Reading Order
Nostromo Reading Order
Nostromo (1904) by Joseph Conrad is perhaps his most ambitious novel — a vast, dense, politically searching epic set in the fictional South American republic of Costaguana during a revolution, centered on the mysterious 'incorruptible' silver of the San Tomé mine and the men and women whose lives it destroys. The novel follows Charles Gould, the English owner of the mine, whose obsession with the silver as a force for order and civilization corrupts his marriage and his soul; Nostromo himself, the Genoese 'capataz de cargadores' (chief of the dock workers), whose reputation for incorruptibility is undermined when he is tasked with hiding a lighter full of silver during the revolution; and Martin Decoud, a cynical Parisian-educated journalist who finds himself marooned on an island with the silver and falls into a nihilistic despair. Conrad wrote Nostromo over eighteen months in 1903–04 at a period of serious financial difficulty, and the physical and psychological strain is visible in the novel's texture — it is more uneven than Heart of Darkness or Lord Jim, but also more ambitious, attempting a panoramic account of imperialism, nationalism, and the corrupting power of material interest that none of Conrad's other works attempts. F.R. Leavis called it the greatest novel in English; others have found it all but unreadable. What is undeniable is the power of Conrad's central argument: that the silver of the mine — 'material interests' — is the real motive force of human history, and that the idealism of both the imperialists (who believe they are bringing order and civilization) and the revolutionaries (who believe they are bringing justice) is in every case a cover for this more fundamental drive.
Where to start
Nostromo — the novel's non-linear opening can be disorienting; orient yourself with the map of Costaguana, and don't expect everything to be clear until Part Two.
Complete Nostromo Book List
- 1Buy
Nostromo
Joseph Conrad·1904·The novel — silver, revolution, and the corruption of idealism in the fictional republic of Costaguana. - 2Buy
Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad·1899·Conrad's most concentrated masterpiece — the colonial encounter at its most nightmarish. - 3Buy
Lord Jim
Joseph Conrad·1900·Conrad's moral novel of honor and failure — the individual scale to Nostromo's political one. - 4Buy
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Gabriel García Márquez·1967·García Márquez's novel — the Buendía family in Macondo across several generations; the Latin American epic that Nostromo helped make possible. - 5Buy
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
B. Traven·1927·Traven's novel of gold fever in Mexico — the corrupting power of silver/gold in the Western hemisphere, directly in Nostromo's tradition. - 6Buy
The Autumn of the Patriarch
Gabriel García Márquez·1975·García Márquez's political novel of a Caribbean dictator — the South American political world that Nostromo established as literary territory. - 7Buy
Blood Meridian
Cormac McCarthy·1985·McCarthy's novel of historical violence — the bleak view of human nature and material interest that Nostromo anticipates. - 8Buy
Darkness at Noon
Arthur Koestler·1940·Koestler's novel of idealism corrupted by the logic of political power — Nostromo's argument in a Soviet context.
Nostromo — Frequently Asked Questions
What is Nostromo about?
Nostromo is set in Costaguana, a fictional South American republic, during a revolution against the corrupt government of President Montero. The novel centers on the San Tomé silver mine, owned by the English Charles Gould and backed by American capital; on Nostromo (real name Giovanni Battista Fidanza), the legendary Genoese dock boss who is tasked with hiding a lighter full of silver during the revolution and is corrupted by it; and on Martin Decoud, a cynical journalist who is marooned with the silver and kills himself in despair. The novel follows the revolution's outcome — the separation of Sulaco as an independent province — and the long aftermath in which Nostromo's corruption destroys him.
Who is Nostromo and why does the title character matter?
Nostromo — whose real name is Giovanni Battista Fidanza — is the capataz de cargadores (chief of the dock workers) in Sulaco, legendary for his reliability and incorruptibility. His name is an Anglicization of the Italian 'nostro uomo' (our man), reflecting his function as a tool of the European-American interests that run Costaguana's economy. His importance is precisely that he is 'incorruptible' — valued entirely for his utility to others — and the novel's central action (the hiding of the silver) corrupts him absolutely: unable to return the silver, which he has saved from the revolutionaries, he keeps it for himself and spends the rest of his life secretly enriching himself from the hidden cache. The irony is that the incorruptible man is corrupted by the very material interest he serves.
What is Conrad's argument about 'material interests' in Nostromo?
Conrad's central argument in Nostromo is that 'material interests' — the economic forces represented by the silver mine — are the real motive power of history, and that the various idealisms people bring to political life (Charles Gould's belief in the mine as a force for order and civilization, the revolutionaries' belief in justice, Decoud's ironic detachment) are all inadequate to or corrupted by this material reality. The novel presents this not as a socialist argument (Conrad was not a socialist) but as a tragic one: that human beings cannot help organizing their ideals around material interests while believing they are serving something higher, and that this gap between ideal and material produces the corruption and suffering the novel charts. The silver is Conrad's symbol for what Marxists would call capital — a force that seems to serve human purposes but actually commands them.
Is Nostromo Conrad's greatest novel?
The question divides Conrad readers. F.R. Leavis, in The Great Tradition (1948), called Nostromo Conrad's masterpiece — greater than Heart of Darkness because of its scale, its political intelligence, and the depth of its moral investigation. Others have preferred Heart of Darkness for its concentration and its nightmarish intensity, or Lord Jim for the intimacy of its moral investigation. Nostromo is certainly Conrad's most ambitious novel — the one that attempts a panoramic account of imperialism and political life rather than a focused investigation of individual moral failure. Its difficulty (the non-linear chronology, the large cast, the density of its political texture) has led some readers to find it exhausting rather than rewarding; but those who engage with it fully tend to find it among the most serious political novels in English.
What should I read after Nostromo?
After Nostromo, readers typically continue with Conrad: Heart of Darkness (1899) for the concentrated colonial nightmare; Lord Jim (1900) for the moral investigation at a more intimate scale; The Secret Agent (1907) for the London political novel; Under Western Eyes (1911) for the Russian political world. For the Latin American tradition that Nostromo helped establish as literary territory, García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) is the key text — García Márquez cited Conrad as an influence. For the theme of material interest corrupting idealism, B. Traven's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1927) and Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon (1940) are the most direct successors.
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