Joseph Conrad's multilayered masterpiece tells of one nation's violent revolution and one hero's moral degeneration. Conrad convincingly invents an entire country, Costaguana, and sets it afire as warlords compete for power and a fortune in silver.
Señor Gould, adamant that his silver should not become spoil for his enemies, entrusts it to his faithful longshoreman, Nostromo, a local hero of sorts whom Señor Gould believes to be incorruptible. Nostromo accepts the mission as an opportunity to increase his own fame. But when his exploit fails to win him the rewards he had hoped for, he is consumed by a corrupting resentment.
Nostromo ambitiously brings to life an era of Latin American history while simultaneously describing the politics of any underdeveloped country. For this reason, it is permanently relevant, both as literature and as a brilliant social study.
Joseph Conrad (Józef Teodor Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski) (1857-1924) was born in the Ukraine. He was raised by an uncle after his parents, ardent Polish patriots, died following their exile for anti-Russian activities. As a boy he educated himself by reading widely in Polish and French. At 21 he began serving on French merchant vessels, and for twenty years, he sailed the seven seas. He went to London for a rest and began writing. The romance and adventure of Conrad's own life form the basis for his incomparable sea novels. Today Conrad is generally regarded as one of the greatest writers of fiction in English, his third language. He once described his task as "by the power of the written word . . . to make you see."
