Nostromo

One of my favorite writers is Joseph Conrad (creator of a psychological novel) and the first political novel “Nostromo”. The main character asks, “If everyone believes me, how will they know that I will lie this time?”
I haven’t read many J.C. books. Every detail and theme in his novel comes back to me with the power of personal prayer. No writer creates – for me – images so that I hear and see them so clearly. I remember whole phrases and sentences. Each writer has a rhythm: Conrad – a rhythm that plays in the ears like Maasai or Indian drums. “Nostromo” begins like this:

– “During the Spanish rule, and for many years afterwards, the town of Sulaco (the luxurious beauty of its orange gardens attests to its antiquity) has never been more important than a small coastal port with relatively high local turnover of cowhide and indigo.”

– “In the time of Spanish rule and for many years afterwards the town of Sulaco (the luxuriant beauty of its orange gardens bears witness to its antiquity) had never been commercially anything more important than a small costing port with a fairly large local trade in ox-hides and indigo.”