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Title: Nostromo
Author: Joseph Conrad
Narrator: David McCallion
Format: Unabridged
Length: 17 hrs and 24 mins
Language: English
Release date: 07-19-17
Publisher: A.R.N. Publications
Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 13 votes
Genres: Classics, British Literature
Publisher's Summary:
Nostromo is a colorful and adventurous tale set in the fictional South American country of Costaguana. In the midst of a revolution, the citizens of Costaguana live under a brutal dictatorship of Ribiera, a ruthless leader kept in power through foreigners and their dark money.
The oligarch government has become so corrupt that the citizens of Costaguana have had enough. In fear of losing his wealth, Charles Gould, the leader of a wealthy family, asks Nostromo for help in getting his vast silver fortune out of the city. Their plan goes awry, and Nostromo claims the fortune was lost at sea.
Originally published in 1904, Nostromo is considered to be Joseph Conrad's finest work for its many classic themes, including honor, duty, and the eternal war between good and evil. Although published at the beginning of the 20th century, the theme of this novel closely aligns with what many nations face in the modern world.
Members Reviews:
even DJ even fine shape, what I would expect on a table ...
As described: new, not a dent or scratch on it, even DJ even fine shape, what I would expect on a table in a bookshop
Who has the silver? Or: the somber imbecilities of political fanatism
`Nostromo' was one of Conrad's most political and least personal stories. It is probably not one of his best, but it offers a lot of issues for discussion and disagreement.
JC's first hand experience in South and Central America was limited and dated. Therefore he had to build on knowledge acquired from books. He used travel reports and memories of independence wars and dictatorships and revolutions. I am by no means an expert on South American history, but from what I remember of Latino writers like Garcia Marques or Asturias, Conrad sounds fairly authentic in a generic way. (I would be interested in differing opinions here.)
His political world in the international dimension was firmly based on 3 antis: anti- Russian, -German and -American. While the first two are natural for a Pole of the time and not so relevant for this novel (but very much for some of his others), his anti-American stance is of a less automatic nature and needs a closer look.
Conrad's basic stance was pro-capitalist. He sided with the innovator, the risk taker, the builder, the entrepreneur, as opposed to the profiteer. He also had a sympathetic regard for the working man, but was not free of condescension.
He was not free of racial prejudices of the time either. There is a Jewish trader in the story who could have jumped out of a Stuermer article a few decades later. His `good guys', the Blancos, don't just have this name as a party colour, it has a racial meaning as well.
The bad guys happen to be mostly the Indio military and politicians and the `friends of blacks' ie the liberated former black slaves.
JC's travels exposed him to colonialism of different varieties. He saw mainly the more established English and Dutch versions, which he treated with critical irony, but without heavy polemics. He met and hated the newcomers from Belgium in Heart of Darkness. At the time of JC's writing, the US was just about to assert itself. JC disliked what he saw. He was a conservative man. The Americans upset things: Panama, Cuba, Philippines...
The story is set in a fictional country in Latin America: Costaguana and its occidental province Sulaco.
