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Nostromo (Oxford World's Classics)

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Conrad is my favorite 20th century author, so I am biased. The reviewer who compared him to Tolstoy was on the money. Both lived lives that gave them fodder for their fiction; Tolstoy as a soldier in the Crimean war, an aristocrat facing the turbulence of the political and social upheavals of fin-de-siecle Russia, and Conrad as a mariner and a Polish transplant who carved out a language and a career for himself in England. Nostromo contains some of the most vividly realized characterization, plot, and sensory detail of any novel ever written in the English language, period. Do not pay any attention to a customer whose review is based on listening to the audio tape version. It doesn't do the book justice and is indeed labored to the extreme. I would also hope that readers do not form their opinions from the BBC film. It is infinitely shallow by comparison to this rich work. While the "eponymous" character remains purposefully enigmatic, the other inhabitants of Costaguena are stereoscopically fleshed out. We are on intimate terms with the Goulds. We know Decoud's innermost thoughts. It's true that Decoud is the central character of this novel. His isolation and mental defragmentation is Conrad's arguement for and refuation of existentialism. We are all islands, yet no man is in island. Take your pick. This is a very large piece of fiction. Do not approch it as you would some best seller. It's not going to entertain you on every page. What it will do is reward you in riches that can never come cheaply. Yet it is not like Finnegan's Wake, where you have to have your Boedekker's guide to see you along your journey. It's also a great adventure story, with a larger than life hero. If I could suggest one book to represent the most finely crafted novel of its era, this would be it.

Often regarded as Conrad's masterwork, Nostromo is also Conrad's darkest novel, filled with betrayals at all levels and offering little hope for man's redemption. A novel of huge scope and political intrigue, it is also a novel in which no character actually wins. All must accept the ironies which fate has dealt them. Setting the novel in the imaginary South American country of Costaguana, the story centers around a silver mine in the mountains outside of the capital, Sulaco, vividly depicting its allure and the price each character pays for its success.

When Charles Gould, returns from England to claim and reopen the rich silver mine he has inherited from his father, he has good intentions-- to provide jobs for the peasants and contribute to the economy of the town at the same time that he also profits. Soon, however, he becomes obsessed with wealth and power, and as the political climate gets hotter, he must pay off government officials, bandits, the church, and various armed revolutionaries to be able to work. Each of these groups is vividly depicted as working for its own ends and not for the good of the people, and with their goals focused on the real world, these characters have no self-awareness, nor do they develop it during the novel.

In contrast to these "unrealized" humans, Conrad presents several characters who develop some self-awareness through their experiences. Nostromo, a local legend, is a man of principle who has always kept his word. Martin Decoud, a newspaper man, is a nihilist who has editorialized against the revolution, though he has yet to test himself. Dr. Monygham, captured during a past revolution, broke under torture, and is now seeking absolution by fighting against this revolution. And the good and long-suffering wife of Charles Gould, Dona Emilia, who has lost her husband to his silver mine, now devotes her life to helping others.

When Nostromo agrees to protect a load of silver from revolutionaries by taking it out to sea, he takes Decoud with him, leaving him on an island with the silver when they almost sink. Decoud's reaction to his isolation, and Nostromo's reaction to the treasure that is suddenly "his," provide a dark commentary on idealism and human nature. In the conclusion, which includes a love story that feels tacked on, Conrad's darkest self is revealed, offering little hope of change and even less hope for man's redemption. Rich in atmosphere, vibrant in description, filled with characters representing all walks of life and philosophy, and set in a country where revolution is a way of life, the novel is full of dark portents and bleak political outcomes. Mary Whipple

For the first 150 or so pages of Nostromo, there were several times when I almost quit. The amount of detail about the political and social organization of Conrad's imaginary country was so dry and technical that I felt like I was reading an encyclopedia. But, the strangest thing happened on about page 151. . . I started to get into the book! Then, I couldn't stop. In retrospect, I believe that the exposition at the beginning of the novel could have been dispersed throughout the narrative, rather than shoving it down the reader's mouth at the beginning.

Nevertheless, Nostromo is a stunning and extremely pessimistic examination of the "heart of darkness" within all humans. Virtually all the characters are driven by self-interest and greed, and even our "hero" (Nostromo), is at times bestial and self-involved. But, I still loved this book! Joseph Conrad is like the literary equivalent of Paul Verhoeven- an extremely bitter artist whose dark view of the world serves to shed light on the audience. I know it sounds strange, but I mean exactly what I say.

