Beschrijving
Conrad’s double agent, Verloc, is a Russian spy tasked with infiltrating an anarchist group in London. His mission to discredit the ineffectual radicals and their cause goes awry, and involves his unsuspecting wife and her vulnerable younger brother in disastrous ways. In its use of powerful psychological insight to intensify narrative suspense, The Secret Agent broke new literary ground. Conrad was the first novelist to discover the strange, in-between territory of the political exile, and his genius was such that we still have no truer map of that region’s moral terrain than his story of a terrorist plot and its tragic consequences for both the guilty and the innocent.
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The novel is set in London and based on real events. It has mainly two arcs: one covering Adolf Verloc's involvement with anarchism, the other exploring the life choices of his wife Winnie. Winnie had sacrificed her love-life by marrying Mr. Verloc in order to provide financial stability for her aged mother, but more importantly to support her beloved younger brother. The latter's mental illness had prevented him from living independently and earning his own money. In spite of that, Stevie was the backbone of his sister's life and the center of her affection. Therefore, when he died, her life had lost its balance and collapsed. Conrad offers no moral judgements or condemnation on Winnie's acts. This, he leaves to his readers.The plot addresses the birth and rise of Anarchism as well, and comments on how Anarchists were always dissatisfied with their society, and yet had never offered a practical solution to the problems they pointed. At the same time, the book adopts an ironic tone and a pessimistic perspective in regard of the British society. It suggests that the latter was still reeling under the effects of industrialization and the emptiness caused by the fall of religion. When it comes to Modernist techniques, Geometric images are used in the text to create order in the midst of chaos and the nothingness that Conrad was trying to depict.
I had difficulty reading this as I just couldn't keep up the flow of my reading. I couldn't grasp what was happening and who everyone was and how they related to one another so I kept having to re-read large chunks. I read up about it afterwards and understand it better now.