A Concordance To Conrad S The Secret Agent

Originally published in 1979, this concordance consists of a Verbal Index listing the location of all words used by Conrad, a Word Frequency Table listing number occurrences for each word in his text, and a Field of Reference in which the user can locate in its context a word cited in the Verbal Index. This volume is part of a series which produced verbal indexes, concordances, and related data for all of Conrad’s works.

An impenetrable mystery seems destined to hang for ever over this act of madness or despair. Mr Verloc, the secret agent, keeps a shop in London's Soho where he lives with his wife Winnie, her infirm mother, and her idiot brother, Stevie. When Verloc is reluctantly involved in an anarchist plot to blow up the Greenwich Observatory things go disastrously wrong, and what appears to be a simple tale proves to involve politicians, policemen, foreign diplomats and London's fashionable society in the darkest and most surprising interrelations. This new edition includes a critical introduction which describes Conrad's great London novel as the realization of a monstrous town, a place of idiocy, madness, criminality and butchery.

ANNOTATIONS. Biography of Joseph Conrad About The Secret Agent The Secret Agent Summary Character List Glossary Themes Quotes and Analysis Summary And Analysis Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III Chapter IV Chapter V Chapter VI Chapter VII Chapter VIII Chapter IX Chapter X Chapter XI Chapter XII Chapter XIII Symbols, Allegory and Motifs Metaphors and Similes Irony Imagery Conrad's Aesthetics Literary Elements Essay Questions Joseph Conrad published The Secret Agent in 1907 and the work is often taken to be the major work in a trilogy of political works that Conrad published around this time the other two are Nostromo and Under Western Eyes). The book is also taken to be Conrad's greatest metropolitan novel and makes use both of Continental and English writing styles. The Secret Agent is one of the first spy novels and is written in such a way as to require great attention on the part of the reader to make sense of the plot developments that occur (Simmons and Stape, viii). Conrad writes in an Author's Note to the work (written twelve years after the initial publication) that he was motivated to write the book after having a brief conversation with a friend about anarchism. Conrad believed that anarchism was dangerous because it preyed on humankind's tendency to be eager for its own self-destruction. In the course of the conversation, Conrad and his friend remembered the story of an attempt to blow up the Greenwich Observatory, an act that Conrad thought was "so fatuous...that it was impossible to fathom its origin by any reasonable or even unreasonable process of thought". For Conrad, all this had accomplished was a man who died for nothing--not for an idea or for anything else. The friend recalled that the man's sister committed suicide afterward. Shortly afterward, Conrad came across a book of recollections by an Assistant Commissioner of Police during the period; a line in the work stimulated Conrad to write the novel. Conrad notes that the book was received well by people in the know--diplomats said that the representation of Vladimir was very perceptive, and revolutionaries said that the portrayal of their activities was correct. Conrad was criticized for writing a novel that seemed to be intended to shock the reader. He defended himself against this charge, writing that "telling Winnie Verloc's story to its anarchistic end of utter desolation, madness, and despair, and telling it as I have told it here, I have not intended to commit a gratuitous outrage on the feelings of mankind". As suggested above, the book seems to have been motivated by a desire to show the foolhardiness of anarchist ways of thinking. Conrad became interested in drama later in his career and The Secret Agent was the first work of his that he tried to put on the stage (in November 1922). The adaptation was a failure, likely because it was difficult to convey in dramatic form the complex narrative voice of the work (Simmons and Stape, viii).

The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale is a novel by Joseph Conrad, published in 1907.The story is set in London in 1886 and deals with Mr Anton 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 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 a learning difficulty.Because of its terrorism theme, it was noted as "one of the three works of literature most cited in the American media" two weeks after the September 11 attacks.Set in London in 1886, the novel follows the life of Adolf Verloc, a secret agent. Verloc is also a businessman who owns a shop which sells pornographic material, contraceptives and bric-a-brac. He lives with his wife Winnie, his mother-in-law, and his brother-in-law, Stevie. Stevie has a mental disability, possibly autism, which causes him to be excitable; his sister, Verloc's wife, attends to him, treating him more as a son than as a brother. Verloc's friends are a group of anarchists of which Comrade Ossipon, Michaelis, and "The Professor" are the most prominent. Although largely ineffectual as terrorists, their actions are known to the police. The group produces anarchist literature in the form of pamphlets entitled F.P., an acronym for The Future of the Proletariat.

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The book tells the story of Mr. Adolf Verloc and his work as a spy against Britain. Verloc is 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.

The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale by Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad's Secret Agent, is a classic novel based on real events, the attempt to blow up Greenwich Observatory in 1894. The fictionalized story revolves around a beautiful young woman, her simple-minded brother and her devoted but tortured husband. The novel is a mixture of love story, spy and mystery that continues to entertain for many years after its original publication date. The novel opens as a store owner Mr. Verloc goes on a date at an embassy in London. During this meeting, Mr. Verloc is revealed to be a secret agent of the French government and is accused of no longer being productive in this capacity. In the past, the Ambassador was a man who completely trusted Mr. Verloc. However, there is a new man in charge now. He is a man of action, who expects everyone in his employ to be men of action. This man, Mr. Vladimir, suggests that Mr. Verloc create a situation to excite the emotions of the people of London, by setting off a bomb in a scientific location. As Mr. Verloc struggles with the perceived threat in Mr. Vladimir's suggestion, his friends excite his brother-in-law's emotions by discussing social reform in terms the young man misunderstands. Stevie, Mr. Verloc's brother-in-law, is a simple young man who has struggled with a job and now works exclusively in Mr. Verloc's porn store. When a man blows up in Greenwich Park, some of Mr Verloc's friends are convinced he blew himself up. The police are also immediately suspicious of Mr. Verloc, because of a blue tissue found among the deceased's belongings. An inspector, Chief Inspector Heat, believes that a friend of Mr Verloc's recently released on parole, Michaelis, is involved. He is determined to prove it, in order to continue to develop his highly respected reputation. His supervisor, the Deputy Commissioner, disagreed and decided to get himself involved in the investigation. Heat goes to Mr. Verloc's, only to find that his supervisor has been there before. Heat learns the true identity of the dead man and that Mr. Verloc was indeed involved. Heat suggests that Mr. Verloc leave the country immediately. The deputy commissioner, however, has already offered Mr Verloc a deal in exchange for information that not only wipes out Michaelis but also ends Mr Vladimir's tyrannical reign. Upon hearing of her brother's death, Ms Verloc becomes almost catatonic, as she listens to her husband explain everything that has happened. Mr. Verloc tells his young wife that his brother's death is as much his fault as it is his, as it forced Mr. Verloc to spend time with Stevie. It is also her fault that Mr Verloc was arrested so quickly by the police, because she did not tell him about the tags she sewn on her brother's coat. Mrs. Verloc becomes homicidal and stabs her husband with a carving knife. Mrs. Verloc runs from the shop, fearing to die by the gallows. Mrs. Verloc meets a friend of her husband's and begs him for help. However, instead of helping her, Ossipon, her husband's friend, abandons her and steals all her money. Ms. Verloc ends up committing suicide by anonymously jumping off a steamboat. Only Ossipon knows the truth about Mrs. Verloc's death.

Conrad's novel "The Secret Agent" is a gripping espionage thriller revolving around the anarchists and secret agents of late 19th-century England. The protagonist, Mr. Verloc, is an employer of foreign embassy in London who gets involved in a terrorist plot that ultimately leads to disaster. The novel has several interesting twists and turns which make it captivating and worth reading.