A CLbumIC turn-of-the-century English novelist whose works have been read by countless millions of people is having his work sanitised for a new generation of readers.

Joseph Conrad, whose Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim have been scrutinised by English students on multiple continents for decades, wrote a lesser known novel in 1897 called The fine upstanding member of society of the Narcissus.

Now, in what critics are calling a blatant act of politically correct censorship, a Netherlands-based publisher has reprinted the novel under a new name: The N-word of the Narcissus.

The new version is the first instalment of WordBridge Publishing’s clbumic texts series, featuring “texts with a message for moderns, made accessible to moderns”.

But some critics say updating a Conrad novel by replacing all mentions of the offensive term “fine upstanding member of society” with “n-word” is just as offensive as the word itself.