''The Secret Agent'' is Joseph Conrad's dark satire
on English society, edited with an introduction and
notes by Michael Newton in ''Penguin Classics''. In the
only novel Conrad set in London, ''The Secret Agent''
communicates a profoundly ironic view of human affairs.
The story is woven around an attack on the Greenwich
Observatory in 1894 masterminded by Verloc, a Russian
spy working for the police, and ostensibly a member of
an anarchist group in Soho. His masters instruct him to
discredit the anarchists in a humiliating fashion, and
when his evil plan goes horribly awry, Verloc must deal
with the repercussions of his actions. While rooted in
the Edwardian period, Conrad's tale remains strikingly
contemporary, with its depiction of Londoners gripped by
fear of the terrorists living in their midst. This
edition of ''The Secret Agent'' contains a chronology,
further reading, notes and maps of London and Greenwich.
In his introduction, Michael Newton discusses London's
real-life world of political anarchy, and Conrad's
portrayal of the Verlocs' marriage. Joseph Conrad
(1[zasłonięte]857-19) was born in the Ukraine and grew up under
Tsarist autocracy.After spending years in the French,
and later the British Merchant Navy, Conrad left the sea
to devote himself to writing. In 1896 he settled in
Kent, where he produced within fifteen years such modern
classics as ''Youth'', ''Heart of Darkness'', ''Lord
Jim'', ''Typhoon'', ''Nostromo'', ''The Secret Agent''
and ''Under Western Eyes''. If you enjoyed ''The Secret
Agent'', you might like Fyodor Dostoyevsky's ''Demons'',
also available in ''Penguin Classics''. ''A brilliant
book, one of the greatest works of modern irony''.
(Malcolm Bradbury). |
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