Joseph Conrad was a Polish-British writer. He was regarded as one of the greatest novelists to write in the English language. During his lifetime Conrad was admired for the richness of his prose and his renderings of dangerous life at sea and in exotic places. But his initial reputation as a masterful teller of colourful adventures of the sea masked his fascination with the individual when faced with nature’s invariable unconcern, man’s frequent malevolence, and his inner battles with good and evil. Conrad's narrative style and anti-heroic characters have influenced many authors, including T. S. Eliot, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway and others. The Nigger of the Narcissus was based on Conrad’s experiences while serving in the British merchant navy. The British freighter Narcissus sits in Bombay harbour on a hot, sticky tropical night in the 1890s. Already loaded, it is to sail the next morning on its homeward voyage. The last crew member to come aboard is a huge black man, James Wait. Wait has a severe cough and asks his shipmates to help him in stowing his gear. A little later, the men are in their bunks, and the only sound is snoring, interrupted at times by Wait’s fits of coughing. At daylight, the Narcissus sails. That evening, as the sailors gather in little groups about the deck, the laughter and yarn spinning ceases at the sound of a weak rattle in Wait’s bunk… You can listen online to free English audiobook “The Nigger of the Narcissus” by Joseph Conrad on our website.