Joseph Conrad is one of the most effortlessly cosmopolitan writers in the English language, and "Nostromo" finds him in a fictitious South American country called Costaguana whose mountains are a bountiful resource of silver. And Conrad is probably the only writer who can transform his novel's hero from an all-around tough guy to a heroic savior to a sneaky thief to a tragic victim of mistaken identity through plausible twists of fate without ever letting the story fall into disarray.

The main action of the novel takes place towards the end of the nineteenth century in a town called Sulaco, which is the base of operations for the San Tome silver mine up in the nearby mountains. The administrator of the mine is an Englishman named Charles Gould, whose primary challenge is to find American and European speculators to invest money to keep the mine in business. The other problem he faces is a civil war between the present government and a faction of rebels led by a general named Montero. Gould's wife Emilia is a prominent figure in town, an elegant matron with a philanthropic attitude towards the downtrodden native mine workers and townspeople.

The hero, Nostromo, is an Italian sailor who settled in Costaguana for more lucrative work and is now in charge of keeping the dockworkers -- the "cargadores" -- in line. When Montero's troops invade Sulaco, Nostromo and Martin Decoud, an aristocratic Frenchman who runs Sulaco's newspaper, escape on a boat with the town's silver treasury to protect it from the marauders. Their boat is sideswiped and damaged by a ship commanded by a rebel colonel named Sotillo, and they are forced to moor on a nearby island and bury the treasure there. This island is the future site of a lighthouse to be maintained by the Violas, an Italian family whose patriarch, Giorgio, once supported Garibaldi and still reveres the man like a deity. There is obviously much more to the plot, too much to reveal in this review, and there are many additional important characters, but these are best left for the potential reader to discover.

Narratively, Conrad keeps the story moving with plenty of action and suspense combined with the typical excellence of his prose. Structurally, though, is how Conrad's novel intrigues its reader: He frequently shifts viewpoints, in both place and time, to give the effect of different perspectives of both the immediate events and the long-term history of Sulaco. Contemporary reviewers of the novel apparently saw this technique as an artistic flaw; in retrospect, it seems well ahead of its time.

Thematically, the novel presents a debate about the benefits and problems of imperialism and colonization, using Costaguano as a model colony and the Gould Concession as model imperialists. When Sotillo accuses foreigners of robbing his country of its wealth, Gould suggests to him that a country's resources (i.e., Costaguana's silver) can be used as an asset only from the cooperation of the native workers and the capital and technical knowledge of the colonists. Such a concept seems relevant to global economic development throughout the twentieth century.

Nostromo is simultaneously a great political novel and a great psychological novel. A large part of Conrad's achievement is his fusion of these 2 elements into one seamless narrative. Nostromo describes the penetration of a Latin American country by European/North American capitalism and the ensuing revolution. All the characters in Nostromo are engaged in the intensely political acts carrying the plot forward. Conrad based his narrative on a considerable amount of research on contemporary Latin America and the articulation of the plot elements is elegantly realistic and gripping. The psychological elements concern characters' motivations for their acts. A recurrent ironic theme is that important characters are driven to act by motivations that have nothing to do with political objectives or economic gain per se. Unlike most of his other novels which offer a psychological portrait primarily of a single character, Nostromo features several characters whose motivations and actions are explored by Conrad. The focus shifts from character to character is a way that consistently advances the plot, a brilliant piece of formal construction. Finally, Nostromo features some of Conrad's best descriptive writing. Because of the complexity of the plot and characterization, Nostromo is not the easiest of Conrad's novels to read. Nostromo is ultimately well worth the effort expended.

The crisis in Somalia, the genocide in Rwanda, why do so many well-intentioned development assistance efforts fail so miserably? As America has been drawn in yet another asymmetric conflict with a collapsed state and Western governments are already discussing ways to implement democracy in order to prevent the conflict from escalating Conrad's timeless tale of idealism and greed suggests that changing the world is an almost impossible task. Many articulate magazine articles or specialized books have attempted to explain how a series favorable trade, free markets and respect for human rights can result in long term positive change. Yet, despite the abundance of information we're still left wondering; logical arguments and historical accounts have proved insufficient in satisfying the need to understand why the development process is so complicated. Although written in 1904, Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard represents Conrad's ultimate opinion of the world. It's a long book, 465 pages in the Penguin Classic edition, but it's rich in observations on human nature as well as Conrad's typical lively landscape descriptions. In the former regard, Nostromo is superior to Conrad's more famous novel Heart of Darkness as he tells the story of very believable characters that are familiar to most readers.

