Nostromo and World-Ecology

Like world-ecological criticism, Nostromo is also critical of capitalism, which is ironized through the novel’s depiction of the history and agency of a prodigious silver mine. Nostromo stages a conversation between mythic modes of knowledge and identity production and a modernity influenced rather than determined by capital. Character and event in Nostromo are refracted through a range of perspectives, and the histories of the nation itself cannot be disentangled from vested interests. Most commonly in Nostromo, when the words “nature” or “natural” are used, the novel is referring to character and personality, whether of persons, things or events. Nostromo later allows public opinion to maintain that the boat of silver sank after it had been struck, taking Don Martin Decoud with it. His death resonates throughout Nostromo as a counterpoint to the novel’s own representation of the relentless dominance of “material interests”.