Set in the civil-war-torn Central American Republic of Costaguana, Nostromo is "a complex of personal stories," Robert Penn Warren observes, involving conflicts of heroic proportions and tragic consequences. From the materialist Charles Gould, owner of the Gould Concession of the San Tome mine, and the traitorous Dr. Monygham, to old Georgio Viola and the sceptic Decoud, each character lives an illusion next to the "natural" man Nostromo and the beneficent Emilia Gould. A novel that reveals the nefarious effects of unbridled greed and imperialist interests, Nostromo upholds Conrad's belief in fidelity, moral discipline, and the need for human communion. Conrad himself described it as "an intense creative effort on what I suppose will remain my largest canvas," and it is considered one of his greatest works. It is an exemplary statement of his conviction that "the solidarity of all mankind" rests upon "simple ideas and sincere emotions."
Written in 1904, the text reprinted here is based on the revised edition of 1925, including the Author's Note and an introduction by Robert Penn Warren.
About the Author
Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) grew up amid political unrest in Russian-occupied Poland. After twenty years at sea with the French and British merchant navies, he settled in England in 1894. Over the next three decades he revolutionized the English novel with books such as Typhoon, Nostromo, The Secret Agent, and especially Heart of Darkness, his best-known and most influential work.
