The Secret Agent
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Summary
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The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad
The Secret Agent is set in London in 1886 and deals with Mr. Adolf Verloc and his work as a spy against Britain. Verloc is also a businessman who owns a shop which sells pornographic material, contraceptives and bric-a-brac. His friends are a group of anarchists of which Comrade Ossipon, Michaelis, and The Professor are the most prominent. The group produces anarchist literature in the form of pamphlets entitled F.P. - The Future of the Proletariat. Although a member of an anarchist cell, Verloc is also secretly employed by the embassy of a foreign country, but Mr. Vladimir, the new First Secretary in the Embassy is not satisfied with Verloc's contribution. In order to redeem himself, Verloc must carry out an operation - the destruction of Greenwich Observatory by a bomb.
Perenially fascinating.. When Joseph Conrad wrote The Secret Agent he was responding imaginatively to a real botched bomb attack on Greenwich, at a time when there was real panic about anarchist extremism throughout Europe * Guardian *
An astonishing book -- Ford Madox Ford
This damp, dark thriller dances about on satirical feet, from its opening paragraph to the very last, where it suddenly plunges like Chernobyl's core to our own apocalyptic times, seamed with petit-bourgeois envy and crazed fundamentalist dreams. Whether attacking the former or the latter, Conrad never lets go of his grim, twitchy smile. -- Adam Thorpe * Guardian *
One of the two unquestionable classics of the first order that [Conrad] added to the English novel -- F.R. Leavis
An astonishing book -- Ford Madox Ford
This damp, dark thriller dances about on satirical feet, from its opening paragraph to the very last, where it suddenly plunges like Chernobyl's core to our own apocalyptic times, seamed with petit-bourgeois envy and crazed fundamentalist dreams. Whether attacking the former or the latter, Conrad never lets go of his grim, twitchy smile. -- Adam Thorpe * Guardian *
One of the two unquestionable classics of the first order that [Conrad] added to the English novel -- F.R. Leavis
Józef Teodor Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski was born in the Ukraine on 3 December 1857. His parents were Polish and had both died in exile by the time Conrad was eleven. His uncle then became his guardian and looked after him in Krakow until he was sixteen when he went to sea and sailed on French and British ships. He was made British citizen in 1886 and changed his name to Joseph Conrad. In 1889 Conrad visited the Congo and his experiences there inspired Heart of Darkness. In 1894 he published his first novel, Almayer's Folly and went on to write nineteen more as well as many short stories, essays and a memoir. In 1896 he married Jessie George and they later had two sons. Conrad died on 3 August 1924.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780099511533 |
| ISBN 10 | 0099511533 |
| Title | The Secret Agent |
| Author | Joseph Conrad |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Vintage Publishing |
| Year published | 2007-09-06 |
| Number of pages | 320 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |