Monday, September 27, 2021

The Secret Agent (Joseph Conrad, 1907)

246 pages.

Joseph Conrad remains a favorite author.  So skilled at making characters multi-dimensional - not cartoonish, not good/bad.

Discussion between Assistant Commissioner and Chief Inspector - so good at describing organizational behavior.  A good example of the multi-dimensional characterizations.

The anarchists.  Humans.  True believers more or less; for some it's more of a job.  I like the way he handles them here; perhaps liked it better in Conrad's "Under Western Eyes".

Great description of the types of personalities that gravitate toward the far left (pp 42-43 in the Penguin paperback).  (Of course I don't think that's a great place to end up, so perhaps that's why I like the description so much!)

Mr. Verloc.  His wife (Winnie), and her mother and brother (Stevie, poor thing).  Chief Inspector Heat - competent - made me think of the similar character/role in two Dickens novels (Our Mutual Friend and Bleak House).

A good read.  Even if I didn't love the wind-up.

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