Abstract
Over more than fifty years of its existence, and particularly since the 1990s, the genre of Neo-Victorian fiction has gained in popularity, readership, status and prestige not only in Britain but worldwide. Its definition and delineation, however, have undergone certain evolution over the past three decades which, understandably, has included a number of substantial metamorphoses.
Ian McGuire's novel, The North Water (2016), is set in Victorian England and tells a story of a fraudulent whaling expedition to the Arctic Circle. Although in its portrayal of a moral conflict between good and evil, or more precisely, between fallible responsibility and ultimate selfishness, The North Water follows the Conradian tradition rather than that of a conventional mainstream Victorian narrative, this article argues that the novel in fact represents a distinct example of Neo-Victorian fiction which complies with the more recent development of this genre.