The Secret Agent is set in London. It tells the story of Mr. Verloc, a man who lives a double life: one as the owner of a shop where he sells all sorts of junk, and the other as a spy for a foreign government. He lives in a house above his shop with his young wife Winnie, her mother and her brother Stevie, a young man in his early twenties who has a learning disability. There are also a group of anarchists, at least one terrorist, two police officials and some government officials in the plot.
The idea for this story came from a real event: in 1894 a French anarchist, Martial Bourdin, blew himself up in Greenwich Park, near the Greenwich Royal Observatory, when the bomb he was carrying exploded. Everything about this event remained a mystery: it was impossible to discover the reason for the attack, the aim, or even what happened exactly. But although he had very little information, Conrad managed to base a whole novel on this unexplained and violent death.
The Secret Agent was published in 1907, but its themes are so modern that they are often in today’s news: terrorism, espionage and power. Conrad shows us the thinking behind terrorism and what terrorists and people in power want to achieve through it. The Secret Agent is a spy story, a detective story and a psychological drama.
About the Author About the Book (FACT FILE) Real Life Secret Agents: Oliver ‘the Spy’ and the Pentrich Revolution (FACT FILE) Real Life Secret Agents: The Cambridge Spies Characters Before Reading
1. Mr. Verloc 2 .The Embassy 3. The Meeting 4 .The Professor 5. Chief Inspector Heat 6 .Michaelis 7. The Assistant Commissioner 8. Stevie 9 .The Outrage 10.Sir Ethelred 11.Mr. and Mrs. Verloc 12.Ossipon
After Reading (LIFE SKILL) Terrorism Exam Test Project Work Translation Answer Key