New-York tribune., 1900-11-03
THE FEAR OF DEATH.
A TALE OF cowARDIcE AND ATONE
MENT

IN THE PALACE OF THE KING A 10y Love story fI1%.,
trated. 12mo. PIP. 367. The Macmillan Company.
If Mr.. Conrad's new story excited admiration
II appeared serially in the pages OF black
woods Magazine" II exacts a double tribute
from the reader now that 1t is published in book
form. Though originally projected on snaii
scale its unprecedented expansion to the form
of full fedged novel has done nothing to spoi
the simplicity and balance OF the design IL Is
q long narrative. but it should be read' IL poe-
sible at a sitting. Not alone because one loea
is dwelt upon with almost painful persistency'
but because Mr.. Conrad's mode of composition
demands it, He makes the whole story IAN
from the lips of one man. who either states
facts as he knew them himself or quotes thehl
from the conversation of others, and despite
the amount of material packed into this book
one apprehends il best by taking 1t as an un-
interrupted stream of spoken Tragedy ana elo-
quence. What the author has to say is aOsoro-
ing but is the way in which ne
says il. Miss Gwendoline Keats. better known
as "'Zack" has shown in the book called ON
Trial" what be made of an analysis OF d
towards nature when the bitter story is ex-
pressed in terms of ordinary speech, accented
by borrowings from peasant dialect. Mr.. Con-
rad deals with coward and he is mercilessly
direct in his exposition of the mans most fugi-
tive emotions but every page there is
flung the indescribable romance of the I'M
memorial East.
NARROW the suppos!titious narrator Of Jims
half prosaic half tragic, history, is a student or
human nature whose years Of traffic on the sea
have moulded him TO meditative. wistful ways OF
thinking. The leading points he has to set
forth are simple enough. III his boyhood Jim
leaves the commonplace English parsonage IN
which he has been born and brought up. He
goes to sea because his imagination has per-
suaded him that life may thus be made more
romantic than he has found it at home.
After years fate sends him ABOARD the
steamer Patna. in Oriental waters. as chieI
mate. The ship leaves port carrying eight nun
dred native pilgrims. On night of tropic calm
the rotten craft goes to the bottom like a shot.
with all hands save a few members of the crew.
For Jim there is a choice. He might stay,
rouse the sleeping pilgrims and help save some
of them. Or he jump into the single boat
that is lowered and escape with the scoundres
who are foully deserting the unconscious people
under their charge. Jim jumps. and pays for
his bodily salvation by years Of remorse. In
which regret for specific act of cowardice can
never lose the added pang Of his inhdelity to
the ideal of which he has long dreamed. Some
where in his heart is the germ Of strength;
somehow, he feels. he some day atone for
his sin. How he atones. how he burys himself
he becomes providence and demi-god how
the life of steadfast truth TO which he attains
eliminates in an episode of almost intolerable
bitterness, II were easy to tell in few words.
But Mr.. Conrad gives most of his volume to the
telling and justifes himself by making every
word magical and precious
The man NARROW muses. like an oracle. He
seems to stand immcbile before us; there is
gesture now and then; occasionally he shifts his
position; often he pauses. relapses into silence,
then picks up the narrative again as though it
were en effort to detach himself from the myriad
memories that come swarming back upon him.
lie Describes Lord Jin-so called by the
tices with whom he finds asylun-he gives you
inns version of this or that moment in the
Petna's last hours: he portrays the young native
woman who gives her love TO the refugee from
his own conscience; he let's down at short in
tervals, like curtains in theatre, wonderfully
painted pictures of luxuriant scenery or Of the
unmarked sea. It is all record of little truths;
II is mosaic. formed with Jealous solicitude for
justice. Of the thousand and facts emotions.
shares of emotion, which in the long run go
to render Jim comprehensive. explain his con-
duct and make him intensely interesting 1t is
as accurate as a legal document; Jims secrets
laid bare though with the knife of
surgeon. But always it is an oracle that speaks,
always the truth comes wrapped about with the
and dark problem of human will and destiny.
Sorrow broods over the story. Lord Jim" is a
hard book read. for il communicates to the
reader a grievous sense OF mans weakness and
OF the that he bring down upon his
own head. But it is book of great originality.
and it exerts a spell such is rarely encoun-
tered in modern fiction.
That happy moment in which Mr.. Craw-
ford went TO the Spain of Philip II and Don
John Of Austria, seeking inspiration for a novel.
In the Palace Of the King is a capital story,
OF the entertaining devised by
writer of brilliant gifts. It has improba bilities
TO be sure Don John, whose love for the daugh-
ter OF cid Mendoza, captain of the kings guards.
brings him into conflict with Philip. is laid low
in his chamber by hasty stroke Of the
irate monarch's rapier So far all is we'll But
then a number of occurrences through
the full tale of which Don John lies practically
neglected OF all men, though the report is soon
spread that he has expired. This sort of thing
is scarcely in harmony with the condition of af-
fairs naturally attributes to a royal palace.
In the Palace of the King" has been put upon
the stage. Perhaps in theatrical form the mat
ter to which we have alluded. and certain others
equally disconcerting in the printed page may
be made to plausible The illusion is sadly
shattered when they treated in this book
Possibly Mt Crawford could not help himself
having set out to write a long novel around the
events OF a single night On the other hand
having recorded the weak spots in the fabric, 1t
is pleasant TO return TO approval Of all that is
good. The historical personages introduced are
all well drawn, Philip especially being de-
lineated with remarkable insight and skill His
consort is deftly sketched, and in the scene
which shows Don John dining with the royal