thin and absolutely unreliable iron bulkhead of the bow compartment. “I felt her arched from the pressure of the water, pieces of rust fell on top of me,” Jim later told me about what was left with him forever. The steamer sank into the water, minutes to death. There was no place in the boats, and for a third of the people, there was no time to lower the boats. The skipper and two mechanics with feverish efforts nevertheless lowered one boat - they only thought about their own salvation. When the boat sailed, Jim, being all this time in a daze of hopelessness, he found himself in it. Most likely, in the last seconds he made this unexpected jump for himself from the board of a sinking ship, not out of fear for his life, but from the inability to bear the horror of his imagination before the chilling pictures of the imminent death of hundreds of people who are still sleeping peacefully. A sudden flurry flew in, darkness obscured the ship's lights. “It sank, sank! One more minute ... ”- the fugitives spoke excitedly, and then Jim finally understood the disastrousness of his act. It was a crime against maritime laws, a crime against the spirit of humanity, a terrible and irreparable crime against oneself. It was a lost opportunity to save people and become a hero. It was much worse than death. The lie invented by the fugitives to justify this act was not needed. A miracle happened: the old rusty bulkhead withstood the pressure of water, the French gunboat brought Patna to the port in tow. Learning about this, the skipper fled, the mechanics took refuge in the hospital, only Jim appeared before the sea court. The case was loud and caused widespread indignation. The verdict is the deprivation of a skipper license, “Oh yes, I was at this judicial investigation ...” - Marlowe, the captain of the English merchant fleet, begins his account of the story of Jim here, which he did not fully understand. nobody chrome him. The cigar smoldered in his hand, and the cigar lights of his listeners, who were sitting in sun loungers on the porch of the hotel in one of the ports of the southeastern seas, flashed and slowly moved like fireflies in the darkness of a fragrant and clear tropical night. Marlowe told ... the French gunboat brought Patna to the port in tow. Learning about this, the skipper fled, the mechanics took refuge in the hospital, only Jim appeared before the sea court. The case was loud and caused widespread indignation. The verdict is the deprivation of a skipper license, “Oh yes, I was at this judicial investigation ...” - Marlowe, the captain of the English merchant fleet, begins his account of the story of Jim here, which he did not fully understand. nobody chrome him. The cigar smoldered in his hand, and the cigar lights of his listeners, who were sitting in sun loungers on the porch of the hotel in one of the ports of the southeastern seas, flashed and slowly moved like fireflies in the darkness of a fragrant and clear tropical night. Marlowe told ... the French gunboat brought Patna to the port in tow. Learning about this, the skipper fled, the mechanics took refuge in the hospital, only Jim appeared before the sea court. The case was loud and caused widespread indignation. The verdict is the deprivation of a skipper license, “Oh yes, I was at this judicial investigation ...” - Marlowe, the captain of the English merchant fleet, begins his account of the story of Jim here, which he did not fully understand. nobody chrome him. The cigar smoldered in his hand, and the cigar lights of his listeners, who were sitting in sun loungers on the porch of the hotel in one of the ports of the southeastern seas, flashed and slowly moved like fireflies in the darkness of a fragrant and clear tropical night. Marlowe told ... The case was loud and caused widespread indignation. The verdict is the deprivation of a skipper license, “Oh yes, I was at this judicial investigation ...” - Marlowe, the captain of the English merchant fleet, begins his account of the story of Jim here, which he did not fully understand. nobody chrome him. The cigar smoldered in his hand, and the cigar lights of his listeners, who were sitting in sun loungers on the porch of the hotel in one of the ports of the southeastern seas, flashed and slowly moved like fireflies in the darkness of a fragrant and clear tropical night. Marlowe told ... The case was loud and caused widespread indignation. The verdict is the deprivation of a skipper license, “Oh yes, I was at this judicial investigation ...” - Marlowe, the captain of the English merchant fleet, begins his account of the story of Jim here, which he did not fully understand. nobody chrome him. The cigar smoldered in his hand, and the cigar lights of his listeners, who were sitting in sun loungers on the porch of the hotel in one of the ports of the southeastern seas, flashed and slowly moved like fireflies in the darkness of a fragrant and clear tropical night. Marlowe told ... located in sun loungers on the veranda of the hotel in one of the ports of the southeastern seas, they flashed and slowly moved like fireflies in the darkness of a fragrant and clear tropical night. Marlowe told ... located in sun loungers on the veranda of the hotel in one of the ports of the southeastern seas, they flashed and slowly moved like fireflies in the darkness of a fragrant and clear tropical night. Marlowe told ...

“This guy was a mystery. He went through all the humiliations of the investigation, although he might not have done so. He suffered. He dreamed of being understood. He did not accept sympathy. He longed to start a new life. He could not cope with the ghost of the past. He inspired confidence and sympathy, but in the depths of all this was a terrible suspicion and disappointment for everyone. He was refined, he was exalted, he was exalted, he was ready for feats, but the sky, and the sea, and people, and the ship - all betrayed him. He wanted to regain his confidence. He wanted to close the door behind him forever, he wanted genuine fame - and genuine obscurity. He was worthy of them. He was one of us, but we will never be like him.

Two times I helped him get a decent place, but each time something reminded me of the past and everything went to dust. The earth seemed small for his flight. Finally, a case, a friend of all capable of patience, extended his hand over him. I told his story to my Friend Stein, a wealthy merchant and an outstanding entomologist collector who spent his entire life in the East. His diagnosis was surprisingly simple: “I perfectly understand all this, he is a romantic. A romantic must follow his dream. Her mercy is unlimited. This is the only way. "