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The Secret Agent

This classic precursor to the modern day spy novel was recently in headlines when it was revealed that the Unabomber drew considerable inspiration from its prophetic portrait of terrorism. Written in 1907 and set in Edwardian London, The secret agent resonates just as strongly in today's world, where a handful of fanatics can still play mad politics and victimize the innocent.

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  • "This classic precursor to the modern day spy novel was recently in headlines when it was revealed that the Unabomber drew considerable inspiration from its prophetic portrait of terrorism. Written in 1907 and set in Edwardian London, The secret agent resonates just as strongly in today's world, where a handful of fanatics can still play mad politics and victimize the innocent."@en
  • "Joseph Conrad explores political and criminal intrigue in a modern society, in this intense 1907 thriller about a British double agent who infiltrates a cabal of anarchists. Secret agent Mr. Adolph Verloc operates from a seedy Soho shop, where he deals in pornography and espionage. Idle, treacherous, and self-righteous, he makes his wife, Winnie's, life one of silent misery ..."@en
  • "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 ..."@en
  • "Focuses on Verloc, an agent employed at the Russian Embassy in London, and his relationships with employers, revolutionaries, a police inspector, and the members of his own family. First published in 1907."@en
  • "For the members of an anarchist cell, it is the ultimate terrorist act--to blow up the Greenwich Observatory, the international symbol of time. Set in Edwardian London in a world where a handful of fanatics could play mad politics and victimize the innocent."@en
  • "Set in late nineteenth-century London, this is a prophetic examination of contemporary terrorism and the literary precursor to the espionage novels of such writers as Graham Greene and John Le Carré. Conrad paints a corrupt London underworld where terrorists and politicians, grotesques and foreign diplomats, fanatics and fashionable society are surprisingly intermingled. Mr. Verloc is a double agent who operates a seedy shop in Soho, where he lives with his wife, her mother, and her idiot brother. When Verloc is assigned a dangerous act of sabotage, it has disastrous repercussions for his own family. As Conrad brilliantly explores the confused motives that lie at the heart of terrorism, his savagely ironic voice is concerned not just with politics, but with the desperate fates of ordinary people."@en
  • "Joseph Conrad explores political and criminal intrigue in a modern society, in this intense 1907 thriller about a British double agent who infiltrates a cabal of anarchists."
  • "Joseph Conrad explores political and criminal intrigue in a modern society, in this intense 1907 thriller about a British double agent who infiltrates a cabal of anarchists."@en
  • "An anarchist bomb plot fails through a woman's protective love for her simple-minded young brother."@en
  • "A haunting tale of espionage and exploitation.This is based on an actual attempt made in 1894 to blow up the Greenwich Observatory. A labyrinth of greed, corruption and betrayal, it is the most darkly humorous of all Conrad's novels."@en
  • "Mr Verloc 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."@en
  • "Now the subject of a major film, "The Secret Agent" is based on an actual attempt made in 1894 to blow up the Greenwich Observatory. A labyrinth of greed, corruption and betrayal, it is the most darkly humorous of all Conrad's novels."
  • "Now the subject of a major film, "The Secret Agent" is based on an actual attempt made in 1894 to blow up the Greenwich Observatory. A labyrinth of greed, corruption and betrayal, it is the most darkly humorous of all Conrad's novels."@en
  • "Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent is a tale of anarchism, espionage and terrorism. Our agent, a man named Mr Verloc, minds his own business while he keeps his shop in London's Soho, alongside his wife, who attends to her aged mother and disabled brother. Their lives are turned upside down when Verloc is reluctantly employed to plant a bomb and destroy an observatory in London. What was once the perfect bomb plot inevitably turns awry and Verloc, his family and his associates are forced to face the consequences. Conrad's later political novel bears all the hallmarks of his captivating style: The Secret Agent brims with melodious and poetic language, alongside crystal clear psychological insights that could only be the work of a uniquely gifted storyteller."@en
  • "Secret agent Mr. Adolph Verloc operates from a seedy Soho shop, where he deals in pornography and espionage. Idle, treacherous, and self-righteous, he makes the life of his wife, Winnie, one of silent misery. When Verloc is assigned to plant a bomb at Greenwich Observatory, his plans go terribly awry, and his family has to deal with the tragic repercussions of his actions.Joseph Conrad's dark satire on English society, while rooted in the Edwardian period, remains strikingly contemporary. Presenting a corrupt London underworld of terrorists, grotesques, and fanatics, Conrad's savagely ironic voice is concerned not just with politics but with the desperate fates of ordinary people."@en
