Nostromo (Romance)

Nostromo is a Romance of Joseph Conrad published in 1904. It occurs to the 19th century in a fictitious country from South America, Costaguana, and mainly in the town of Sulaco. The heart of the intrigue of Nostromo is the mine of Argent of San Tomé of which inherits at the beginning the novel Charles Gould, descendant of a line of English expatriates in Costaguana. Eager to establish a reign of justice and peace in a country disturbed by continual Revolution S, Charles Gould devotes all his energy to the prosperity of the mine. This one seems guaranteed by the mode of a president moderated, Ribiera, more or less instituted by Gould itself. But this political stability crumbles with the attempt at takeover by the Montéro brothers, men without nobility and brutal. After the defeat of the party blanco (left notable rejoined in Ribiera) in front of Pedro Montéro, the country falls into chaos. The notable ones of the city then entrust the responsibility to put the treasure of the mine in safety to Nostromo, marine Italy N become captain of the cargadores of the port (Docker S), accompanied by Martin Decoud, wire of an aristocratic family. Nostromo and Decoud manage to save the treasure of the shipwreck of their boat and hide it on a island, the Large Isabelle, under the guard of Decoud. Nostromo, man honest and courageous, carries out the plan of Decoud thereafter: to request the assistance of a General , Barrios, to reconquer Sulaco occupied by the partisans of Montéro and to proclaim the Independence of Sulaco. Years later, we find Sulaco, prosperous and stable. It is then a second novel which starts, centered on the personality of Nostromo. After the Suicide of Decoud - whose Pessimisme did not resist the loneliness proof on the Large Isabelle - Nostromo seizes the money of the mine. Slave of its treasure, incompetent to carry out his Love for an young girl, Gisele, in the sister of which it is promised in marriage, Nostromo dies assassinated by their father.

To summarize Nostromo is a challenge. On the one hand, because the novel is spread like a Cobweb (the made-to-order of Lord Jim ), made prolepses, of analepses, changes of registers (Dialog S, Biographie S of characters, account…). Conrad puts in scene a total world, extremely realistic, and made live a whole gallery of characters. Even if the essence of the novel is devoted to the revolution of Costaguana, the intrigue is far from being linear. Will the Suspense which intervenes besides in the third part (the mine be saved? will the treasure be found?) is abruptly liquidated by Conrad by means of a character, Mitchell, which makes the account of the defeat of Montéro and the triumph of the material interests of the mine on some pages…

As the importance of the intrigue decrease, the general tonality of the novel continues and develops, in the form of a radical pessimism. Charles Gould entrepenant it become slave of his mine and the financial interests of which he is the servant. Its wife, Emily angelica, forsaken. Nostromo, man valorous but full with vanity, destroyed in the gasoline of its qualities by the treasure which it confiscates. Linda, promised in marriage that it betrayed, dedicated to the renunciation. Decoud, whose Skepticism shining but without moral strength pushes it with the suicide. All the characters of Nostromo illustrate a radical pessism: inanity of the action, which deviates of its original goal, loneliness of the beings, lacks force of the human Intelligence, impossibility for the man of relying completely on its interior force, persistence of chimerical goals which remove with the man his serenity… These broken characters proclaim the triumph of powers without face: the Destiny, which makes men the simple wheels of a inintelligible plan, the money (genuine engine of the ideal of the Progrès), which controls the destiny of Costaguana remotely. Nostromo is a dark philosopher's stone on the human condition.

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Nostromo: List of the 34 characters

European:

Captain Joseph Mitchell - One of the voices of the account, same if its knowledge of the men and the history of Sulaco is much less complete than it believes it.

Charles Gould (gift Carlos, El señor administrador, El Rey de Sulaco) - Owner of the mine

Emilia Gould - Wife of Charles

Henry Gould (gift Enrique) - Uncle de Charles. Chief of the province of Sulaco. Was shot by soldiers under the mode of Guzman Bento.

Harry Gould - Father of Charles. First owner of the mine of Divided into volumes San.

Dr. Monygham - Head doctor of the mine of Divided into volumes San, then inspector of the hospitals of the state.

Martin Decoud - French of origin costaguanéenne. Returns from Paris with ammunition for the Blanco party. Wish to proclaim Sulaco République Independent.

Giorgio Violated (Garibaldino). Old Italian idealist living between the city and the port of Sulaco. Protected from Mrs. Gould.

Teresa Violated . Its wife

Linda Violated . Their oldest daughter. Brown.

Gisele Violated . Their daughter junior. Blonde.

Sir John - Chairman of the board of the Company of the Railroads. Fact the voyage in Sulaco from London.

Chief engineer (of the Company of the Railroads)

Hirsch . Merchant of skins Jewish originating in Hamburg, resident with Esméralda.

North-American:

Holroyd . Billionaire of San Francisco. Financier of the mine

South-Americans:

" Ribieristes" :

gift Vincente Ribiera . (Excellentissimo señor, legal Governor, First magistrate). President-dictator carried to the capacity by Europeans and the Blanco party. First civilian appointed Head of State in the history of Sulaco. Flees the capital at the time of the disorders and joined Sulaco on a lame mule.

gift Jose Avellanos . Author of " 50 years history of abus". One of the survivors of the reign of Guzman Bento. Widower. Maternal uncle of Gould.

Antonia Avellanos . Girl of gift Jose.

Monseigneur Corbelan

Pablo Barrios

Moraga

Hernandez

" Montéristes" :

Pedro Montero

Pedrito Montero

Fuentes

Gamacho

Sotillo

Various:

Guzman Bento

Father Beron

Romance Father

Basilio

Ignacio

Leonarda

Bonifacio

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