Nostromo

Rating:
Summary: About people's romanticism through Nostromo
Review: Nostromo knows he is as an example of nobility and selflessness for the people of Sulaco. When opinions look like beginning to change he feels betrayed. He tries to find some other purpose, and it is the silver. He successfully upholds his image though, but not before the silver has taken hold. He is caught between the materialism of Gould and the idealism of Decoud. This is why Nostromo is the main character of the novel, because everyone else acts to showing different parts of Nostromo in more exagarrated form.

Rating:
Summary: "Costaguana will always be run by butchers and tyrants."
Review: 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

Rating:
Summary: stick to Lord Jim or Secret Agent
Review: Revolution in the Republic of Costaguana threatens a silver shipment from the Gould mines, but the heroic Nostromo agrees to bury the silver so that it won't be found. But the corruptive power of the silver is too much for even the previously trustworthy Nostromo in Conrad's pessimistic tale of Central American colonialism.

Now I love Heart of Darkness (read Orrin's review), my beloved Grandfather gave me Lord Jim (read Orrin's review) when I was a kid and I was even pleasantly surprised by The Secret Agent (read Orrin's review), but I have never been able to get in to Nostromo, despite numerous attempts. I get the whole metaphor deal, the silver represents all of the wealth that colonists have torn out of the Third World and Nostromo ("our man") is corrupted by this shipments, just as the West has been corrupted by Imperialism. Yeah, yeah, yeah... I guess the first problem is that I think that's a crock of hooey and colonialism was the best thing that ever happened to these places, but I also really just find the novel to be lifeless.

I believe that both David Lean and John Huston died while trying to adapt the story for the movies, perhaps one of these masters could have sold me on the story. As is, I just didn't like it.

GRADE: D+

Rating:
Summary: Another one of Conrad's "un-reconcilable" masterpiece
Review: Revolution is a fertile ground for nascent ideologies, and neology is perhaps the richest algar on which emerging heroes feed upon. Costaguena is a territory existing only in the unparalleled imagination of Conrad, whose mind was perpetually stimulated by an abstract, unknown, and merely projected world. Nostromo is his instrument of oscillation; ultimately a pendulum caught in the momentum of change, he falls into the precipice that separates the glory of selfhood and the danger of vanity.

From the beginning, Conrad sheds equally heavy recognition on a string of characters. Charles Gould an European capitalist trapped in his father's tragic political enmeshment, Decoud an uprooted native who dies proving his credential, and Antonio Avellanos an audacious aristocrat who carries the torch of her generation are have the protagonist make-up. But following the Greek formula, Nostromo is the true hero who fumbles into falsity because of his one défaut: hubris. The enormous vanity develops into his temptress, and in a way, Nostromo makes the conscious choice to let his incorruptible pride corrupts his morale.

The fatality of Nostromo, very much like many of Conrad's protagonists, marks the inability of men, in the utmost bleakness of mental solitude, to reconcile to the goodness of nature.

Rating:
Summary: A classic tale of love, war, and greed/
Review: Set in the fictional South American country of Sulaco, Nostromo is, on the surface, the story of a revolution and counterrevolution. Deeper, it is a dark novel of descent of one man from hero to thief and the destructive influence of excess of personality. Each personality is a contrast to every other, providing the sort of rich cast of characters that marks the greatest of novels. Certainly, this is one of Conrad's finest and a triumph of 20th century fiction.

Rating:
Summary: nostromo, joseph conrad
Review: The book is said to be "pessimistic". Why? For one the subject matter indicts capitalism, imperialism, materialism, merchantalism, any and all "isms" possible. But on the other hand, the author misses the opportunity to set straight the issues raised by Europeans in a foreign south american country operating a silver mine, employing local indians, and profiting greatly. The key character, Nostromo, is in all ways compromised by silver and its promise of wealth for the rest of his life. Leaving human nature aside and its frailities, Europeans made possible the development of the mine. Wealth was created in the employment of locals paid in local wages. The exploitation issues arguably causing a revolution misses the point. The revolution occured because of the lack of democracy and political will. The most basic point however is this. Wealth and its accumulation as argued by the Enlightenment philosphers of the 18th is not a bad thing. It is to be applauded as the engine and reward for creativity. It is curious how so many authors of the 29th century convolute the benefits of freedom and capitalism. Everyone should prepare for this novel by reading Adam Smith.

Rating:
Summary: nostromo, joseph conrad
Review: The book is said to be "pessimistic". Why? For one the subject matter indicts capitalism, imperialism, materialism, merchantalism, any and all "isms" possible. But on the other hand, the author misses the opportunity to set straight the issues raised by Europeans in a foreign south american country operating a silver mine, employing local indians, and profiting greatly. The key character, Nostromo, is in all ways compromised by silver and its promise of wealth for the rest of his life. Leaving human nature aside and its frailities, Europeans made possible the development of the mine. Wealth was created in the employment of locals paid in local wages. The exploitation issues arguably causing a revolution misses the point. The revolution occured because of the lack of democracy and political will. The most basic point however is this. Wealth and its accumulation as argued by the Enlightenment philosphers of the 18th is not a bad thing. It is to be applauded as the engine and reward for creativity. It is curious how so many authors of the 29th century convolute the benefits of freedom and capitalism. Everyone should prepare for this novel by reading Adam Smith.

Rating:
Summary: nostromo, joseph conrad
Review: The book is said to be "pessimistic". Why? For one the subject matter indicts capitalism, imperialism, materialism, merchantalism, any and all "isms" possible. But on the other hand, the author misses the opportunity to set straight the issues raised by Europeans in a foreign south american country operating a silver mine, employing local indians, and profiting greatly. The key character, Nostromo, is in all ways compromised by silver and its promise of wealth for the rest of his life. Leaving human nature aside and its frailities, Europeans made possible the development of the mine. Wealth was created in the employment of locals paid in local wages. The exploitation issues arguably causing a revolution misses the point. The revolution occured because of the lack of democracy and political will. The most basic point however is this. Wealth and its accumulation as argued by the Enlightenment philosphers of the 18th is not a bad thing. It is to be applauded as the engine and reward for creativity. It is curious how so many authors of the 29th century convolute the benefits of freedom and capitalism. Everyone should prepare for this novel by reading Adam Smith.

Rating:
Summary: The world hasn't changed
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: tragedy becomes comedy
Review: There is a point in Nostromo where everything has gone so terribly wrong for everyone that you stop feeling sorry for them. This is not a bad thing. This novel is a lesson of when tragedy becomes pathetic and you find yourself laughing at the situations of someone even worse off than yourself.

This is a bleak and bitter story of corruption and revolutionaries and the greed and self-interest involved in creating society. Conrad here displays the sorrow of what happens when people of differing faiths (religious, political, social and intellectual) fall out of touch and stop believing in anything. Here's what happens when greed devours itself and there is nothing left to strive for beyond complete self-obsession.

Another one of the 'greatest books I've ever read' . . .