encyclopedia titanica

In the end the subject of this fascinating book is not just historical or biographical uncertainty but psychological and moral ambiguity Ismay became a kind of modern ancient mariner endlessly trying to explain himself but his solipsism meant that the 1500 people who died on the Titanic collapsed into the intractable problem of his disappointment in himself As Conrads narrator Marlow finally realises at the end of Lord Jims story Nobody nobody is good enough