Critics’ Reviews

“Tanya Agathocleous’s edition of Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent, a tale of espionage in the age of ennui, is an excellent, important, and timely addition to the Broadview list. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, the novel uncannily speaks to a range of concerns that continue to preoccupy us—metropolitanism and cosmopolitanism, political terror, degeneracy and the “ends” of history, the collapse of boundaries between domestic and public life, the State’s intrusion into the lives of its citizens—issues that insist on a deep and careful understanding of their historical antecedents. Professor Agathocleous has judiciously selected materials from Conrad’s moment that will effectively immerse students in the social, political, and intellectual milieu of Conrad’s novel.” — Joseph McLaughlin, Ohio University

“An outstanding edition. First-time readers will welcome the eloquent introductory essay, which places The Secret Agent in the context of both Victorianism and modernism, as well as the very useful supplementary materials on anarchism and degeneration. And those already familiar with the novel will be prompted to re-read it in light of Agathocleous’s claim that Conrad, along with his New Woman contemporaries, is exploring marriage and the condition of women as well.” — Amanda Claybaugh, Columbia University