[COMPLETE] Nostromo (Version 2) - dc

[TheBanjo]

Nostromo, by Joseph Conrad (1857 - 1924)

All audio files can be found on our catalog page: https://librivox.org/nostromo-version-2-by-joseph-conrad/

In Nostromo, Joseph Conrad has transformed an apocryphal anecdote about a sailor who got away with stealing a boat loaded with silver into a grandly panoramic, yet deeply unsettling, narrative that sees every conceivable type of political person — from the laughably oafish and brutal to various shades of the well-meaning — caught up in an episode of revolutionary upheaval in the fictional South American country of Costaguana. Who, if anyone, will emerge from this dreadful saga with a shred of dignity left intact? (Summary by Peter Dann)

Source text (please read only from this text!): https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2021

Target completion date: 2021-10-31

Prooflistening level: Standard
Prospective PLs, please see the Guide for Proof-listeners.

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Magic Window:

BC Admin
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Genres for the project: Literary Fiction; Action & Adventure Fiction

Keywords that describe the book: revolution, South America, garibaldini, silver mine

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LibriVox recording settings: mono (1 channel), 44100 Hz sample rate, 128 kbps constant bit rate MP3. See the Tech Specs

Intro to recording:
Leave 0.5 to 1 second of silence at the beginning.

For the first section, say:

"Section (or Chapter) # of Nostromo. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit librivox.org." [Optional: "Read by your name."] "Nostromo, by Joseph Conrad. Section Title."

For the second and subsequent sections, you may use the shortened intro if you wish:

"Section (or Chapter) # of Nostromo, by Joseph Conrad. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain." [Optional: "Read by your name."] "Section Title."

End of recording:
Say:

"End of section (or chapter) #." [Optional, and if not stated in the intro: "Read by your name, city, date."]

If you are recording the final section of the book, add:

"End of Nostromo, by Joseph Conrad."

Leave 5 seconds of silence at the end.

Filename: nostromo_##_conrad_128kb.mp3 where ## is the section number. (e.g. nostromo_01_conrad_128kb.mp3)

Upload to the LibriVox Uploader: https://librivox.org/login/uploader

MC to select: craigdav1

Copy and paste the file link generated by the uploader into the relevant Listen URL field in the Section Compiler, enter the duration in the Notes field, and post in this thread to let your PL and MC know that you have uploaded a file. You may also post the file link in the thread.

[TheBanjo]

While Nostromo was first published in 1904, the Author's Note (later appearing at the start) was not added until later. The Author's Note is dated 1917, and as far as I can tell first appeared in print in the 1921 Doubleday edition. The Project Gutenberg text includes the Author's Note.

Sunrise2020 has kindly agreed to act as DPL for this project.

[craigdav1]

This would be version 2. Some readers prefer not to record books already in the catalog. This though would be the first solo version. I'll set it up for you if you still wish to record it.

[TheBanjo]

This would be version 2. Some readers prefer not to record books already in the catalog. This though would be the first solo version. I'll set it up for you if you still wish to record it.

Thank you, Dave. Yes, I should have mentioned I'm aware of the first, collaborative version, which I've actually listened to, and enjoyed, myself. I'm still up for taking a crack at a solo reading, though I realise it will be quite an undertaking, lengthwise.

[craigdav1]

MW coming up.

edit: Let me know if any changes are needed. Enjoy!

[craigdav1]

Moving to Going Solo forum.

[TheBanjo]

And so, off to Sulaco, in the land of Costaguana, we go! It's not quite Santiago de Compostela, but many of the populace speak Spanish, and a handful speak English too. If your next language is going to be Icelandic, Susanne, perhaps I'd better go looking for a saga to read next....

Meanwhile, I have uploaded:
Section 00: https://librivox.org/uploads/craigdav1/nostromo_00_conrad_128kb.mp3
Section 01: https://librivox.org/uploads/craigdav1/nostromo_01_conrad_128kb.mp3

You will find, Susanne, that my intro text does not literally match what the project template specifies, but this is by design on my part, not by accident. I think the format I am using will make good sense to a listener.

