The Secret Agent
A Simple Tale
by Joseph Conrad · first published 1907
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The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale is a novel by Joseph Conrad, first published in 1907. The story is set in London in 1886 and deals with Mr. Adolf Verloc and his work as a spy for an unnamed country (presumably Russia). The Secret Agent is one of Conrad's later political novels in which he moved away from his former tales of seafaring. The novel is dedicated to H. G. Wells and deals broadly with anarchism, espionage, and terrorism. It also deals with exploitation of the vulnerable in Verloc's relationship with his brother-in-law Stevie, who has an intellectual disability. Conrad’s gloomy po
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…be your task, to show that. I don't need to prove the negative. You need to show this great idea that Mr. Kaczynski proffered. Cuz like I'm not seeing it. BTW, if by the book you meant Conrad's The Secret Agent, no I didn't know the book. Conrad is a great writer but this isn't his best which to me would be Heart of Darkness. It's still worth a read, irrespective of Kaczynski.
…Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", "Return of the Magi", "Hollow men" Ernest Hemmingway: A Clean Well-Lighted Place Herman Melville: Bartleby, the Scrivener Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness and The Secret Agent Gustave Flaubert: Madame Bovary George Orwell: Any and all of the essays, but especially "Shooting an elephant" and "A hanging" Stendahl: Red and Black James Joyce: A Portrait of The Artist as a Young…
on “Becoming "well read"” ↗I don't think anything much has changed. It's interesting to look at Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Agent" -- published in 1907 -- which is based on a true story (of an anarchist attack on the Greenwich Observatory in 1894). All the elements of modern "terrorism" are there back then: a half-wit dupe bomber,…
…masterful. I'm honestly still shocked that Nostromo isn't the first book that people associate with Conrad, given that it's so much more beautiful and thematically-dense than Heart of Darkness or The Secret Agent. It's like if everyone thought Typee was Melville's best work.
on “Jane Austen shaped a vision of personal flourishing that still feels modern” ↗Reminds me of this bit in Joseph Conrad’s “The Secret Agent” about London’s topographical mysteries: ”With a turn to the left Mr Verloc pursued his way along a narrow street by the side of a yellow wall which, for some inscrutable reason, had No. I Chesham Square…
on “San Francisco streets with confusingly similar names” ↗