Book Description

The Wordsworth Classics covers a huge list of beloved works of literature in

English and translations. This growing series is rigorously updated, with

scholarly introductions and notes added to new titles.



Set in the imaginary South American republic of Costaguana, this work is an

illustration of the impact of foreign exploitation on a developing nation. As

Sulaco, site of an English/American controlled silver mine establishes its

independence, its ideals are inevitably compromised.



From Library Journal

This involved, philosophical novel is not for the casual listener, especially

one who is supposed to be concentrating on the road ahead. Writing in 1904,

Conrad invented a complex South American country with a turbulent history and a

potentially explosive population, ranging from the wealthy gringo running the

Sulaco silver mine to the poorest worker loading cargo on the docks. Although

the story teems with lively characters, the dazzling figure of Nostromo eclipses

them all. A natural leader?brave, handsome, and incorruptible?he naturally

becomes the epicenter of the revolution that soon devastates Sulaco. With

characteristic eloquence, Conrad has focused on the dramatic action of the

revolution to explore challenging themes: capitalism, imperialism, revolution,

and social justice. Unfortunately, this audio program, read by Frederick

Davidson, is disappointing. Despite fine dramatic characterizations, the

narrator's posh British accent is so pronounced that it often detracts from the

text. Since Nostromo has also been narrated by Frank Muller (Recorded Books) and

Wolfram Kandinsky (Books on TapeR), perhaps this version may not be the best

choice.

Jo Carr, Sarasota, Fla.



From AudioFile

This abridgment of Joseph Conrad's classic keeps in mind that the story is as

much about the fictional province of Sulaco and the San Tome silver mine as it

is about Nostromo, the "incorruptible" sailor who ends up concealing a fortune

in silver. Although Nostromo is a presence throughout the novel, his tale

actually begins on Side six. It preserves much of Conrad's fine detail,

background history of Sulaco, and prose style, making the listener almost forget

that this is an abridgment. Joss Ackland speaks Conrad's descriptive passages

with a clear, refined voice that brings an authoritative air to this fictional

history, while giving its main characters rougher voices. J.A.S.



About Author

Joseph Conrad was born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski in Russian-occupied

Poland on December 3, 1857. His parents were aristocrats and intensely

nationalistic political activists who were exiled to Vologda, northeast of

Moscow, for their opposition to tsarist rule. Józef's mother, Ewa, died in 1865

of tuberculosis, and his father, Apollo, succumbed to the same disease four

years later. Józef was cared for by his uncle Tadeusz Bobrowski until the young

man acted on a long-expressed desire to go to sea. In 1874 he left for

Marseilles, where he began sailing for the French merchant service.



In 1878, in money difficulties and no longer able to sail on French vessels

because he had not secured an exemption from military service in Russia, Conrad

attempted suicide. After his recovery, he left Marseilles on a British ship and

went to England, where he worked the route between Lowestoft and Newcastle. He

arrived in England virtually without qualifications and with very little

English, but he was able in a few years to earn his master's certificate in the

British merchant marine and became a British national. Conrad traveled to

Mauritius and Constantinople, worked on wool clippers from London to Australia,

and sailed the waters of the Far East. These voyages were punctuated by long

periods when he could not find suitable positions because of the decline in

sail-powered transport in the age of the steamship.



Conrad began writing in English, which became his language of choice after his

native Polish and French, although he complained of difficulties with English

grammar and syntax. His voyages provided the background for much of his fiction.

'Youth' and 'Typhoon' draw on Conrad's personal experience with disasters at

sea. In 1881, he became second mate on the Palestine, a ship that was rammed,

caught in tempestuous gales in the English Channel, had its cargo of coal catch

fire, and sank off Sumatra. His captaincy of the Otago from Bangkok in 1888

informs The Shadow-Line (1917) and the stories 'Falk' and 'The Secret Sharer.'

Heart of Darkness (1899) is drawn from an expedition to the Belgian Congo in

1890. He was already working on a novel when he traveled to the Congo, where he

expected to take command of a river steamer. The assignment failed to

materialize, and Conrad fell dangerously ill. On his return to England, he was

forced to find work as a ship's mate. He was able during this period of

intermittent employment to devote more time to his writing, and in 1894 he

submitted the novel Almayer's Folly to the publisher Fisher Unwin. Unwin

published it in 1895 under the anglicized version of Conrad's Polish name.



Conrad was encouraged to continue to write by Unwin's reader Edward Garnett,

although he went on applying for posts as a ship's captain. He finished The

Outcast of the Islands in 1895 and in 1896 married Jessie George. They had two

sons, Borys and John, born in 1898 and 1906. Constantly in need of more money,

Conrad produced short stories and serialized his novels. Although plagued by

physical illness and psychological problems, he established one of the most

formidable bodies of work in the English language. His longer works include The

Nigger of the 'Narcissus (1897), Lord Jim (1900), Nostromo (1904), The Secret

Agent (1907), Under Western Eyes (1911), and Victory (1915). Nostromo, set in

the imaginary South American republic of Costaguana, is considered by many

critics to be Conrad's best work and by some to be the finest novel of the

twentieth century.



From early in his career Conrad had the admiration of fellow writers--Stephen

Crane, John Galsworthy, Henry James, and Ford Madox Ford, with whom Conrad

collaborated on The Inheritors (1901) and Romance (1903). It was only after the

success of Chance (1913), however, that his writing afforded him widespread

recognition and relative financial security. He spent his declining years in

Kent, often in ill health, and died on August 3, 1924, at his home near

Canterbury.



Book Dimension :

length: (cm)19.8 width:(cm)12.6