Nigger of the Narcissus - Assignment Example

UNIT Introduction to Joseph Conrad An analysis of Joseph Conrad reveals that he was one of the most influential poetical writers in modern literature in the 1850’s. With no doubt his books have actually shaped modern literature works to fit into his class of intriguing tales and adventures. Most modern literature encompasses adventure tales as compared to romance as was noted in previous works before his time. Joseph Conrad inspired consequent writers such as; Scott Fitzgerald, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, D.H. Lawrence, Joseph Heller, Virginia Woolf and Albert Camus who were inspired by the artistic works from the book ‘Heart of Darkness’. Others in his modern literary movement included Francis Scott Fitzgerald, D.H. Lawrence, Earnest Hemingway, Graham Greene, Malcolm Lowry, Calvino, Joseph Heller, Hunter Thompson and J.M Coetzee. With no argument, Conrad can be referred to the ‘Father of Modern Literature’ as his works were heartfelt and they reflected events that had happened are greatly referenced to and they act as a guide to all poets who would want to venture into the field of modern literature (Modern British Novel, “Joseph Conrad Biography”). History of Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad was born on the third of December 1857 where his birth name was Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski. He was of Polish and French descent. As he was growing up, he learned English as a third language and that was when his name changed to Joseph Conrad. With his intrigue in writing, he turned out to be a fluent Polish English writer and master mariner (because he spent so much time in the sea) who had a great impact in modern English literature in the ages of 1850’s. His story writing skills were far much artistic and he expressed himself in a poetical manner. Some of the great books that Conrad wrote include; “Heart of Darkness” (1899), “The Secret Agent” (1907, “The Lagoon” (1896), “An Outcast of The Islands” (1896), “The Nigger of the ‘Narcissus’” (1897), “Youth” (1898), “Lord Jim” (1900), “Amy Foster” (1901), “The End of The Tether” (1902), “Typhoon”(1902), “Nostromo” (1904), “The Secret Sharer” (1909), “A set of Six” (1908), “The Duel” (1908), “Under Western Eyes” (1911) and “Victory” (1915). Since some of his books were inspired from sea life experiences. For example, “The Nigger of the ‘Narcissus’” (1897) describes the ship Narcissus that got knocked down in the harsh waters, “Lord Jim” (1900) was inspired from a sailor character out in the sea and the experiences the sailor faced, “Youth” (1902) and “Nostromo” (1904) (ReadBooksOnline, “Work(s) of Joseph Conrad”). Conrad’s best works included “The Secret Agent” and the short story “Heart of Darkness”. “The Secret Agent” was a book that ranked 46th on the list of The Greatest Books Of The 20th Century. The influence of Joseph Conrad on other writers and his subsequent movements Modernism is a representation of what has occurred or what will occur and it is based on pure truism. Joseph Conrad falls under the greatest period called the Modernist Period in English Literature. His works were based on a new way of writing that was filled with expression, passion, human dignity, independence, self confidence and responsibility, terrors in the sea and a twist of fiction. For example, some of the works written in this period included writings from the aftermath of the World War 1 in Europe. His works unknowingly influenced writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, D.H. Lawrence, Joseph Heller, Virginia Woolf and Albert Camus. “Heart of Darkness” inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald because he was an American author who specialized in novels, story writing and poet and his literary works were more of adaptive to modern literature. Some of the modernistic books Scott Fitzgerald wrote included, “The Side of Paradise”, “The Beautiful and Damned”, “The great Gatsby”. Conrad managed to influence the writers in a way that they emulated his works and they became a new generation of modern literature writers. Not only has Conrad had influence on European writers, African writers such as Ngugi wa Thiongo from Kenya was born during the modern literature period and he studied some of the works of Conrad. Thiongo’s books such as “A Grain of Wheat” and “Petals of Blood” are viewed as having a similar theme to Conrad’s “Under Western Eyes” and “Victory” (Sewlall, 2003). Lastly, Conrad was in the modern literary movement with other writers such as Francis Scott Fitzgerald, D.H. Lawrence, Earnest Hemingway, Graham Greene, Malcolm Lowry, Calvino, Joseph Heller, Hunter Thompson and J.M Coetzee all of whom were focused on writing more about fiction and expressing how they felt with regard to events that had happened in their lives. My opinion of Joseph Conrad and his influences Joseph Conrad was simply the best in his literal works. Books such as “Lord Jim” portray adventures in the sea. His works were creative and he engaged in descriptive writing because the new age of modern literature was all about coming up with a new style that was not subject to limitations. “It seems to me I am trying to tell you a dream-making a vain attempt, because no relation of a dream can convey the dream-sensation, that commingling of absurdity, surprise, and bewilderment in a tremor of struggling revolt, that notion of being captured by the incredible which is of the very essence of dreams......We live, as we dream-alone...” (Conrad, “Heart of Darkness”). Open minded he was and he clearly stated facts like they were. “I am afraid that if you want to go down into history you'll have to do something for it” (Conrad, “The Secret Agent”). “Heart of Darkness” inspired the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, D.H. Lawrence, Joseph Heller, Virginia Woolf and Albert Camus. F. Scott Fitzgerald ended up writing stories such as, The Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, The great Gatsby (The F.Scott Fitzgerald Society, “A Brief Life of Fitzgerald”). “The Side of Paradise” is quite forthcoming in the sense that it is more outspoken. The book talks about youths who attend school at Princeton and they are overwhelmed with the school party life. Fitzgerald seeks to be descriptive as