Intriguingly, in section 00 you will meet, though in another guise, a character we encountered together in The Arrow of Gold, namely, the chief mariner who helps the hero handle the boat used for the gun running. In the real gun running episode in which Conrad played a part, this ship was called the Tremelino. In The Arrow of Gold I don't recall that we were ever told the name of the craft, but we certainly got to know the hero's helper "Dominic", a sailor with "a great experience of all unlawful things that can be done on the seas". It seems from section 00 that this man's name was "Dominic" in real life, too, and that he formed an important model for the character we will eventually meet as "Nostromo" in this present novel. An odd coincidence!

[Sunrise2020]

Good morning,

I've subscribed to the recording and will get a start on the first sections today. I'm sure it'll be another good discovery and I'll explore Santiago while listening to it. If I get lost, I'll claim I was too absorbed in the recording.

I don't think I'll attempt Icelandic but certainly would like to travel there one day.

[TheBanjo]

Good morning,

I've subscribed to the recording and will get a start on the first sections today. I'm sure it'll be another good discovery and I'll explore Santiago while listening to it. If I get lost, I'll claim I was too absorbed in the recording.

I don't think I'll attempt Icelandic but certainly would like to travel there one day.

Ha! You can obviously concentrate on more things at one time than I can!

The introductory chapters of Nostromo are rather short. They get much longer once the story gets seriously underway.

I have uploaded:
section 02: https://librivox.org/uploads/craigdav1/nostromo_02_conrad_128kb.mp3 (13:31)
section 03: https://librivox.org/uploads/craigdav1/nostromo_03_conrad_128kb.mp3 (11:43)

[Sunrise2020]

Sections 0-2 are okay.

I was surprised to hear "Part First" instead of "Part One" but indeed it's how Conrad put it.

[TheBanjo]

Sections 0-2 are okay.

I was surprised to hear "Part First" instead of "Part One" but indeed it's how Conrad put it.

Thank you Susanne.

Yes, it's a bit odd-sounding, isn't it, but that's how Conrad liked to do it. As for the titles of the parts themselves (eg, "The Silver of the Mine" for Part The First), Ford Madox Ford says of Conrad, in his memoir of Conrad written just after Conrad's death, "There was nothing he loved so much as inventing titles for Parts: it was like being a herald proclaiming war from the steps of St. Paul’s." I just happened to come across that passage the other day.

I have now uploaded:
section 04: https://librivox.org/uploads/craigdav1/nostromo_04_conrad_128kb.mp3 (23:08)
section 05: https://librivox.org/uploads/craigdav1/nostromo_05_conrad_128kb.mp3 (19:41)

[TheBanjo]

I have uploaded section 06: https://librivox.org/uploads/craigdav1/nostromo_06_conrad_128kb.mp3 (45:39)

[Sunrise2020]

I'm settling into a routine and find that learning as an adult is quite challenging! There's a nice park close to the school and I'll go there after classes. I walk around the park and PL your recordings. It's quite there and less distracting than walking in the streets. I was wondering if Señora Teresa is also an aged acquaintance from another novel?

[TheBanjo]

I'm settling into a routine and find that learning as an adult is quite challenging! There's a nice park close to the school and I'll go there after classes. I walk around the park and PL your recordings. It's quite there and less distracting than walking in the streets. I was wondering if Señora Teresa is also an aged acquaintance from another novel?

I admire your tenacity! I learned some French and Latin at school, and had a bit of a burst of trying to refresh my French a few years ago by a combination of listening to French podcasts (not language podcasts as such) and Duolingo practice, but must admit I gave up after about nine months. It's not a trivial undertaking!

As for Signora Teresa, I'm afraid I can't shed any light on her origins/model. I don't know a lot about the background for this novel at all - although I did happen to read this morning that Conrad originally intended it to be a 35,000 word short story and ended up feeling by the end, after some 18 months or so working on it, that he was dealing with a kind of monster (the finished novel being about 170,000 words long).

There's been quite a divided critical response to the novel down the years, some feeling that its bogged down in its own contrivances, while others laud the subtlety and scope of its critique of... well, materialism, capitalism, imperialism. Scott Fitzgerald nominated it as the single novel he would most have liked to have written himself. That ain't so shabby!

I have uploaded section 07: https://librivox.org/uploads/craigdav1/nostromo_07_conrad_128kb.mp3 (36:43)

[TheBanjo]

I have uploaded section 08: https://librivox.org/uploads/craigdav1/nostromo_08_conrad_128kb.mp3 (18:17)