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اعظم 100 كتاب في التاريخ: ما سر هذه العظمة؟- دراسة بحثية
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مراقب عام سابقا
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تاريخ الإنضمام :
Sep 2009
رقم العضوية :
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Nostromo
by Joseph Conrad, England,(1857-1924)
Nostromo
is a 1904 novel by Polish-born British novelist
Joseph Conrad
, set in the fictitious South American republic of "Costaguana". It was originally published
serially
in two volumes of
T.P.'s Weekly
.
In 1998, the
Modern Library
ranked
Nostromo
47th on its list of the
100 best English-language novels of the 20th century
.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
said, "I'd rather have written
Nostromo
than any other novel."
[1]
Background
Conrad set his novel in the mining town of Sulaco, an imaginary port in the occidental region of the imaginary country of Costaguana. The book has more fully developed
characters
than any other of his novels, but two characters dominate the
narrative
: Señor Gould and the
eponymous
anti-hero
, the "incorruptible" Nostromo.
Plot summary
Nostromo
is set in the
South American
country of Costaguana; though a fictional nation, Costaguana's geography as described in the book resembles real-life
Colombia
. Costaguana has a long history of tyranny, revolution and warfare, but has recently experienced a period of stability under the dictator Ribiera.
Charles Gould is a native Costaguanero of English descent who owns an important
silver-mining
concession
near the key port of Sulaco. He is tired of the political instability in Costaguana and its concomitant corruption, and uses his wealth to support Ribiera's government, which he believes will finally bring stability to the country after years of misrule and tyranny by self-serving dictators. Instead, Gould's refurbished silver mine and the wealth it has generated inspires a new round of revolutions and self-proclaimed warlords, plunging Costaguana into chaos. Among others, the
revolutionary
Montero invades Sulaco; Gould, adamant that his silver should not become spoil for his enemies, orders Nostromo, the trusted "
capataz de los cargadores
" (head longshoreman) of Sulaco, to take it offshore so it can be sold into international markets.
Nostromo is an Italian
expatriate
who has risen to his position through his daring exploits. ("Nostromo" is Italian for "
shipmate
" or "
boatswain
", but the name could also be considered a corruption of the Italian phrase "nostro uomo," meaning "our man.") Nostromo's real name is Giovanni Battista Fidanza —
Fidanza
meaning "trust" in archaic Italian.
Nostromo is a commanding figure in Sulaco, respected by the wealthy Europeans and seemingly limitless in his abilities to command power among the local population. He is, however, never admitted to become a part of upper-class society, but is instead viewed by the rich as their useful tool. He is believed by Charles Gould and his own employers to be incorruptible, and it is for this reason that Nostromo is entrusted with removing the silver from Sulaco to keep it from the revolutionaries. Nostromo's power and fame continues to grow, as he daringly rides over the mountains to summon the army which saves Sulaco's powerful leaders from the revolutionaries.
His exploits during the revolution do not bring Nostromo the fame he had hoped for, and he feels slighted and used. Feeling that he has risked his life for nothing, he is consumed by resentment, which leads to his corruption and ultimate destruction, for he has kept secret the true fate of the silver after all others believed it lost at sea. In recovering the silver for himself, he is shot and killed, mistaken for a trespasser, by the father of his fiancée, the keeper of the lighthouse on the island of Great Isabel.
==
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