“The vein is worked a little too hard, and the results forced.”
| + — | Critic. 46: 477. My. ‘05. 90w. |
“The splendors of home missionaries’ sacrifice have never been more vividly portrayed.”
| + + | Ind. 58: 269. F. 2, ‘05. 170w. |
“Interesting as a novel as well as valuable as a picture of Canadian life.”
| + + | Spec. 94: 57. Ja. 14, ‘05. 190w. |
Conrad, Joseph (Joseph Conrad Korzenlowski). [Nostromo: a tale of the seaboard.] $1.50. Harper.
Late writers have often turned to the “new lands” of South America for picturesque settings for their stories. Mr. Conrad has laid the scene of his new novel in a republic on the western coast. “In this country an English family has long been settled and has had for its stake the government concession of a silver mine, handed down from father to son, and entailing much disagreeable ‘squeezing’ from successive presidents and dictators. The descendant to whom it has fallen when the present narrative opens is the first one to make it a really valuable property, and in the development he becomes the greatest power in the state, enlisting foreign capital, building railroads, and carrying governments on his pay roll. A final desperate effort on the part of greedy politicians to get control of the goose that lays his golden egg is the main feature of the plot ... but the psychological interest predominates over the adventurous or romantic interest which justifies the author in naming this novel after one of its characters ... one upon whom Mr. Conrad has concentrated his analytical powers.” (Dial).
“A novel ought not to be a snap-shot, it should be a firmly and richly woven fabric. Such is ‘Nostromo.’ Flexible and vivid style.” O. H. Dunbar.
| + + | Critic. 46: 377. Ap. ‘05. 480w. |