Books with title The Secret Agent Illustrated

A classic and thrilling tale of espionage and murder, Joseph Conrad’s “The Secret Agent” was first published in 1907. Set in London in 1886, the novel centers around Mr. Adolf Verloc, a spy who owns a small shop and lives with his wife Winnie, her mother and her mentally disabled brother Stevie, above his business. He is also a member of a largely ineffectual anarchist group, whom he meets with regularly to discuss politics and produce anarchist literature. Unknown to his fellow anarchists, Verloc is secretly working for the Embassy of an unnamed country as an “agent provocateur.” Verloc is told by his government contact that he and his associates are to bomb the Greenwich Observatory in London in order to make the British see anarchism as a greater threat and work more actively to suppress it. In scenes alternating between both before and after the bombing, the novel follows the police investigation of the bombing and the family drama unfolding in Verloc’s own home, as Stevie’s inadvertent involvement in the bombing comes to light. Considered to be one of Conrad’s best works, as well as a prescient study of modern terrorism, it is also a searing and tragic story of family love and loyalty. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.

This chillingly prophetic examination of terrorism by the author of Heart of Darkness is the literary precursor to the espionage thrillers of Graham Greene and John Le Carré. Inspired by an actual attempt to blow up the Greenwich Observatory, The Secret Agent portrays the world of late-nineteenth-century London, with its fatuous civil servants, corrupt police, and squalid underworld characters like Verloc, a pornographer acting as a government informant. Verloc’s assignment is to provoke the radicals whose group he has penetrated into committing an act of such violence that they will be discredited and their appeal to the masses destroyed. With its questionable characters and amoral caricatures, the novel is as much a black satire of English society as a frightening mirror of the present day. With an Introduction by E. L. Doctorow and a New Afterword by Debra Romanick Baldwin

Joseph Conrad's classic tale of espionage comes to Classics Illustrated in this vivid adaptation! The Secret Agent is the story of Mr. Verloc, a reluctant spy who is pressured by his superiors into joining an anarchist plot to blow up the Greenwich Observatory in 1886 London. This unspeakable act of terror sets the stage for a gripping political thriller, brought to life by John K. Snyder's extraordinary comics art.

To the destruction of what is.London, 1886: Adolf Verloc, by day he is a small shop owner who lives uneventfully with his wife, his mother-in-law, and his brother-in-law. By night, he is an agent provocateur. The unnamed country in which employs his clandestine life has found his service record to be lacking, and in order to redeem himself, they offer him a new and dangerous mission. One of terrorist machinations, this new mission finds Adolf convincing a group of local Anarchists to detonate a bomb at the Greenwich Observatory.

At the turn of the 20th century, Mary Lennox is a sickly, neglected, unloved 10-year-old girl, born in India to wealthy British parents who never wanted her and made an effort to ignore the girl. She is cared for primarily by native servants, who allow her to become spoiled, aggressive and self-centered. After a cholera epidemic kills her parents and the servants, Mary is discovered alive but alone in the empty house. She briefly lives with an English clergyman and his family in India before she is sent to Yorkshire, in England, to live with Archibald Craven, a wealthy, hunchbacked uncle whom she has never met, at his isolated moorland house, Misselthwaite Manor. At first, Mary is as obnoxious and sour as ever. She dislikes her new home, the people living in it, and most of all, the bleak moor on which it sits. She only begins to like a good-natured maid named Martha Sowerby, who tells Mary about Mary's aunt, the late Lilias Craven, who would spend hours in a private walled garden growing roses. Mrs Craven died after an accident in the garden, and the devastated Mr Craven locked the garden and buried the key. Mary becomes interested in finding the secret garden herself, and her ill manners begin to soften as a result. Soon she comes to enjoy the company of Martha, the gardener Ben Weatherstaff, and a friendly robin redbreast. Her health and attitude improve with the bracing Yorkshire air, and she grows stronger as she explores the moor and plays with a skipping rope that Mrs Sowerby buys for her. Mary wonders about the secret garden and about some mysterious cries that echo through the house at night.

This book, as can be seen even from its name, belongs to the spy novel genre. A provocateur and a professional anarchist Karl Verloc, hiding under a disguise of a companionable owner of a stationery shop, conducts a series of bombings in London. Detectives manage to find some clues only after the death of Verlok’s wife’s younger brother, whom he asked to deliver a mysterious package to the opposite side of the city.

This eBook has been formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. The Secret Agent is set in London in 1886 and deals with Mr. Adolf Verloc and his work as a spy against Britain. Verloc is also a businessman who owns a shop which sells pornographic material, contraceptives and bric-a-brac. His friends are a group of anarchists of which Comrade Ossipon, Michaelis, and "The Professor" are the most prominent. The group produces anarchist literature in the form of pamphlets entitled F.P. – The Future of the Proletariat. Although a member of an anarchist cell, Verloc is also secretly employed by the embassy of a foreign country, but Mr. Vladimir, the new First Secretary in the Embassy is not satisfied with Verloc's contribution. In order to redeem himself, Verloc must carry out an operation – the destruction of Greenwich Observatory by a bomb.

The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale is a novel by Joseph Conrad, published in 1907. The story is set in London in 1886 and deals with Mr. Adolf Verloc and his work as a spy for an unnamed country (presumably Russia). The Secret Agent is one of Conrad's later political novels in which he moved away from his former tales of seafaring.The novel deals broadly with anarchism, espionage and terrorism. It also deals with exploitation of the vulnerable in Verloc's relationship with his brother-in-law Stevie, who has a learning difficulty.Because of its terrorism theme, it was noted as "one of the three works of literature most cited in the American media" two weeks after the September 11 attacks.

“I am afraid that if you want to go down into history you'll have to do something for it.” ― Joseph Conrad, The Secret AgentJoseph Conrad invented the terrorist-spy genre in 1907 with his novella The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale.. The Secret Agent was one of "the three works of literature most cited in the American media" around the two weeks following September 11, 2001.” ( From “Conrad in the Twentieth Century: Contemporary Approaches and Perspectives, Abingdon, Oxford.”). The story is set in London in 1886 and deals largely with the life of Mr. Verloc and his job as a spy. The Secret Agent is notable as one of Conrad's later political novels, which move away from his typical tales of seafaring. The novel deals broadly with the notions of anarchism, espionage, and terrorism and depicts the type of anarchist and revolutionary groups which sprouted up before many of the social uprisings of the early twentieth century. Recently, The Secret Agent was ranked the 46th best novel of the 20th century by Modern Library. “One of Conrad's supreme masterpieces. . . .one of the unquestioned classics of the first order that he added to the English novel.” - F. R. Leavis*Includes image gallery.*Includes link to free unabridged audio recording of The Secret Agent.

About The Secret Agent by Joseph ConradHow is this book unique?E-reader & tablet formatted, Font Adjustments100% Original contentUnabridged EditionAuthor Biography InsideIllustrations includedThe Secret Agent: A Simple Tale is a novel by Joseph Conrad, published in 1907. The story is set in London in 1886 and deals with Mr. Adolf Verloc and his work as a spy for an unnamed country (presumably Russia). The Secret Agent is notable for being one of Conrad's later political novels in which he moved away from his former tales of seafaring. The novel deals broadly with anarchism, espionage and terrorism. It also deals with exploitation of the vulnerable, particularly in Verloc's relationship with his brother-in-law Stevie, who has an intellectual disability. The Secret Agent was ranked the 46th best novel of the 20th century by Modern Library. Because of its terrorism theme, it was noted as "one of the three works of literature most cited in the American media" two weeks after the September 11 attacks.