The American Serialization of <i>Lord Jim</i>

• Main Author: Stephen Donovan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ghent University 2017-12-01
• Series: Journal of European Periodical Studies
• Subjects: Joseph Conrad; Lord Jim; serialization; syndication; Evening Telegram (New York); women readers
• Online Access: http://ojs.ugent.be/jeps/article/view/4811

This essay presents the discovery of the American serialization of Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim in New York’s Evening Telegram in 1903. This ‘lost’ serialization, it argues, invites a new perspective on Conrad’s early career by foregrounding the role of newspaper serialization and syndication in establishing his literary standing. After surveying the principal differences in the respective reading experiences of the periodical versus the book, it concludes by proposing that the prominence of women among Conrad’s first audiences requires us to reassess the basis for his success in North America and elsewhere.