Słowa kluczowe: Joseph Conrad, Karol Ludwik Koniński, Polish reception of Conrad, the concept of loyalty and betrayal, the history of Poland in times of captivity, the deviation from national loyalty, argument about the emigration of talent, the seminal moments in Conrad’s biography, Conrad’s inner feeling vs. the concept of patriotism, Joseph Conrad-Korzeniowski’s Polish background, Lord Jim, Marlow’s psychology, discrete perspectives, Marlow’s oral and written narratives, aloofness, obfuscation, compunction, Marlow-Jim relationship, limbo, teleology, framing devices, misrepresentation, Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim, The Shadow-Line, emotions, self-knowledge, self-delusion, imagination., game, play, rules, honour, winner, Conrad and Shakespeare, tragedy/comedy, mirroring, Victory, Romeo and Juliet, comparative study, cryptomnesia, image, swimmer, destiny, metaphor, double agents, collaboration, dichotomy, genres transgression, narcissism