"The book draws on Conrad's own experience of twenty years as a master mariner; the Narcissus is sailing to London with two new hands, Wait and Donkin, and these two test the crew by Wait almost dying, and Donkin by attempting to raise the crew to mutiny. Regarded as Conrad's first masterpiece, the book is a disturbing and powerful portrait of the sea and sea-life."
--The review--
The censorship and alteration of already-published works is something that is rife in an increasingly politically correct world, with writers such as Enid Blyton and Hergé (author of the Tintin comics) being perhaps the most famously hit. It was therefore the apparent lack of censorship in the title of this work by Joseph Conrad that causes it to draw so much attention to itself on the shelf. Why is such a title allowed to slip through unscathed when many other less offensive texts are not? (Not that I'm pro-censorship, you understand.)
It is possible, of course, that the title's implicit racism was intended ironically by Conrad; however, given his track record (whereby he was accused of racism after the release of Heart of Darkness), it is equally possible that he was sincere. This is perhaps something that readers and critics will never be able to resolve, but it at least perhaps contributes to the generation of debate and to an increase in people picking up the novel when they may not have otherwise done. In any case, Conrad keeps the reader hanging for a while, not even mentioning the nigger in question until well after the first chapter has been and gone. Instead he chooses to concentrate on describing the ship, its travellers, and the beginning of its voyage. This can make for dense reading, particularly if one is not too interested in nautical history (it's rather comparable to trying to plough through Hemingway when one has no interest in jungle-based combat, and, again, seafaring).
However, while Conrad can be vague at times (it was difficult to really build up a picture of the other characters or form opinions of them), he builds up tension with smartness and subtlety, deliberately leaving readers in doubt as to what he really thinks. As with the works of Steinbeck, it is difficult to pronounce on who is intended as good and who is intended as evil, and what the story's underlying moral is (assuming that there is one). This sidestepping can leave the reader feeling a little flat at the end of the story: left with a Milligan-esque "I told you I was ill" kind of feeling, there is little else of substance with which to make any sort of judgement.
While Conrad does show some strong moments in his powers of description at times, on the whole the work did seem a little insipid, despite its occasional cleverness. It is perhaps more advisable, then, to kick off with some of Conrad's more established works, such as Heart of Darkness or Lord Jim, in order to make a better informed judgement on the author's alleged prowess.
Other works by Joseph Conrad
Almayer's Folly (1895)
An Outcast of the Islands (1896)
Heart of Darkness (1899)
Lord Jim (1900)
The Inheritors (1901; with Ford Maddox Ford)
Typhoon (1902)
Romance (1903; with Ford Maddox Ford)
Nostromo (1904)
The Secret Agent (1907)
Under Western Eyes (1911)
Chance (1913)
Victory (1915)
The Shadow of Line (1917)
The Arrow of Gold (1919)
The Rescue (1920)
The Nature of a Crime (1923; with Ford Maddox Ford)
The Rover (1923)
Suspense (1925)
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