  • "The secret agent is a tale of anarchism, espionage and terrorism. Our agent, a man named Mr. Verloc, minds his own business while he keeps his shop in London's Soho, alongside his wife, who attends to her aged mother and disabled brother. Their lives are turned upside down when Verloc is reluctantly employed to plant a bomb and destroy an observatory in London. What was once the perfect bomb plot inevitably turns awry and Verloc, his family and his associated are forced to face the consequences. Conrad's later political novel bears all the hallmarks of his captivating style: the secret agent brims with melodious and poetic language, alongside crystal-clear psychological insights that could only be the work of a uniquely gifted storyteller."
  • ""Inspired by an actual attempt, in 1894, to blow up the Greenwich Observatory, Conrad created one of his most tense and chilling plots. The world of The Secret Agent--a world of fatuous civil servants and corrupt policemen--is grotesquely mirrored in its underworld, a squalid terrorist landscape inhabited by, among others, the Professor, who always carries a bomb in his pocket and Verloc, the pornographer, deceiver, and spy. Repulsive characters and amoral caricatures collaborate to form a black satire on English society, sharpened into focus with a portrait of "family life." Winnie Verloc's story is relentlessly told to its anarchic end of utter desolation, madness, and despair."--From container."@en
  • ""London, turn of the century ... a cadre of revolutionaries is busily at work. At the center, unsuspected, lurks a secret agent. Written in 1905, the forerunner to today's modern spy-novels.""@en
  • "Verloc, Winnie, Heat and the Professor all come together to form a picture of the squalid underworld of terrorists defying the law."@en
  • "A cast of spies, double agents, conspirators and unwitting accomplices finally become victims of their own terrorist actions in this novel set in turn-of-the-century England."@en
  • "A cast of spies, double agents, conspirators and unwitting accomplices finally become victims of their own terrorist actions in this novel set in turn-of-the-century England."
  • "Mr. Verloc 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."
  • "The scene is turn-of-the-century London. The characters include idealistic revolutionaries, ruthless ideologues, bureaucratic police, and at the center, an undercover, counter revolutionary mole whose mission is to provoke the radical group he has penetrated into a monstrous act of violence that will bring about its own destruction. In this world of plot and counterplot, where identities are deceptions and glowing slogans mask savage realities, each character becomes an ever more helpless puppet of forces beyond control - until one woman's love, grief, and anger rips through the entire fabric of the conspiracy with a passionate, profoundly human act. -Back cover."
  • "Inspired by an actual attempt, in 1894, to blow up the Greenwich Observatory, Conrad created one of his most tense and chilling plots. The world of The Secret Agent - a world of fatuous civil servants and corrupt policemen - is grotesquely mirrored in its underworld, a squalid terrorist landscape."@en
  • "Inspired by an actual attempt, in 1894, to blow up the Greenwich Observatory, Conrad created one of his most tense and chilling plots. The world of The Secret Agent - a world of fatuous civil servants and corrupt policemen - is grotesquely mirrored in its underworld, a squalid terrorist landscape."
  • "The secret agent is a tale of anarchism, espionage and terrorism. Our agent, a man named Mr. Verloc, minds his own business while he keeps his shop in London's Soho, alongside his wife, who attends to her aged mother and disabled brother. Their lives are turned upside down when Verloc is reluctantly employed to plant a bomb and destroy an observatory in London. What was once the perfect bomb plot inevitably turns awry and Verloc, his family and his associated are forced to face the consequences."
  • "Focuses on Verloc, an agent employed at the Russian embassy in London and his relationship with employers, revolutionaries, a police inspector and the members of his own family."
  • "Inspired by an... actual terrorist attack on Greenwich Laboratory in 1894 'The Secret Agent' is arguably Conrad's greatest work Mr Verloc, the spy, is roused to action by his masters. He is to instigate an act 'of destructive ferocity so absurd as to be incomprehensible, inexplicable, almost unthinkable; in fact, mad'. All does not run smoothly however and leads to Mr Verloc's wife, Winnie, demonstrating how quickly rational equilibrium can change to frenzied destruction..."
  • ""Mr. Verloc is a double agent who operates a seedy shop in Soho, where he lives with his wife, her mother, and her idiot brother. When Verloc is assigned a dangerous act of sabotage, it has disastrous reper cussions for his own family"--Container."@en

genre

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  • "Spy stories"@en
  • "Spy stories"
  • "Sound recordings"@en
  • "Suspense fiction"
  • "Suspense fiction"@en
  • "Audiobooks"@en
  • "Audiobooks"
  • "Political fiction"@en
  • "Political fiction"
  • "Audio adaptations"@en
  • "Downloadable audio books"@en
  • "Fiction"
  • "Fiction"@en

name

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  • "The secret agent [a simple tale]"
  • "The Secret Agent"@en
  • "Secret agent"@en
  • "Secret agent"
  • "The secret agent complete & unabridged recorded on 8 cassettes"
  • "The secret agent"
  • "The secret agent"@en
  • "The secret agent a simple tale"@en
  • "The secret agent a simple tale"

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