Conrad was by describing situations in a manner of feel that someone actually existed at that time frame. “In self reproach and loneliness and disillusion he came to the entrance of the labyrinth…Another dawn flung itself across the river; a belated taxi hurried along the street, its lamps still shining like burning eyes in a face white from the night’s carouse. A melancholy siren sounded far down the river”. A critical review of the literary output of John Conrad “Heart of Darkness” was a classical piece of work in the 20th century. The novel outlined the experience of Conrad's command of a Congo River steamboat and the challenges they underwent at it. The book portrays historical text in the Congo River and it has also been evidenced that it contains racist wordings such as “unhappy savages" and "dusty niggers” (19, 21). “Lord Jim” is based on a sailor in the sea and it has two distinctive parts where Jim is subjected to humiliation after committing an offence and the second part is where Jim tried to move part his previous life. It review is based on the morality of Jim. It questions whether his actions were justifiable or not. Another review was whether Jim was a hero in the book. It questions Jim’s act of saving his life for another person. These are some of the questions that are posed when reviewing the book. “The Secret Agent” is a novel that is adventurous and filled with exciting literal text. Its plot is based on London back in the Victorian ages. It exhibits characters like Verloc, who had a superior called Vladimir, a Russian, who tried to engage him in terrorist attacks to bomb Greenwich. The book reminds the reader that at this time bombing was the greatest fear in London due to revolutions and attacks. The review is based on state security and terrorist attacks in Europe during the revolution ages. “The Lagoon” has a theme that teaches its readers that not all events can be controlled, for example death, love, betrayal and sadness. Conrad demonstrates betrayal and selfishness by the character Arsat who falls in love with Diamelen, who was a servant of the Rajah's wife, they escaped altogether and he later betrayed his brother by leaving him behind to be caught by Rajah’s men who were pursuing them. Sadness is portrayed when Diamelen passes on leaving Arsat with nothing. Conclusion and final analysis Conrad is one of the finest modern literature authors and no one can be compared to him. He started a legacy and after that, influenced a majority of authors to adopt the style that he had improvised. His books are a major inspiration. The book by Fletcher titled, “Joseph Conrad” seeks to portray and recount the life on Conrad in a detailed manner. The book also recounts on various other works of Conrad such as the, “Heart of Darkness”, “Lord Jim”, “The Nigger of Narcissus” only to mention a few. Life teachings in the books by Conrad can be depicted as epic. The book “The Lagoon” teaches us a moral lesson that there is more to life than just life. There is love, respect, and trust for each other. The same book portrays that fate is unpredictable even with blood lines; this is evidenced when Arsat does the unpredictable by abandoning his brother. This act as showcased by Conrad makes us believe that there are cases where brother hood can be betrayed for personal gains and in addition to that, being heartless is an attribute that sometimes humans do have. “Youth” is another book whose intention is to teach us about life experiences. In the book there is a character by the name Marlow who describes the sea experiences that he had. Marlow can be said to have engaged in sea works when he was still young and he managed to stick around until he was old enough. The analysis that can be drawn from here is that Marlow through the years learned a lot from his colleagues at sea. He managed to be independent and confident because life at sea was a one man show. These are the two aspects that the youth everywhere should emulate on and adopt. Bibliography Burningham, Nick. “Nigger of the Narcissus: a Tale of the Forecastle.” Boat-links.com. N.p., 1999. Web. 4 April. 2013. Conrad, Joseph. Secret Agent. United Kingdom: Methuen, 1907, September. Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. United Kingdom: Blackwood’s Magazine, 1899, February. Conrad, Joseph. Lord Jim. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1920. Conrad, Joseph. Lagoon. United Kingdom: The Cornhill Magazine, 1897. Conrad, Joseph. Youth. United Kingdom: Blackwood’s Magazine, 1902. Fletcher, C. Joseph Conrad: British Library writers' lives Writers' lives (The British Library).. United Kingdom: British Library, 1999. “Joseph Conrad Biography.” Modernism.research.yale.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 April. 2013. Sewlall, Harry. English in Africa. Writing from the Periphery: The Case of Ngugi and Conrad. Vol. 30 (1). South Africa: Institute for the Study of English in Africa, Rhodes University, 2003, May: 55-69. “Work(s) of Joseph Conrad.” ReadBooksOnline.net. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 April. 2013. Works cited Burningham, Nick. The Nigger of the Narcissus: a Tale of the Forecastle. 1999. Web. Retrieved from: http://www.boat-links.com/books/reviews/review028.html Conrad, Joseph. The Secret Agent. United Kingdom: Methuen & Co., 1907, September. Print. Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. United Kingdom: Blackwood’s Magazine, 1899, February. Print. Conrad, Joseph. Lord Jim. United Kingdom: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1900. Print. Conrad, Joseph. The Lagoon. United Kingdom: The Cornhill Magazine. 1896. Print Conrad, Joseph. Youth. United Kingdom: Blackwood’s Magazine, 1902. Fletcher, C. Joseph Conrad: British Library writers' lives Writers' lives (The British Library). United Kingdom: British Library, 1999. Print. Modern British Novel. Joseph Conrad Biography. Web. Retrieved from: http://modernism.research.yale.edu/modern_british_novel/authors/conrad/chronology.php ReadBooksOnline. Work(s) of Joseph Conrad. Web. Retrieved from: http://www.readbookonline.net/books/Conrad/30/ Sewlall, Harry. English in Africa. Writing from the Periphery: The Case of Ngugi and Conrad. Vol. 30 (1). South Africa: Institute for the Study of English in Africa, Rhodes University, 2003, May. 55-69. Print. Read More