A Stylistic Analysis of Joseph Conrad\u27s Nostromo : Modernism, Polyphony, and a Mode of \u27Empathy\u27 in the Characterization of the Protagonist

Joseph Conrad\u27s Nostromo (1904) has been regarded by some critics as a modernist novel in which scepticism towards the truth is foregrounded at a plot level. However, such a modernist tenet is also evident in more subtle linguistic and stylistic devices related to focalization. In this paper I conduct a texutual stylistic analysis of Nostromo, by focusing upon the relationship between modernism and the mode of polyphony, originally defined by Mikhail Bakhtin and developed by him and his circle. Based upon the concept of focalization presented by Genette (1980) and Bal (1985), I illustrate who focalizes (i.e. sees, perceives, evaluates, etc.) in the selected passages where the significant characterization of a protagonist, Nostromo, is conducted. I also clarify the function of the so-called omniscient narrator in this novel. From the analysis of selected passages, how Conrad creates polyphony in the text is shown, and the place of Nostromo in the context of modernism is also clarified