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The Secret Agent

A Norton Critical Edition
By Joseph Conrad
Series: Norton Critical Editions
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad is a captivating tale of espionage set in London. The story revolves around a political extremist, Mr Verloc, who leads a double life involving intrigue and betrayal. As he becomes tangled in a complex plot, personal and political tensions rise, leaving him to navigate the dangerous undercurrents of anarchist activities and state surveillance.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this gripping story if you are fascinated by espionage, intrigue, and the darker sides of human nature. Set in the early 20th century, it offers a compelling mix of political tension and psychological insight, exploring themes of motivation and betrayal in a vividly atmospheric context. If you appreciate narratives with complex characters and moral ambiguity, this novel may appeal to you.

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“[A] masterly study of the inner workings of the disordered minds whose aim is destruction, violence, and the overturning of law and order by means of bombs.”—The Observer (1907)

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

This Norton Critical Edition includes:

- The first English book edition of the novel (1907), accompanied by explanatory footnotes.

- Four illustrations.

- Contemporary sources that informed Conrad's writing of the novel, including newspaper accounts of the "Greenwich Bomb Outrage," articles from the anarchist press, earlier fictional treatments of the Martial Bourdin case (the inspiration for Adolph Verloc), and important texts related to anarchism and fin-de-siècle culture.

- Seven wide-ranging critical essays by Ian Watt, Terry Eagleton, Martin Ray, Hugh Epstein, Gail Fincham, Peter Lancelot Mallios, and Michael Newton.

- A Chronology and a Selected Bibliography.

Series: Norton Critical Editions

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780393937442

Publisher: WW Norton & Co

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 12 June 2016

Country: United States

Imprint: WW Norton & Co

Edition: Critical edition

Contributors:

  • Edited by Richard Niland

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 23.0mm

Width: 132.0mm

Height: 213.0mm

Weight: 384g

Pages: 400

Collections

Classic Fiction Classic General Fiction Fiction General Fiction Joseph Conrad Literary Fiction Series: Norton Critical Editions

About the Author

JOSEPH CONRAD was born in Polish Ukraine on December 3, 1857, with the name Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski. Orphaned at the age of eleven, Conrad spent the remainder of his youth in Switzerland and Cracow before joining the French marines. In 1878, he enlisted in the British Merchant Navy. Following sixteen years of service, Conrad launched his literary career in England. He published many novels and stories, including Lord Jim (1900), Nostromo (1904), and most famously, The Heart of Darkness (1899), inspired by his steamboat voyage on the Congo River. Although English was his third language (after Polish and French), Conrad’s rich and distinctive prose established him as one of England’s greatest novelists. Conrad died on August 3, 1924, in Kent, England. Richard Niland is Lecturer in English at the University of Strathclyde. He is the author of Conrad and History and is a contributor to The New Cambridge Companion to Joseph Conrad. He is the editor of Joseph Conrad, The Contemporary Reviews, Volume 3 (Cambridge University Press).

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