Nostromo is one of Conrad's best characters, a man with a dangerous singleness of intention and of dashing good looks. Unfortunately, he does not appear regulraly in the story line until the last 120 pages. Much time is given to explaining the politics of Costaguana, a fictional South American country. I understand that revolution and corruption is essential to the plot of this novel, but I think Joseph went a little overboard. He has such a talent for characterization, and he focuses so much in this novel on history and confusing minor figures.

That said, when Nostromo does appear in the book, he steals the show. As one character puts it, he has "a particular talent for being on the spot whenever there is something picturesque to be done." A dying woman says to him, "(You are) always thinking of yourself and taking your pay out in fine words from those who care nothing for you." Indeed, Nostromo's main purpose in life is to have a reputation as a hero, to be well-thought of and well-known. Other characters shine in this book as well, such as Decoud, a "man with no faith in anything except his own sensations," and the doctor, with his "misanthropic mistrust of humanity." Charles Gould is an intriguing figure who confuses his materialism with idealism. His wife is uncorruptible. Outstanding, compelling characters who are engaged in a plan to protect silver from revolutionary thugs.

This has all the great ideas Conrad explores in other novels, such as the corruption of ideals, moral ambiguity, intellectual farce, the fleeting nature of purpose and order, and the absurdity of blind faith. He is contemplating the "immense indifference of things," the imperfection of men's motives. It's worth the effort to get to the heart of this story, especially if you are a Conrad fan. If you're unfamilar with his work, I'd recommend starting out with something else.

Another famous classic by Joseph Conrad, "Nostromo" was written a century ago and is still interesting today as a comment about Latin America and foreign involvement.

Conrad's tale is set in the harbor town of Sulaco in Costaguana, an imagined place in an imagined country somewhere in South America, plagued by revolutions and greed. Alongside the larger group of natives and other people of color or lower class there is a small core group of Europeans, among those the Goulds. In spite of being third generation South American Charles Gould still goes to England to find a wife. Later when he decides to develop the silver mine he inherits from his father he goes to the United States to find a rich investor. The silver mine becomes a huge success, only to become the target of political revolutionaries, and the story really begins when there is an attempted coup and takeover of the silver mine. Much attention is given to inner conflicts and tough moral choices that individuals are forced to.

Detailed descriptions of both characters and settings makes this novel quite a dense reading experience, particularly the first section which contains very little dialogue and reads like a documentary. Only the final section of the novel seemed deserving of the title Nostromo, part one is about Costaguana, part two the Revolution and only in part three does the reader finally become fully acquainted with Gian' Battista, or Nostromo as he is named by the upper class of Sulaco.

I am in the midst of reading, or re-reading, the major seven or eight works of Joseph Conrad. I have not previously reviewed any of them because of a general reticence as regards the "canon" of Western literature. But I am departing from that practice for NOSTROMO, which I just finished reading for the second time in my life, because I don't believe it is fully appreciated for what it is -- truly, one of the great novels of English, indeed Western, literature (not that my weighing in on the matter is likely to change things).

The setting of the novel -- the South American republic of Costaguana -- is a staggering achievement of imagination and research. Conrad's maritime novels were based on years of personal experience, but his experience of South America was limited to only three or four days at two ports in Venezuela. The scope of NOSTROMO is epic; it is a large canvas indeed. An apt comparison in literature might be Tolstoy's "War and Peace". But NOSTROMO also has characteristics of Dostoevsky, especially the acute psychology and the general existential pessimism. The writing is superb, at times almost poetic, probably Conrad's best sustained effort. (Yet, curiously, Ford Madox Ford contributed one or more passages when Conrad could not keep pace with the demands imposed by serialization, the form by which the novel was first published.)

The narrative proceeds through continuous shiftings in perspective, both in time and by character. Although Conrad's handling of these shifts is masterly, it is primarily that feature, I think, that can make reading NOSTROMO somewhat hard going, as many other reviewers have noted. Also contributing to its relative density is that there is no central character (despite the fact that the name in the title, "Nostromo", is also the popular name of the supposedly "incorruptible" Italian captain of the stevedores of the port of Sulaco) and no principal one or two themes.

Instead, a number of subjects, themes, or ideas are raised and explored, among them: politics, capitalism, colonialism, revolution, fatalism vs. idealism, the relationship of the individual to the world, the problems for one who derives his value in life from material things and the problems for one who instead derives his value in life from his reputation or the esteem and admiration of others, and, finally, the corruptive effect of silver.

