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Thriller

The Secret Agent

by Joseph Conrad

A spy in London is ordered to stage a bombing to foment political and social chaos.

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First published
1907
Length
93,182 words
Reading time
About 6 hr 29 min
Language
English (UK)

About the book

The place is London, and the time is the late 1800s. Mr. Verloc appears to be an unassuming owner of a bric-a-brac store, but he’s actually a spy for an unnamed country. When he’s summoned by his superiors and ordered to plant a bomb to foment unrest in English politics and society, he finds himself stuck in a more-than-uncomfortable situation.

Conrad’s novel is set against the background of the Greenwich Observatory bombing, in which an anarchist unsuccessfully tried to detonate a bomb near the building. Terrorist activity was on the rise, and Conrad uses the fear and uncertainty of the time to explore the meanings of duty and of evil, along with the influence politics and political movements have on terrorist violence.

The Secret Agent is widely considered one of Conrad’s finest novels, with modern critics praising its prescient forecast of 20th century politics and society.

First published 1907; the Read4Max reading text contains approximately 93,182 words arranged in 16 navigable sections.

About the author

Joseph Conrad

Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) is described by Wikidata as Polish-British writer (1857–1924), with citizenship or national association recorded as Russian Empire, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom, and Second Polish Republic.

Recorded occupations include writer, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, science fiction writer, and autobiographer. Languages recorded for Joseph Conrad include English and Polish. The structured record associates Joseph Conrad with modernist literature. Wikidata lists The Lagoon, The Nigger of the 'Narcissus', Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, Amy Foster, and Typhoon among Joseph Conrad's notable works. Open Library identifies Heart of Darkness as a leading work in its author record. Open Library catalogs 5571 works under this author record. The Read4Max catalog currently includes A Personal Record, Almayer’s Folly, An Outcast of the Islands, Chance, Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, and Nostromo under Joseph Conrad's authorship.

1857–1924

Reading options

  • A complete text with direct section navigation in the browser reader.
  • A downloadable EPUB for phones, tablets, desktop reading apps, and compatible ereaders.
  • Book and contributor metadata are checked against the source edition before indexing.

Themes and ideas

  • London (England)
  • Political fiction
  • Conspiracies
  • Anarchists
  • Bombings

Table of contents

Open reader
Show all 16 sections
  1. Author’s Note
  2. Dedication
  3. The Secret Agent
  4. I
  5. II
  6. III
  7. IV
  8. V
  9. VI
  10. VII
  11. VIII
  12. IX
  13. X
  14. XI
  15. XII
  16. XIII
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