Conrad
Reading Joseph Conrad’s Nostromo, this passage knocks me on my backside:
Mrs. Gould knew the history of the San Tomé mine. Worked in the early days mostly by means of lashes on the backs of slaves, its yield had been paid for in its own weight of human bones. Whole tribes of Indians had perished in the exploitation; and then the mine was abandoned, since with this primitive method it had ceased to make a profitable return, no matter how many corpses were thrown into its maw.
“…no matter how many corpses were thrown into its maw….” reverberates in my head and makes me angry I can’t find a way to say as much in three sentences.
The full text of the novel can be read online or downloaded free for a variety of ebook readers.
