초록 열기/닫기 버튼
This study reads Nostromo as Conrad's alternative version of the nineteenth century European representation of the history of Costaguana. The novel exposes the failed attempt of implantation of European history into the South American country. This reading argues that Conrad's challenge to progressive history involves three different but interrelated approaches. First, he attempts to demonstrate how the dominant discourse of history accords and conflicts with other discourses. The novel illustrates how the agents of the history of progress are obsessed with making discourses to confirm and justify their causes. As the turbulent history of Costaguana exposes, the quest for "silver" is at the heart of struggles. Finally Conrad examines the fates of people who take part in making the history of progress and demonstrates that they are disillusioned by the ideology of progress which is constructed to justify their quest for material interests. Two central characters of the novel, Gould and Nostromo, are presented as the subject of progressive history who are disillusioned by their ideals. Thus Conrad's own interpretation of the "history" of Costaguana suggests that the history is enmeshed within the dynamic interplay between conflicting voices articulated in various social discourses. Locating them in changing contexts, the narrator allows them to collide with others. His narrative presentation of these struggles for dominance creates a living environment for diverse social discourses, voices and ideological positions.
