Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1991. British and American Philologycal Studies (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 20)

Katalin Grezsu: Psychological Implications in Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim

29 GREZSU KATALIN PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS IN JOSEPH CONRAD'S LORD JIM In the present paper I examine a certain part of Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim: it is the jump which is structurally in the very centre of the novel. This action and its description, which is not longer than 20 pages, is the centre, the crucial point in the work. The actions preceding the jump and the jump itself can be explained by astrology, while the results of the jump are rather psychological. When examining Jim's reasons for Iiis abandoning the ship some powers beyond our understanding are inevitable. When we try to find scientific reasons for his 'escape' we must soon realize that all these attempts fail and from science and logic we must turn to mythology, superstition and astrology. Theories explaining phenomena like the Genesis and the destruction of our Earth existed decades ago, too. And not only scientists and philosophers but artists developed their set of ideas as well. One possible answer to great changes in nature and in man was given by Yeats. He claimed that our history moves in 2000 years' cycles or 'gyres'. He called these astronomical units 'world montlis'. These units differ from each other, but they have common features as well. Each cycle prospers in the middle and decays towards the end. Each world month or 'aion' consists of great historical periods. These units are closed, the transition from one world month to another is accompanied by disasters and catastrophies. Now, in the 20th century we can experience the transition from the Fishes to the Aquarius. Our cycle, the Fishes, that began with the birth of Christ, was dominated by Christianity. The chaos, anarchy and destruction that marks the transition from one cycle to another can best be represented by the violence and destruction of the First World War. We do not know anything about the coming gyre, only a couple of things are sure: with Aquarius, which is the next world month, a totally new life will begin, it will be followed by incidents that will change the whole world and the whole of humanity, it is going to be a kind of Apocalypse for men. But these changes that happen at a macro-cosmic level in the life of humanity, do happen at a micro-cosmic level as well, i.e. in the life of the individual, because the individual cannot get rid of the influence of history and society. In my essay I will examine these changes in the life of Joseph Conrad's character, Lord Jim.