Based on an actual plot to blow up the Greenwich Observatory, this is one of the first novels to deal with terrorism.   A hapless group of anarchists is prodded into the bombing, which destroys them, rather than their intended target.

Conrad has created a memorable cast of characters & deftly demonstrates the senseless nature of political violence.  But this is a novel whose impact has been dulled by the events of our bloody century.  Where once the bombing of Greenwich Observatory would have been a shocking crime, after the assassination attempts on Prime Ministers and other IRA attacks, it seems almost comical.

(Reviewed:)

Grade: (B) Orrin C. Judd

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Joseph Conrad Links:

    -WIKIPEDIA: Joseph Conrad
    -RADIO PLAY: The Duel by Joseph Conrad (Omnibus) (BBC Radio 4)
    -ESSAY: All at sea: two crises in Conrad (Jeffrey Meyers, 8/18/24, The Article)
    -ESSAY: Joseph Conrad and André Gide: a literary friendship (Jeffrey Meyers, The Article)
    -ESSAY: The dark heart of Joseph Conrad: Why have we neglected this masterful modern author? (Boyd Tonkin, 9/02/24, UnHerd)
    -ESSAY: An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'" (Chinua Achebe, 1977, Massachusetts Review) [PDF]
    -ESSAY: Joseph Conrad Uncensored: His work withstands his critics a century after his death. (Christopher Sandford, July 29, 2024, Modern Age)
    -ESSAY: Under Eastern eyes: Joseph Conrad and Somerset Maugham (Jeffrey Meyers, 6/30/24, The Article)
    -ESSAY: “Invasion is a Structure Not an Event.” On Settler Colonialism and Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness: Robert G. Parkinson on Historicizing Imperial Encounters at Home and Abroad (Robert G. Parkinson, May 29, 2024, LitHub)
    -ESSAY: Ivory, silver, coal: Joseph Conrad and the ecology of empire (Jeffrey Meyers, October 2021, The Article)
    -ESSAY: Hisham Matar on the Migratory Fictions of Joseph Conrad: The Author of The Return Reconsiders the Story, “Amy Foster” (Hisham Matar, December 3, 2021, LitHub)
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Book-related and General Links:
    -etext
    -Bio (American Institute of Polish Culture homepage)
    -Lycos Guide to Joseph Conrad
    -Conrad's Darkness (V. S. NAIPAUL, NY Review of Books)
    -English 455: Colloquium on Joseph Conrad (Dr. Richard Ruppel: Department of English)
    -ESSAY : Conspiracy and Concealment in Nostromo (Hong-Shu Teng)
    -ESSAY : Joseph Conrad Never Jumped  (Frank Kermode, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW of  Joseph Conrad: The Three Lives by Frederick R. Karl, Moralist of Exile (V.S. PRITCHETT, NY Review of Books)
    -REVIEW of Culture and Imperialism  by Edward W. Said  Lost Paradises (MICHAEL WOOD, NY review of Books)
   -Literary Research Guide: Joseph Conrad (1857 - 1924 )
    -ESSAY: Twentieth Century Political Novels: Structure, form and narrative technique in Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent  (Are Sauren)
    -ESSAY : Chasing After Conrad's Secret Agent : It's the archetypal novel about terrorists. And everyone's getting it wrong (Judith Shulevitz, Slate)

If you liked The Secret Agent, try:

Brink, Andre
    -An Act of Terror

Camus, Albert
    -The Rebel

Hynes, James
    -The Wild Colonial Boy

LeCarre, John
    -The Little Drummer Girl

Lessing, Doris
    -The Good Terrorist

O'Flaherty, Liam
    -The Informer