The Nigger of the Narcissus is a tale of a ship braving high seas and squalls to reach her destination, and of the men, lashed by emotion and conscience, desperately trying to cope with an uncertain fate. Melancholic in mood, contradictory in imagery, The Nigger of the Narcissus is more than just a seafaring tale, it shows that the storm within can be more tumultuous than the tempests at sea.
Charting a homeward-bound voyage from Bombay to London aboard a sailing ship, The Nigger of the Narcissus captured the late-Victorian era's maritime obsession and identified the strikingly original talent of Joseph Conrad as a sea writer in what has proved to be a landmark of sea literature.