Nobody else's book club: The Nigger of the 'Narcissus': A Tale of the Forecastle, by Joseph Conrad

The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' is a novella (only 122 pages long, excluding the very good preface) and one of Conrad's best works. It is a story of the sea, like so much of Conrad's oeuvre, that begins with the 'Narcissus', a merchant sailing ship, leaving Bombay's port and ends at its arrival in London. I do not want to give any more of the plot away (I apologize for the little that my choice of illustration gives away), because, like much of Conrad's work, it is a story that keeps you wondering what will happen next (and even more how it will come to be).

It is fair to say that the main character in this story is the crew of the 'Narcissus', since there is no single main character. The narrator of the story is at the same time an omniscient narrator and a member of this crew (who remains completely anonymous and we learn nothing of him, except the impressions and opinions expressed through the narration). This inconsistency does not devalue the narration and allows Conrad to give a sense of veracity to his account of a story that is singular in many ways, without loosing the ability to describe certain important events where no witnesses could have been present. The forecastle, for those who like me know little about ships, is the part of the ship where the living quarters of ordinary sailors' (as opposed to the ship's officers) are situated and is usually the upper deck at the front of a sailing ship. Even if, naturally, some of the officers will play an important role in the story, it is mainly of the sailors we learn about. We learn of their hardships,— the hard work, the poverty, the cold and hunger they endure,— and also of their, often simple-minded and always very peculiar, personalities.

For those fascinated by seafaring, the vivid description of sea life on board of a merchant sailing ship in late 19th century is one of this book's main appeals. I particularly loved the beautiful, lyric description of the entrance of the Thames and arrival at London. This passage is a good example of Conrad's writing, both poetic and richly written, lush with imaginative and intelligent analogies, all of these without loosing its documentary value.

But even for those who are not fascinated by seafaring, the story has much to give. As in all of Conrad's work, the precise events are only the means through which human nature is revealed. In this case, the extreme experiences the sailors withstand, which include cabin fever, hunger, disease and death, will test their moral mettle to the limit. The narration offers insightful descriptions of human solidarity, pity, generosity, resilience and bravery, but also of selfishness, laziness, vileness, irrationality and excessive sentimentality.

Joseph Conrad was a year younger than Freud. I mention this not because there is any sort of connexion or influence between the two, but precisely because there is not. Conrad's writing is always deeply psychological, but, by being untouched by psychoanalysis theory, it has a perspective of the human psyche that lacks some of the tropes that we have come to associate with psychology. This difference in perspective is an added value to his writing, in my opinion. One way this difference reveals itself is that there is no attempt to explain the fundamental causes of people's behaviour or feelings. Neither any illusion that one can hope to do so. The human psyche remains a mystery no matter how deeply one succeeds in peering into it.


On the n-word in the title

In the United States, the novel was first published under the title The Children of the Sea: A Tale of the Forecastle, [...] [because] no one would buy or read a book with the word "nigger" in its title, not because the word was deemed offensive, but because a book about a black man would not sell.

(source: Wikipedia).

For those sharing the same concern, let me assure you this is not a book about a nigger, although a nigger does play a rather important role in some of its turns of events. More recently, as Americans inverted their afore-described perspective on niggerhood, another American publisher has decided to title it "The N-Word of the Narcissus". What can I say about this edifying subject, except that there is no lower limit to human stupidity? Enjoy the video which explains it better than I ever could (I love Minchin!).

Next book: finish any of the unfinished books that have been started in this book club.