The Nigger of the “Narcissus” (Cyclopedia of Literary Places)
At a glance:
- Author: Joseph Conrad
- First Published: 1897
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Symbolic realism
- Time of Work: Nineteenth century
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Sea story
- Subjects: Voyages, Nineteenth century, Storms, India or East Indian people, London, Sailing or sailors, Atlantic Ocean, Sea or seafaring life, Mortality
- Locales: London, England, Oceans, Bombay, India
Places Discussed
Narcissus. Freighter on which the novel’s action takes place, as the ship sails from India to Britain, going around Southern Africa. The Narcissus is modeled on a real ship on which Conrad worked in 1884. A light/dark, white/black, life/death motif begins within the ship’s forecastle even before the arrival on board of the black sailor, Wait. The narrator notes how the light there illuminates the white of the berths and only the heads of the men, whose bodies “were lost in the gloom of those places, that resembled narrow niches for coffins...
[The entire page is 992 words long]
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