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Exclusively from Audible. 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 tales. It follows a European secret agent, Adolf Verloc, 'a London shop owner' with anarchist leanings who becomes reluctantly involved in a plot to blow up the Greenwich Observatory. Full of great characters, melodramatic irony and psychological intrigue the tale is far from simple....

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.

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.

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, Verlac must deal with the repercussions of his actions.

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.

The Secret Agent was one of the first espionage novels ever written, and it is certainly one of the finest in the oeuvre of Joseph Conrad. The story concerns the attempt by a group of back-alley revolutionaries to destroy one of London's most famous landmarks and thereby set off a revolution.

"The Secret Agent" is a novel written by Joseph Conrad, and published in 1907. The story is set in London in the late nineteenth century and revolves around a group of anarchists and their plot to detonate a bomb at Greenwich Observatory. The novel explores themes such as terrorism, politics, morality, and betrayal. The novel's protagonist is Adolf Verloc, a seemingly unremarkable man who owns a small shop selling pornographic materials. However, he is also a secret agent working for an unnamed foreign embassy.

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.

Joseph Conrad’s novel The Secret Agent (1907) is a tragic tale based on the themes of espionage, double agents, anarchism, and terrorism. The story is set in London in 1886 and deals with Mr. Verloc, who works as a spy for an unnamed country. When he becomes involved in an anarchist plot to blow up the Greenwich Observatory, things go haywire, revealing an unholy mess that involves politicians, policemen, foreign diplomats, and London's high society.

Adolf Verloc is a secret agent who provides information and takes care of arriving undercover agents of an un-named government through their embassy. He also runs a shady business selling pornography, comic books, contraceptives, and the like. As well as this, he’s a confidential informant to Chief Inspector Heat of the London police. His family consists of his wife, Winnie, her Mother, and his (presumably) autistic brother-in-law, Stevie.

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, and 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.

Intrigue, espionage and anarchy abound in what is still considered Conrad’s finest novel. Adolf Verloc, a Russian spy working for the police, is embroiled in a plot to blow up the Greenwich Observatory. When the attack goes awry, Verloc must face the consequences. Beloved star of the screen and stage Tim Pigott-Smith provides a thrilling narration of this strikingly relevant tale.

The Secret Agent is a Victorian terrorist tale that has found a new audience with today's audiences. Set in 1866 London, this book tells the story of Adolf Verloc, a shopkeeper turned anarchist.

Polish-born author and mariner Joseph Conrad is widely regarded as one of the greatest English novelists. His 16 years in the merchant navy profoundly shaped his fiction, giving him transformative experiences of adventure and exotic places, and a unique insight into the human psyche. Included here are adaptations of six of his best works, brought together for the first time and collected in chronological order, plus one fascinating bonus programmes exploring his life and art.

This critical and contextual study guide sheds new light on Conrad’s topical novel of espionage and terrorism. A biographical chapter relates The Secret Agent to Conrad’s career. Next, the work’s process of composition is discussed, and differences between the serial, the book version and the stage version are explained. An analysis of the plot gives particular attention to its ironic strategies and to the character of the narrator. Various themes and contexts are explored: conceptions of time and topography; anarchistic and Fenian politics; anti-Semitism; evolution, Lombroso and ...

Born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski in 1857 in Poland, Joseph Conrad had a difficult childhood due to his family's involvement in Polish nationalism, which led to their persecution by the Russian authorities. Conrad started his career as a sailor and traveled extensively, which inspired his literary work. In 1895, he published his first novel "Almayer's Folly," which was followed by a string of successful works, including "Heart of Darkness," which was published in 1899.

En 1906 un acontecimiento real, el intento de volar el Observatorio de Greenwich por parte de un anarquista llamado Martial Bourdin, inspiró a Joseph Conrad el tema de un relato magistral. Sobre el telón de fondo del Londres de comienzos de siglo, una ciudad monstruosa e indiferente, se desarrolla la historia de un fallido atentado que revela el turbio entramado formado por el terrorismo internacional, la acción de la policía y la diplomacia deshonesta.

Verloc vive con su mujer Vinnie, más joven que el, su suegra y su cuñado, que tiene algún problema mental. Tienen una pequeña tienda en el centro de Londres y una vida bastante normal, al menos en apariencia. Sin embargo el Inspector Heat, no está nada convencido de lo que le dicen las apariencias y sospecha que detrás de esa fachada se oculta un criminal peligroso y aunque no tiene ninguna prueba, es testarudo y va a seguir investigando hasta que la encuentre.

"La folie et le désespoir ! Qu'on me donne cela comme levier, et je ferai bouger le monde". Verloc, espion infiltrant le milieu anarchiste, se voit sommé de commettre un attentat retentissant, sous peine de se voir retirer ses rétributions. Mais personne dans son entourage, à commencer par sa femme, ne sait rien de ses activités parallèles. Tout se gâte réellement lorsque Stevie, le frère attardé mental de la femme de M. Verloc, s'intéresse aux agissements de son beau-frère.

Heart of Darkness (1899) is a novella by the Polish-English novelist Joseph Conrad, about a voyage up the Congo River into the Belgian Congo in the Heart of Africa. Charles Marlow, the narrator, tells his story to friends aboard a boat anchored on the River Thames. The story is based on a journey that Conrad took up the Congo River in 1890, during King Leopold II of Belgium’s abusive rule of the area. It exposes the cruelty that the author observed during his visit to the area.