Exploration Of Space In Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim

As one of Joseph Conrad’s masterpieces, Lord Jim has broken the traditionalpattern of English novels and become the pioneer of Modernist fiction with itsunique writing style and innovative narrative techniques. It has aroused specialconcerns among critics. Its difficult language, confusing narration and obscureexpression, which many readers and critics complain about, make the work amonument in the history of English Fiction. This paper applies space theory to LordJim from the perspectives of geography, narration and psychology and exploreshow the view of life revealed in the novel.First of all, geographically, the novel has highlighted two geographical spaces:Patna and Patusan. With the transition of geographical space, Jim’s discourse,behavior and personality also have changed correspondingly, which shows theuncertainty of human beings in different circumstances.Secondly, in terms of narrative technique, Conrad used juxtaposition，repetition, multiply perspectives and other techniques to make a simple story obscure.The aim is not to show off writing skills, but more importantly, it is to reflect thepuzzlement of life from narrative space. Life is not always so flat and stable as onemay comprehend. So it’s easy for human to lose his way in life.The third chapter will analyze the two main characters Jim and Marlow interms of psychology. From the perspective of psychological space, it intends toanalyze various transitions of characters in life process. These transitions are actuallythe outcomes of character’s struggle in life.Through the exploration of space in geography, narration and psychology, thepaper not only presents the complexity and variety of Conrad’s work, but also revealsthe uncertainty, puzzlement and struggle of life that embodied in the novel.