Joseph Conrad

The work, written in 1896 and partly based on Conrad's experiences of a voyage from Bombay to London, began as a short story but developed into a novella of some 53,000 words. As it grew, Conrad began to think of its being serialized. After Smith Elder had rejected it for the Cornhill Magazine, William Ernest Henley accepted it for the New Review, and Conrad wrote to his agent, Garnett, "Now I have conquered Henley, I ain't 'fraid o' the divvle himself " Some years later, in 1904, Conrad described this acceptance as "the first event in my writing life which really counted". In the United States, the novel was first published under the title The Children of the Sea: A Tale of the Forecastle, at the insistence by the publisher, Dodd, Mead and Company, that no one would buy or read a book with the word "nigger" in its title, 4] not because the word was deemed offensive, but because a book about a black man would not sell. In 2009, WordBridge Publishing published a new edition titled The N-Word of the Narcissus, which completely excised the word "nigger" from the text. According to the publishers, the offensive word may have led readers to avoid the book, and thus by getting rid of it the work was made more accessible. Although praised by some, others denounced the change as censorship

Jim (his surname is never disclosed), a young British seaman, becomes first mate on the Patna, a ship full of pilgrims travelling to Mecca for the hajj. When the ship starts rapidly taking on water and disaster seems imminent, Jim joins his captain and other crew members in abandoning the ship and its passengers. A few days later, they are picked up by a British ship. However, the Patna and its passengers are later also saved, and the reprehensible actions of the crew are exposed. The other participants evade the judicial court of inquiry, leaving Jim to the court alone. The court strips him of his navigation command certificate for his dereliction of duty. Jim is angry with himself, both for his moment of weakness, and for missing an opportunity to be a 'hero'. At the trial, he meets Charles Marlow, a sea captain, who in spite of his initial misgivings over what he sees as Jim's moral unsoundness, comes to befriend him, for he is "one of us". Marlow later finds Jim work as a ship chandler's clerk. Jim tries to remain incognito, but whenever the opprobrium of the Patna incident catches up with him, he abandons his place and moves further east. Later, Marlow's friend Stein suggests placing Jim as his factor in Patusan, a remote inland settlement with a mixed Malay and Bugis population, where Jim's past can remain hidden. While living on the island he acquires the title 'Tuan' ('Lord'). 1] Here, Jim wins the respect of the people and becomes their leader by relieving them from the predations of the bandit Sherif Ali and protecting them from the corrupt local Malay chief, Rajah Tunku Allang. Jim wins the love of Jewel, a woman of mixed race, and is "satisfied... nearly". The end comes a few years later, when the town is attacked by the marauder "Gentleman" Brown. Although Brown and his gang are driven off, Dain Waris, the son of the leader of the Bugis community, is slain. Jim returns to Doramin, the Bugis leader, and willingly takes a fatal bullet in the chest from him as retribution for the death of his son. Marlow is also the narrator of three of Conrad's other works: Heart of Darkness, Youth, and Chance.

Much of the novel is a commentary on imperialism and gender roles, and is not plot driven. Most of the book takes place on Captain Tom Lingard's brig, Lightning or on other boats at sea around Malaysia, near the Indian Ocean. At the beginning of the novel, Lingard and his crew are traveling to the Malay Archipelago to help a friend take back his land in a fight amongst two Malay tribes. While in the waters his crew hears a loud sound, then sees the water foaming. A few moments later they see a small boat, and then hear a man, Mr. Carter, call out to them and asks to be allowed on board Lingard's brig. Carter passes on a letter, which somewhat explains where a yacht is stranded and begs for assistance. Although Lingard is not heading that way, and he does not know the exact location of the yacht, he agrees to help, and the spend the next chapter looking for the stranded yacht. Once they find it, Lingard and his first mate, Shaw have a discussion, "'This is the entrance to the place where we are going, ' he said. Shaw stared, round-eyed. 'I thought you came here on account of this here yacht, ' he stammered, surprised. 'Ah. The yacht, ' said Lingard, musingly, keeping his eyes on the break in the coast. 'The yacht-' He stamped his foot suddenly. 'I would give all I am worth and throw in a few days of life into the bargain if I could get her off and away before to-night'". Here, readers are shown that Lingard was not completely honest with Carter, the yacht just happened to be in the same place that Lingard was already headed to and Lingard really had no intentions of finding the stranded yacht. Now, Lingard is at The Shore of Refuge, but has yet to go on to the yacht, although he can make out figures on the yacht, two men and a woman. On the shore, readers are introduced to Hassim and Immada, two Wajo natives, who have been waiting for Lingard's arrrival. The text now reverts to the past, and readers are shown how Hassim and Lingard met: Hassim watched Lingard as he went on land to refill his water, when the Papuan (leader of the Malay tribe) threw a spear towards Lingard, to which Lingard's men retaliated, starting a fight between the natives and Lingard's men. Once the natives were dead, Lingard went back to his brig, and then later met with Hassim, the leader of the Waja traders. Hassim and two others came on board Lingard's brig. They talk, mostly about Lingard's home country, and before the Wajo leave, Hassim asks Lingard to visit him in his country. Next readers are shown Lingard's reflection of that story, showing the importance that Hassim has in Lingard's life. This is a transition back to the present, with Lingard traveling to visit the Wajo tribe. With another storm about break, Lingard stays on board his brig, but another man from the Wajo tribe, Jaffir, comes aboard his vessel to warn Lingard of the civil war that played out between the Malay tribes. The next chapter begins by framing the narrative as a history, "A traveller visiting Wajo to-day man, if he deserves the confidence of the common people, hear the traditional account of the last civil war, together with the legend of a chief and his sister...". The remainder of the chapter is Lingard's account of that civil war. Readers are thrown back to Lingard being on the stranded yacht, where he meets Mrs. Travers, who will become his love interest, and the men Mr. Travers and Mr. D'Alcacer. Mr. Travers openly objects to Lingard being on the yacht. D'Alcacer and Mrs. Travers have taken a liking to him. Mr. Travers and Lingard argue. Lingard's Wago friends Hassim and Immada come on board the yacht and point out that Lingard left them waiting on the shore. Lingard recognizes Mrs. Travers as a woman during a discussion between the Wajo's and the other yacht members. Immada is scrutinized both because of her gender and race; Mrs. Travers sees her quite differently than British girls, even asking "How does she live?". Lingard tells them that she

The stories in this Norton Critical Edition maintain the connection and sequencing that Joseph Conrad saw among them. They are accompanied by explanatory annotations, a note on the texts and a preface. Also included are documents related to Conrad’s sources for the stories. To help readers navigate, the editor includes a glossary of nautical terms as well as diagrams of the kinds of ships that appear in the stories.