Tom Oman's review of The Nigger of the Narcissus (original) (raw)

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Tom Oman's Reviews > The Nigger of the Narcissus

The Nigger of the Narcissus by Joseph Conrad

The Nigger of the Narcissus
by

22387172

The title is unnecessarily provocative to a modern reader. James Waite is a noble and respected central character, totally out of line with the assumptions evoked by the derisory title. And very unfortunately, this book has been almost completely overlooked.

This is Conrad’s 3rd book, it was 1897, he was still writing from relative obscurity two years before Heart of Darkness, but here he wrote some of his most beautiful prose.

“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 stare of undying curiosity. She had her own future; she was alive with the lives of those beings who trod her decks; like that earth which had given her up to the sea, she had an intolerable load of regrets and hopes. On her lived timid truth and audacious lies; and, like the earth, she was unconscious, fair to see—and condemned by men to an ignoble fate. The august loneliness of her path lent dignity to the sordid inspiration of her pilgrimage. She drove foaming to the southward, as if guided by the courage of a high endeavour. The smiling greatness of the sea dwarfed the extent of time. The days raced after one another, brilliant and quick like the flashes of a lighthouse, and the nights, eventful and short, resembled fleeting dreams.”

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Reading Progress

November 5, 2021 – Shelved

November 5, 2021 – Shelved as:to-read

February 9, 2024 –Finished Reading

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