Jan 3, 2010

The Secret Agent | Characters

Conrad's cast in The Secret Agent is composed of many eccentrics, a fact which led Martin Seymour-Smith in his 1984 "Introduction" to the Penguin edition to suggest that most of them are satirical caricatures. The influence of Dickens on the novel's setting has been suggested, and it is not difficult to argue that Dickens's world of London eccentrics influenced Conrad's characterizations. However, to say that would be to forget that London is a gigantic city which has always had its share of eccentrics. Indeed, a group of revolutionaries and anarchists on the fringe of society are...