The Rescue

By Joseph Conrad and Joseph Brown

Book Overview

Much of the novel is a commentary on imperialism and gender roles, and is not plot driven. Most of the book takes place on Captain Tom Lingard's brig, Lightning or on other boats at sea around Malaysia, near the Indian Ocean. At the beginning of the novel, Lingard and his crew are traveling to the Malay Archipelago to help a friend take back his land in a fight amongst two Malay tribes. While in the waters his crew hears a loud sound, then sees the water foaming. A few moments later they see a small boat, and then hear a man, Mr. Carter, call out to them and asks to be allowed on board Lingard's brig. Carter passes on a letter, which somewhat explains where a yacht is stranded and begs for assistance. Although Lingard is not heading that way, and he does not know the exact location of the yacht, he agrees to help, and the spend the next chapter looking for the stranded yacht. Once they find it, Lingard and his first mate, Shaw have a discussion, "'This is the entrance to the place where we are going, ' he said. Shaw stared, round-eyed. 'I thought you came here on account of this here yacht, ' he stammered, surprised. 'Ah. The yacht, ' said Lingard, musingly, keeping his eyes on the break in the coast. 'The yacht-' He stamped his foot suddenly. 'I would give all I am worth and throw in a few days of life into the bargain if I could get her off and away before to-night'". Here, readers are shown that Lingard was not completely honest with Carter, the yacht just happened to be in the same place that Lingard was already headed to and Lingard really had no intentions of finding the stranded yacht. Now, Lingard is at The Shore of Refuge, but has yet to go on to the yacht, although he can make out figures on the yacht, two men and a woman. On the shore, readers are introduced to Hassim and Immada, two Wajo natives, who have been waiting for Lingard's arrrival. The text now reverts to the past, and readers are shown how Hassim and Lingard met: Hassim watched Lingard as he went on land to refill his water, when the Papuan (leader of the Malay tribe) threw a spear towards Lingard, to which Lingard's men retaliated, starting a fight between the natives and Lingard's men. Once the natives were dead, Lingard went back to his brig, and then later met with Hassim, the leader of the Waja traders. Hassim and two others came on board Lingard's brig. They talk, mostly about Lingard's home country, and before the Wajo leave, Hassim asks Lingard to visit him in his country. Next readers are shown Lingard's reflection of that story, showing the importance that Hassim has in Lingard's life. This is a transition back to the present, with Lingard traveling to visit the Wajo tribe. With another storm about break, Lingard stays on board his brig, but another man from the Wajo tribe, Jaffir, comes aboard his vessel to warn Lingard of the civil war that played out between the Malay tribes. The next chapter begins by framing the narrative as a history, "A traveller visiting Wajo to-day man, if he deserves the confidence of the common people, hear the traditional account of the last civil war, together with the legend of a chief and his sister...". The remainder of the chapter is Lingard's account of that civil war. Readers are thrown back to Lingard being on the stranded yacht, where he meets Mrs. Travers, who will become his love interest, and the men Mr. Travers and Mr. D'Alcacer. Mr. Travers openly objects to Lingard being on the yacht. D'Alcacer and Mrs. Travers have taken a liking to him. Mr. Travers and Lingard argue. Lingard's Wago friends Hassim and Immada come on board the yacht and point out that Lingard left them waiting on the shore. Lingard recognizes Mrs. Travers as a woman during a discussion between the Wajo's and the other yacht members. Immada is scrutinized both because of her gender and race; Mrs. Travers sees her quite differently than British girls, even asking "How does she live?". Lingard tells them that she

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1512282766
• ISBN13: 9781512282764
• Release Date: May 2015
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 182 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Ponderous, Powerful, Prescient and definitely worth a read.

Conrad is one of those authors whose books I read years apart in order to make his oeuvre last the course of my lifetime, and because they are emotionally disturbing. This book is one that I would put in the same category as his book titled 'The Rover.' Although the themes of the two books are dissimilar, they pull upon the same heartstrings in their treatment of love, loyalty and duty. 'The Rescue' expands these themes beyond the merely personal and places them within the context of the clash of cultures; social, historical, and political. Enough of pretentiousness. What happens is that a magnificent specimen of a man gets caught up in native intrigue in the Indonesian Archipelago as he seeks to make good on a promise made years ago to a native prince intent upon restoring his claim to the throne. Problems arise when the personal yacht of a British diplomat enroute from Manila to Singapore runs aground at precisely the spot where our hero's promise is to be kept. Suffice it to say that the yacht and its contents become the objects of desire to all the parties involved for various conflicting reasons. Resolution of these conflicts invariably ends in tragedy, as Conrad himself predicts numerous times in the course of his narration. Anyone who has been smitten by love at first sight will find this story especially engaging and sad and wonderful. I take especial pleasure in Conrad's wonderfully improbable sentence structure and eccentric word play. His are the only sentences that I can take pleasure from reading repeatedly to myself in order to fully appreciate or comprehend the thought being conveyed. I call this novel prescient because it appears obvious to me that F. Scott Fitzgerald borrowed heavily from this book when writing 'The Great Gatsby,' as the underlying themes of the two books are too similar and non-universal for there not to be a connection. Read them both and see if you don't agree.

Conrad - What more needs to be said.

As an avid Conrad fan, I found it refreshing to come across a book which I didn't know existed. Not his best work, but well worth reading because Conrad always comes through with descriptive scenery, and interesting character interaction. KLM

Lingards Dilemna

The familiar Conrad hero Captain Tom Lingard(Outcast of the Islands) comes to the rescue of an English pleasure yacht that has foundered in the shallows just as war is about to break out between Malay tribes. Tom has war supplies including gunpowder stored in his own boat that has been turned into a fort and Tom's decisions will greatly effect the outcome of the war. Meanwhile though there is the English problem which Tom sees as being just that until he spies on board a lovely woman. Thats enough to distract our hero from his more pressing war time duties. Romantic Tom recalls Lord Jim and is in fact Jims brother, but he is not as complex or as troubled as Jim was so this is more a tale of pure adventure. External events take precedence over internal conflicts and so the adventure can be enjoyed for just that. Not one of Conrads most important works but still it exerts a lot of appeal. Anything by the best writer ever of sea and island tales is worth my time.

Picture of piracy in early years of 19th. cent.

Author writes about true piracy in Caribbean ca. 19th cent. Conrad writes with historical and experiential knowledge.