Customer Reviews

The Nigger of the Narcissus

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read this in one sitting on a very dark skied rainy afternoon in an attic which looked like the interior of a ship and I was riveted by it, truly amazed by this tale which was at least in part based in fact. Conrad had written a couple of minor novels and some stories before this but this was his first masterpiece and remains his best tale of the sea, though he wrote other good ones none of them approach the power of this one. There is not only a great telling of a perilous holding-on-by-the-skin-of- your-teeth tale of a ship in peril but also a figure on board whose presence has an unsettling effect upon the men. While the ship sails on calm waters the crew and captain all appear to us as individuals only united by the fact that they all walk on the same decks, they are seen as unique presences and they all have their own reaction to the strangers "condition" which is an apparent illness. As the storm approaches and the ship and crew begins its stunningly told fight for life the individuals all merge as it were into one entity sharing the common task of sailors versus the sea. As the men try to save the ship the strangers presence is forgotten and the captain himself is mysteriously quiet as the men simply do what they must to survive the storm. Once the ship is no longer in peril the uneasy balance of personalities resumes and once again the stranger is suspect. Fascinating and exciting story. Elements of both mystery and high adventure combining here to give one not only a wildly enjoyable read but one which leaves ones mind opened in some way. Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim were Conrads next efforts, but don't miss this one. The prologue to this has Conrad setting down his artistic credo but read it only after the tale is told. That way your mind can absorb in its own way this excitingly told tale.

This a powerful and dramatically written sea story of shipmates under trial both from the sea and from eachother. But the sea is only its point of departure. Behind the surface there abides the universe of human struggle, sacrifice, betrayal and death. In the final lines, Conrad says so: "A gone shipmate, like any other man, is gone forever." Then the story ends with a farewell image of the crew tossing aloft in the night, battling with the sails in the teeth of a westerly gale -- a fitting description of struggle and victory at sea and a metaphor for the struggles of life. This is a remarkable work, which is prefaced by an author's note setting forth Conrad's artistic mission as he saw it.

Joseph Conrad provides a memory from life of the sea in the waning days of square-rigged ships. How far that age is gone is illustrated by the rebuilt Constitution. When she was gotten out in recent years after her reconstruction she really wasn't put under full sail--you couldn't assemble a crew to do so in the USA.

Conrad suggests he was among the crew but at other times assumes the stance of an omniscient observer (as when he reports that conversation between Donkin and Jim Wait in the closed deck house). Yet he does this in other novels and I can live with it for the reward of his evocation of the sea--at least I think it's a realistic evocation of the sea, I who have voyaged only in air conditioned cruise ships and a small inland sail boat.

More important than Conrad's nautical narration is his penetration into the psyche of nearly everyone on board. The first customer reviewer was wrong to say that "the loathsome Donkin" stands for the crew and to align the novel with political literature. A great humanistic work cannot be demeaned to the status of a political analysis, at least this one can't.

The last pages of the novel are as melancholy a picture of the vanished men of a dead age as I can imagine. They have undergone three fates (except for Donkin, who of course succeeds): death at sea, death by land, and transfer to a steam vessel, the latter equated with a sort of death.

Even the material remnants of that age are fragmentary and unsatisfactory, a few ships in dock as museum specimens and the great East India docks transformed to the trendy "Docklands" development.

A powerful tale of human interaction in the confines of a sailing ship. Conrad mixes technical details with poetic prose in a style that is very enjoyabe to read. A relatively short book, this makes a delightful introduction to Conrad. Perhaps the best tale of the seas written.

This book was titled "Children of the Sea" in the American edition. It's a quite good book, some what the form of it falls in between a novel and a shortstory. It tells the tale about the rough life at sea on a ship with sails! It's moving to hear about these sailors out on open sea, their lives depend on eachother, then they reach the destination and split up never to see eachother again. Perhaps the most memorable part of the novel is when the ship enters the dirty dark industrial city of London, after life at the merciless but fresh sea, Conrads description of London is almost Dickens like in its somber visions.

I first read this book many years ago and never forgot Conrad's description of a tremendous gale at sea that lasted for a day and a night, and that put the sailors on board a sailing ship through unbelievable terror and hardship. The fact that it is an autobiographical tale (Conrad was a seaman for twenty years) adds great excitement to the telling. I always wanted to pick the book up again, so, last week, I did and was very glad I did. The reading of that event was as gripping as the first time around. Further, I was more able to appreciate the other qualities of Conrad's writing this time round. I will, however, state at the beginning of this review that, for many modern readers, his late nineteenth century style of prose will probably be far too wordy for them. One example of this will suffice to show what I mean. Here it is. `The feverish and shrill babble of Eastern language struggled against the masterful tones of tipsy seamen, who argued against brazen claims and dishonest hopes by profane shouts'. And that's just on the first page! On the other hand, such wordiness, for a patient modern reader, gives, in my humble opinion, great rewards because he will find himself sucked into the world of isolation, desperation, courage, stoicism, and sheer terror that was life on a sailing ship.

For me, the portrayal of the gale that had the two and a half dozen men strapped to the ship as it lolled in tremendous waves for twenty-four hours ON ITS SIDE (how scary is that?), is the highlight of the novel. For Conrad, though, I think he meant it to be the tale of a black seaman who came on board, feigned illness to get out of his duties, and then slowly but surely realized that he really was very sick and was facing his imminent death. This character and his dilemma had a profound effect on his shipmates and the novel examines that in detail. Conrad's characterization is masterful and, by book's end, the reader feels he knows the men very well; from cowardly, trouble-making Donkin to the oldest sailor, Singleton, who stood with his knees locked into the wheel for thirty hours as he fought to keep the ship from turning completely over and drowning everyone on board. And any review of this book that omits the fact that Conrad was Polish is remiss because it is astounding to realize that the writer of this wonderful tale is not a native English speaker. He obviously had a brilliant ear for linguistics. Read this example of Donkin's speech, Donkin being an Englishman of the lowest class.
`....Will yer? Are yer a bloomin' kid? ....Tell an' be damned! Tell, if yer can! I've been treated worser'n a dog by your bloomin' back-lickers. They `as set on me, only to turn against me. Who axed me ter `ave a drink of water?' and so the revolting man goes on.

So, despite the unfashionable wordiness of this work (and the oh, so politically incorrect usage of the term in the title), I am filled with admiration for this writer. Will I return to this novel again? You bet I will.

I came across Narcissus as a reference to one of Faulkner's inspirations in writing As I Lay Dying. As the latter book was superb, I suspected the former would perhaps shine as brightly. I was definately wrong.

It's not that the book is bad--certainly not. But the book, as a story, isn't all that riveting, and as a social commentary is not anything that most haven't seen time and again (that Conrad's work came before much of what we've seen is, of course, of some merit).

From an academic standpoint the book is probably worth a read. Historically, it's clearly important as it effectively captures the mood of an era long past. As a study in literature I found Conrad's employment of seamless shifts between the first and thrid person as subtle and deceptively powerful--clearly this is where Faulkner borrowed style from the work.

The nautical setting is interesting: Recognizable to those familiar with sailing, a learning experience for those of us who are not. One star.

The characters are interesting: Ranging from hardend sailors with strong work ethics to unpricipled slackers, with a mysterious black shipmate (who may or may not be faking illness) thrown in to shake them all up. One star.

What I didn't find interesting was Conrad's writing style. His descriptions contained far too many confusing similes, his run-on sentences and three-page paragraphs were tiresome, and his sudden switch from third-person to first-person narration was a bit bewildering. No stars.