Simply put, Conrad fails with this novel. It's not that it doesn't have its moments. And the cumulative impact of events on the ending brings off a tremendous effect, a blow that leaves an image of its protagonist, Lingard, forever changed--and damaged. As with many of Conrad's novels and stories, it illustrates the failure of people to connect. In this case, it is with the once heroic and respected Captain Lingard with a married woman, Mrs. Travers.

Alas, Lingard actually has few truly heroic dimensions, making the possibility of a full tragedy almost impossible. And there is one other thing at work: if the reader has completed the other books in this series that deal with Lingard, Almayer's Folly and An Outcast of the Islands, he realizes just what is so infuriating about Lingard over the entire range of experiences. It's this: he is a horrible judge of human character. Such it seems it is with Mrs. Travers and virtually ever other figure in The Rescue, except perhaps for Mr. Carter. Although even with Carter, it seems that time will eventually tell. This "flaw," of course, was really given vent in An Outcast of the Islands, where Almayer lets loose a salvo of insults against Lingard for his trust in Willems and his loss of everything they've built together because of Willems conspiracy with a rival Arab trader.

But I guess Rescue let's us see how that flaw will dominate and consume Lingard later on. Here, it is made manifest in Lingard's all but adolescent mooning over Mrs. Travers. And the dialogue reflects that. In those passages where we explore the feelings, thoughts, and temptations of Mrs. Travers and Lingard, the prose plays out in a manner so slowly, repetitiously, and tediously that it seems as if you are listening to someone giving a lengthy dissertation on how to unwind a ball of yarn. You can admire Conrad's shifts in perspective and time. And you can appreciate his attempt to delve into the minutiae of Travers' and Lingard's psyche. But with regards to the latter, I simply think Conrad fails, here. Rather than a flawed giant, which seems the intent of the novel, Lingard comes off as too much of a sniveling, self absorbed teenager in love with his first girlfriend and ready to sacrifice everyone around him in order to get a date. ( )

The protagonist of The Rescue is Tom Lingard, who also appears in Conrad's first two novels, Almayer's Folly and An Outcast of the Islands, although the events here predate those two stories in Lingard's life. Lingard is the owner and captain of the brig, The Lightning. He plies his trade, such as it is, among the islands and mists of the Malayan archipelago, where he has gained outsized status as a man of power and prestige, while at the same time almost entirely, by design, cut off from English civilization. In flashback we see the story of Lingard's life being saved by a young prince, Hassim and learn that Lingard has in turn saved Hassim's life, helping him escape from, basically, a coup. Lingard has sworn to help his friend gain back his rule, and as the action opens here has been planning and plotting this action for two years. He is gathered his forces and is almost ready to put the plan into action, when unexpected events, as events usually will, intercede. The novel revolves around Lingard's attempts to overcome a succession of potentially fatal roadblocks thrown in his way.

There's nothing new about a Conrad plot being slow to get itself going (in fact, sometimes they never really do!). In this case, however, once we go into action, the story moves along quite well. Which is not to say that the novel is plot-driven only. The ins and outs of Lingard's thoughts and motivations are certainly delved. And always, Conrad uses the natural surroundings almost as a character itself, darkness and mist in particular. Finally, Conrad is quite deft at creating and maintaining suspense, and the periods of tense waiting for events to add fuel to the heat the story even while slowing down the action.

This is not Conrad at his height or at his most skillful. But I still found it to be very good storytelling, and since I love Conrad's voice, I enjoyed this novel very much indeed. And, happily, at the points where I thought Conrad might be about to fall into cliches of plot, he twists himself out of those traps deftly. ( )

A man meets a woman who - discombobulates him. ( )

Un velero inglés queda embarrancado en los bajíos de una recóndita costa malaya. A bordo, un aristocrático matrimonio inglés y un caballero español confían en que algún buque los rescate y los ponga a flote. Ignoran que, ocultos en la espesura de la selva que empieza en la misma orilla, se concentran guerreros a la espera de iniciar una guerra contra el país de Wajo.

Un bergantín, bajo el mando del capitán Lingard, aventurero y comerciante inglés que lleva años recorriendo aquellas costas, avista la nave en callada y trata de ayudarles sin comprometer sus objetivos. Sin embargo, algo turba los propósitos de Lingard: la fascinación que instantáneamente ejerce sobre él la dama del velero.

Conrad no acabó la redacción de "El rescate" hasta muchos años después de haberla iniciado. Él mismo recooció haber encallado en ella tal como el navío inglés lo hizo en los bajíos. Y es comprensible: difícilmente un joven Conrad podría haber tenido la madurez necesaria para describir la relación que se establece entre Lingard y la casada Sra. Travers, una relación marcada por un amor que no se expresa más que subrepticiamente.

Novela de amor y aventuras, "El rescate" es un alto exponente del talento de Conrad para describir personajes, y de su sutileza cuando se traba de describir sentimientos semiocultos y pasiones soterradas que pugnan por salir a un mundo en el que las convenciones sociales tratan de imponer sus rígidas normas, incluso en los confines de las selvas malayas.