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Avg. Rating: 4.5
accelerating to disappointment
Joseph Conrad is one of my favourite writers - so often his philosophies, his points of view become my own. Why is it then that this novel was such hard going for me? I have just finished the novel - I had tried at least twice previously and failed to get to the end - an unusual occurrence for me. Perhaps, because it was Conrad I wouldn't go on as I lost concentration, failed to have any sense of direction. Perhaps I had to put it aside to attack it again with renewed vigour at a later time. Another author I might have put aside altogether.
Certainly the start of 'Nostromo' is very slow - and for much of it - where is Nostromo; that man with so many names? Perhaps the languid mood of the story - despite the underlying threats - created the feeling Conrad wanted for this tropical colonial setting with all those immigrant peoples (again, I think - as I have noted before - Conrad misses the indigenous locals, almost as if they don't exist).
Gradually themes emerged for me - lines of thought that gave me a sense of direction. And Conrad is such a master at weaving these together - threads of time, threads of location, threads of the unfolding (and closing) of lives. But the novel is very bleak, with hardly a positive outcome anywhere. The best we see is dogged resolve. Can life be so bad? Can even the best of us be corrupted by a hoard of silver, so corrupted as to lose the greatest reward that was available? Conrad, does take the breath away with surprising but ever-so-logical sequences of events.
I'm glad I completed 'Nostromo' and suspect I will read it again - perhaps with outcomes already in mind, it may go better for me. But if I was to recommend a Conrad novel to a Conrad novice it wouldn't be 'Nostromo'.
other recommendations:
Joseph Conrad - 'Chance'
Joseph Conrad - 'Victory'
Joseph Conrad - 'Lord Jim'
Ivan Turgenev - 'Torrents of Spring'
Conrad's Microcosmic Epic
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 tide 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.
Some passages are so beautiful you'll read them two or three times.
Yes, it's a great story. But caveat emptor: it can be a dense read. However, the payoff is worth it. This is not a fast page-turner like Heart of Darkness. This one requires Time. Commitment.
Nostromo is the central protagnoist. He's a man above reproach, the can-do, go-to guy. And at the end, he betrays everyone, most of all himself. He sells out. Yet, it seems, he was always a sell-out. And therein lies the beauty and mystery of Conrad's Nostromo.
Nostromo = Nuestro (Our) + Man (Uomo)...and "our man" is also a symbolic metaphor for Labor. Below the surface, the entire story is a metaphor: the caring, giving female (charity), the materialist but heartless capitalist, etc. etc. The story and its metaphor illustrate the fight between Labor and Capitalism, Idealism and Charity etc. in the heated, childlike politics of Machismo Central&South America.
Some passages are so beautiful you'll read them two or three times. And other passages remind you that this was written 100 years ago. On balance: go for it, it requires some effort at times, and it's worth it.
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