The Nigger of the NarcissusDoubleday, 1914 - 190 pages A dying sailor boards the Narcissus and acts as a memento mori upon his shipmates, eliciting pity and selfless compassion as well as fear, resentment, and a profound hatred. The powerful narrative technique captures every nuance of atmospheric tension for a compelling study of men's characters under conditions of extreme danger and stress. |
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Common terms and phrases
ain't aloft amongst Archie arms asked Baker began Belfast blanket bloomin boatswain breath bunk cabin Captain Allistoun chap Charley chest chief mate cold cook crawled Creighton cried crowd dark deck Donkin door dunnage eyes face fo'c'sle forecastle foresail forward galley gaze glance groaned growled grunted hands hard head heard heavy hung James Wait Jimmy Jimmy's JOSEPH CONRAD Knowles leaped legs light lips looked loud master mate moved murmur muttered Narcissus nigger night noise oilskin Ough overboard planks poop rolled rope round rush sailmaker sails seaman seemed seez shadows ship ship's shirt shook shoulders shouted side sighs silence Singleton sleep smile spoke stared stir stood stream sudden suddenly sunshine swung thing thought tobacco smoke tone turned voice Wamibo watch waves whispered wind windlass words yelled
Popular passages
Page 14 - ... it is only through an unremitting never-discouraged care for the shape and ring of sentences that an approach can be made to plasticity, to colour, and that the light of magic suggestiveness may be brought to play for an evanescent instant over the commonplace surface of words: of the old, old words, worn thin, defaced by ages of careless usage.
Page 47 - The true peace of God begins at any spot a thousand miles from the nearest land; and when He sends there the messengers of His might it is not in terrible wrath against crime, presumption, and folly, but paternally, to chasten simple hearts — ignorant hearts that know nothing of life, and beat undisturbed by envy or greed.
Page 45 - The passage had begun, and the ship, a fragment detached from the earth, went on lonely and swift like a small planet. Round her the abysses of sky and sea met in an unattainable frontier. A great circular solitude moved with her, ever changing and ever the same, always monotonous and always imposing. Now and then another wandering white speck, burdened with life, appeared far off — disappeared; intent on its own destiny. The sun looked upon her all day, and every morning rose with a burning, round...
Page 14 - My task which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word to make you hear, to make you feel— it is, before all, to make you see.
Page 50 - He seemed to hasten the retreat of departing light by his very presence; the setting sun dipped sharply, as though fleeing before our nigger; a black mist emanated from him ; a subtle and dismal influence; a something cold and gloomy that floated out and settled on all the faces like a mourning veil.
Page 107 - ON men reprieved by its disdainful mercy, the immortal sea confers in its justice the full privilege of desired unrest. Through the perfect wisdom of its grace they are not permitted to meditate at ease upon the complicated and acrid savour of existence...
Page 180 - The dark land lay alone in the midst of waters, like a mighty ship bestarred with vigilant lights — a ship carrying the burden of millions of lives — a ship freighted with dross and with jewels, with gold and with steel. She towered up immense and strong, guarding priceless traditions and untold suffering, sheltering glorious memories and base forgetfulness, ignoble virtues and splendid transgressions. A great ship ! For ages had the ocean battered in vain her enduring sides ; she was there when...
Page 190 - Let the earth and the sea each have its own. A gone shipmate, like any other man, is gone for ever: and I never met one of them again. But at times the springflood of memory sets with force up the dark River of the Nine Bends.
Page 10 - After writing the last words of that book, in the revulsion of feeling before the accomplished task, I understood that I had done with the sea, and that henceforth I had to be a writer. And almost without laying down the pen I wrote a preface, trying to express the spirit in which I was entering on the task of my new life.
Page 11 - A work that aspires, however humbly, to the condition of art should carry its justification in every line. And art itself may be defined as a single-minded attempt to render the highest kind of justice to the visible universe, by bringing to light the truth, manifold and one, underlying its every aspect.