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The Nigger of the Narcissus and The End of the Tether
Two great adventures of the sea!
- GenresFiction
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1970
4 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
Joseph Conrad
3,083 books4,848 followersJoseph Conrad was a Polish-British novelist and story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language and, although he did not speak English fluently until his twenties, he became a master prose stylist who brought a non-English sensibility into English literature. He wrote novels and stories, many in nautical settings, that depict crises of human individuality in the midst of what he saw as an indifferent, inscrutable, and amoral world.
Conrad is considered a literary impressionist by some and an early modernist by others, though his works also contain elements of 19th-century realism. His narrative style and anti-heroic characters, as in Lord Jim, for example, have influenced numerous authors. Many dramatic films have been adapted from and inspired by his works. Numerous writers and critics have commented that his fictional works, written largely in the first two decades of the 20th century, seem to have anticipated later world events.
Writing near the peak of the British Empire, Conrad drew on the national experiences of his native Poland—during nearly all his life, parceled out among three occupying empires—and on his own experiences in the French and British merchant navies, to create short stories and novels that reflect aspects of a European-dominated world—including imperialism and colonialism—and that profoundly explore the human psyche.
Conrad is considered a literary impressionist by some and an early modernist by others, though his works also contain elements of 19th-century realism. His narrative style and anti-heroic characters, as in Lord Jim, for example, have influenced numerous authors. Many dramatic films have been adapted from and inspired by his works. Numerous writers and critics have commented that his fictional works, written largely in the first two decades of the 20th century, seem to have anticipated later world events.
Writing near the peak of the British Empire, Conrad drew on the national experiences of his native Poland—during nearly all his life, parceled out among three occupying empires—and on his own experiences in the French and British merchant navies, to create short stories and novels that reflect aspects of a European-dominated world—including imperialism and colonialism—and that profoundly explore the human psyche.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 28, 2019
For now I've only read the first story, which is not as racist as it's title suggests. I realize that's not particularly high praise, but for the most part the story/novella is just passively racist. The black character is really there as a symbol or cipher for the other characters to react against. Those reactions are, for the most part, not racial. There is a chance that James Wait's blackness is meant to represent a dark part of human nature, which would be pretty racist. But I don't see that as the explicit intention.
So what's actually good about the book? It's a lot of things, but primarily it seemed to me to examine reactions to death in different circumstances. Wait presents himself as a dying man from just after his first appearance. This illicits a variety of responses from the seamen, but eventually he becomes a kind of talisman. The main action of the story concerns a near-disastrous storm as the Narcissus rounds the Cape of Good Hope heading back to Britain from India. Again there are various reactions, but ultimately the crew respond to this emergency by pulling together through various large and small deeds. So at first glance mortality would seem to pull the ship's community together.
But after the ship recovers from nearly wrecking and as it's becalmed in the Atlantic, Wait tells his closest companion on the ship (Donkin) that he's been faking his illness, or at least playing it up. I think there are a couple ways to interpret that. At first I thought he was lying about lying. In other words, he's trying to make some combination of Donkin and himself feel better about the situation. But the captain (who's presented as nearly all-knowing) also accuses Wait of faking. It also seems plausible that Wait is being honest with Donkin because Donkin is a kindred spirit -- he also "loafs" and avoids whatever work he can throughout the story. So I think it's more likely that he's telling the truth.
Interestingly, after this revelation (which leads to a showdown between the crew, egged on to near mutiny by Donkin, and the captain), Wait really does start to die. There's also a bit where much of the crew becomes convinced that Wait is responsible for the headwinds that are preventing them from coming home, because he knows that he will die when they approach land -- this is presented as an old sailor's superstition. Again, this could be read as a commentary on the way people cling to superstitions in the face of death or there could be a more freaky metaphysical connection, where Wait causes his death by feigning it.
Ultimately, I liked this because of the portrayal of the ship's crew and how the events of the story revealed more complex parts of their characters.
So what's actually good about the book? It's a lot of things, but primarily it seemed to me to examine reactions to death in different circumstances. Wait presents himself as a dying man from just after his first appearance. This illicits a variety of responses from the seamen, but eventually he becomes a kind of talisman. The main action of the story concerns a near-disastrous storm as the Narcissus rounds the Cape of Good Hope heading back to Britain from India. Again there are various reactions, but ultimately the crew respond to this emergency by pulling together through various large and small deeds. So at first glance mortality would seem to pull the ship's community together.
But after the ship recovers from nearly wrecking and as it's becalmed in the Atlantic, Wait tells his closest companion on the ship (Donkin) that he's been faking his illness, or at least playing it up. I think there are a couple ways to interpret that. At first I thought he was lying about lying. In other words, he's trying to make some combination of Donkin and himself feel better about the situation. But the captain (who's presented as nearly all-knowing) also accuses Wait of faking. It also seems plausible that Wait is being honest with Donkin because Donkin is a kindred spirit -- he also "loafs" and avoids whatever work he can throughout the story. So I think it's more likely that he's telling the truth.
Interestingly, after this revelation (which leads to a showdown between the crew, egged on to near mutiny by Donkin, and the captain), Wait really does start to die. There's also a bit where much of the crew becomes convinced that Wait is responsible for the headwinds that are preventing them from coming home, because he knows that he will die when they approach land -- this is presented as an old sailor's superstition. Again, this could be read as a commentary on the way people cling to superstitions in the face of death or there could be a more freaky metaphysical connection, where Wait causes his death by feigning it.
Ultimately, I liked this because of the portrayal of the ship's crew and how the events of the story revealed more complex parts of their characters.
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