Contrary to many, I don't believe a single, comprehensive "interpretation" of NOSTROMO -- or more broadly, for that matter, of Conrad -- is possible. In NOSTROMO and Conrad's other great novels (particularly "Lord Jim" and "Heart of Darkness") Conrad struggles to limn an elusive and ultimately illusory truth. Now Conrad knows that truth is elusive and illusory, but he keeps trying to hone in on it, from a number of different angles. Each effort, each investigation, might come close to at least part of the truth (analogous to a Cubist painting?), but cumulatively those efforts and investigations do not coalesce to form a cogent, rational rendering of truth -- even less so than does a Cubist painting; more like the most impressionistic seascape of Turner. As Marlow comments to his audience in "Lord Jim" about the "visions of remote unattainable truth": "I have that feeling about me now; perhaps it is that feeling which had incited me to tell you the story, to try to hand over to you, as it were, its very existence, its reality--the truth disclosed in a moment of illusion." Further, Conrad knows that even this impressionistic illusory truth is personal; it differs from person to person. From NOSTROMO: "In the most skeptical heart there lurks at such moments * * * a desire to leave a correct impression of the feelings, like a light by which the action may be seen when personality is gone, gone where no light of investigation can ever reach the truth which every death takes out of the world."

"Heart of Darkness" is justly admired, a century later, for being so prophetic about the horrors of the Twentieth Century. In many respects, NOSTROMO is equally prophetic of the century. One example can be found in the words of Holroyd, the rich American financier from San Francisco before committing to furnish the capital for the development of the San Tome silver mine: "Now, what is Costaguana? It is the bottomless pit of ten-per-cent loans and other fool investments. European capital had been flung into it with both hands for years. Not ours, though. We in this country [the United States] know just about enough to keep indoors when it rains. We can sit and watch. Of course, some day we shall step in. * * * But there's no hurry. Time itself has got to wait on the greatest country in the whole of God's Universe. We shall be giving the word for everything; industry, trade, law, journalism, art, politics, and religion, from Cape Horn clear over to Smith's Sound, and beyond, too, if anything worthy taking hold of turns up at the north Pole. And then we shall have the leisure to take in hand the outlying islands and continents of the earth. We shall run the world's business whether the world likes it or not. The world can't help it -- and neither can we, I guess." That was written in 1904.

For me, NOSTROMO is Conrad's greatest novel. And, again, it is one of the true classics in all of literature.

Nostromo reminds me a great deal of "War and Peace" in its gravity and masterful omnipotence. Tolstoy's great masterpiece is a macrocosm - a sweeping epic of a great nation that seeks nothing less than to explain the meaning of life; whereas Conrad's vision is a microcosm - a penetrating view into man's core motivations against the backdrop of a nascent, minor republic founded on dubious colonialist premises. The eponymous hero of Nostromo is a throwback to ages dead and lamented when vain men of action, uncomplicated by moral scruples, were heralded; when "courage was taken for granted" and scheming to the beneficent ends of the clan was prized. The setting is a fictional South American country called Costaguana, well over a century ago, when revolutions, occurring on an Olympic timetable, were occasioned on the most whimsical of pretexts - the ruffled vanity of the latest strongman or generalissimo; the cupidity of a foreign colonial power; a pronunciamiento of the latest rabble rouser. The storyline is one of intrigue and adventure, with a stunning plausibility and remarkable efficiency. Everything hinges on the success of a silver mine owned and operated by a native son of Costaguana of English ancestry named Charles Gould. The circumstances of the mine's concession to his family caused the demise and eventual death of his father. Its success thus bears a mystical significance to Gould and into this vortex is swept all other considerations - his wife, wealth, politics, responsibility to the workers of the mine, etc.... The mine and its wealth become the cornerstone of the republic and invite foreign involvement. Conrad develops fully a whole slew of supporting cast members whose interests, hopes, and dreams are tied to the mine and the turbulent republic. Typically, the characters are introduced and developed sequentially much like the way that Heller does in "Catch-22", yet there is such a timely fluency to these sketches in Nostromo that you don't notice a break in the narrative. Conrad's genius in this novel lies in his astounding ability to portray real characters, place them in momentous situations, and analyze their motivations. I have read nothing else that comes close to rivaling his ability to do this. One aspect that should not go unmentioned is the novel's theme of forgetfulness. Who remembers the stories of the untold millions who suffered in the republicanization of Latin America, or the myriad heroes and villains that brought it about? In Nostromo, a Jefferson-like figure writes down a history of Costaguana titled "50 Years of Misrule." The project is ill-fated and never makes it to publication, and the recounting of Costaguana's mass suffering, by the one man who was in any position to tell it, is lost to posterity.