In Typhoon a steamship, the Nan-Shan is carrying 200 Chinese workmen (coolies in the language of the time) back to China; these are not passengers, per se, but incidental to the real cargo of the ship so just an additional source of income to the owners. As such their rights and comfort are not high on the captains list of priorities. When a typhoon hits the ship, he must make decisions taking their welfare into account.
The Nigger of the Narcissus, a story with, to our eyes, an unfortunate, offensive, unnecessary title although in 1897 when it was published as a serial, I dont suppose anyone had a problem with it. When I began reading this story, this disturbed me more than I expected and, although it is a great tale, I struggled with the use of the N word. We are told the man's name and Conrad does refer to him by name, but he also refers to him as, 'the n***ger'. Perhaps it's just that he felt he needed to remind his readership of how this man was thought of by the other characters but I didn't like it. I was even tempted to think they should edit the book to remove it (some uses, however, in dialogue or the characters thoughts, are appropriate) but, in general and as a matter of principle, I am opposed to revising books they are a product of their time and anything in them that offends our sensibilities should serve as an education to us it is important for people to be able to see the progress of human development and how some things that once were normal must change to reflect a better educated/more caring world we still have a long way to travel on that road. I am glad to say, despite a revival of the use of it at the end of the book, it was mostly confined to beginning/end; in the main, the man is referred to by his name.
Do not let the title put you off this book; it is well crafted and is a powerful work that sincerely reflects many aspects of life and human nature, and relationships between people, whether comrades, co-workers, bosses/subordinates. Conrad has the most marvellous way of describing people, in all their states and moods, their desires and motives, warts and all, that all his characters come across as whole, flawed but genuine individuals who think, speak and act in ways we can accept as reflections of real life. Likewise, he describes scenes, the ship, the weather, the sea and the sky in a multi-faceted detailed way that makes you hear the creaking of the rigging, the snap of the sails and the swoosh of the sea as the ship courses through the waves, and you can almost smell the sea, the wet ropes, tobacco and the reek of the crews quarters.
.jpg)
