Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'The secret agent (Conrad)'

Winnie Verloc's role in "The Secret Agent" has received little initial critical attention. However, this character emerges as Conrad's hero in this novel because she is an exception to what afflicts the other characters: institutionalism. In the first chapter, I discuss the effect of institutions on the characters in the novel as well as on London, and how both the characters and the city lack hope and humanity. Chapter II is an analysis of Winnie's character, concentrating on her philosophy that "life doesn't stand much looking into," and how this view, coupled with her disturbing experience of having looked into the "abyss," makes Winnie heroic in her affirmative existentialism. Chapters III and IV broaden the focus, comparing Winnie to Conrad's other protagonists and to his other female characters.

The aim of this essay is to investigate ways in which the narrative in Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent reflects the political views within and around the novel. The narrative focus of the essay is plot-structure and focalisation, and the political focus circles around anarchy and anarchism. The essay discusses how the anarchist’s belief in individual freedom and Conrad’s scepticism towards politics is reflected in the novel’s narration. I also discuss how the narrator uses irony to reflect Conrad’s scepticism.

This dissertation will investigate how Conrad's "purely artistic purpose" comes under ethical review as reader, character and author renegotiate the terms of the story's telling - specifically (to pursue the novel's haunting reference to Othello) with regard to "the pity of it".

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Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent was first published in 1907 and has been read and debated – especially by scholars – since then due to its unique literary techniques and approach on the subject of espionage, politics and domestic drama. In the 9/11 aftermath, however, The Secret Agent was rediscovered as a "prophetic text", since its plot contains disturbingly familiar elements to us. To enlist some: a group of men who hate the modern capitalist society and wishes to destroy it; a conspiracy targeting a main symbol of such society; an outrage made with "destructive ferocity so absurd as to be incomprehensible"; a terrorist who walks by the streets seeking for an opportunity to blow himself and anyone around. Such elements, despite of their temporal distance of a hundred years from the release of Conrad's book, send us in a questioning not only about the usual literary subjects – plot, narrator, style – but also in a sociological and historical perspective between ours and Conrad’s turn-of-the-century perceptions. In order to analyze the novel in such perspectives, a multidisciplinary approach was used. It led us to conclude that "The Secret Agent" describes extremely human and universal feelings and behaviors that surpass any ordinary historical or sociological categorizations, reaching a deep and dreadful truth about timeless human nature.
O agente secreto de Joseph Conrad foi publicado pela primeira vez em 1907 e, desde então, foi lido e debatido - principalmente por estudiosos da literatura - devido a sua técnica literária única e ao tratamento dado pela narrativa a temas como a espionagem, política e drama familiar. Após os atentados do "Onze de Setembro", entretanto, O agente secreto foi redescoberto sob uma perspectiva "profética", uma vez que seu enredo contém elementos tristemente familiares para nós: um grupo de homens que odeiam a moderna sociedade capitalista e desejam destruí-la; uma conspiração para atacar um dos principais símbolos dessa sociedade; um atentado com uma "ferocidade destrutiva tão absurda quanto incompreensível"; um terrorista que vaga pelas ruas em busca de uma oportunidade para explodir a sim mesmo e todos em torno. Tais elementos, a despeito de escritos há cem anos, nos remetem a uma busca não apenas sobre os elementos literários de praxe – enredo, narração, estilo – mas numa perspectiva histórica e sociológica entre a percepção da nossa virada de século (XXI) e aquela da época de Conrad (XX). Para completar essa busca, servimo-nos de uma abordagem multidisciplinar. Concluímos que O agente secreto descreve ações e sentimentos de extrema humanidade e universalidade. Tais ações e sentimentos ultrapassam classificações históricas e sociais e também revelam algumas das profundas e terríveis verdades sobre a atemporal natureza humana.

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O agente secreto de Joseph Conrad foi publicado pela primeira vez em 1907 e, desde ent?o, foi lido e debatido - principalmente por estudiosos da literatura - devido a sua t?cnica liter?ria ?nica e ao tratamento dado pela narrativa a temas como a espionagem, pol?tica e drama familiar. Ap?s os atentados do "Onze de Setembro", entretanto, O agente secreto foi redescoberto sob uma perspectiva "prof?tica", uma vez que seu enredo cont?m elementos tristemente familiares para n?s: um grupo de homens que odeiam a moderna sociedade capitalista e desejam destru?-la; uma conspira??o para atacar um dos principais s?mbolos dessa sociedade; um atentado com uma "ferocidade destrutiva t?o absurda quanto incompreens?vel"; um terrorista que vaga pelas ruas em busca de uma oportunidade para explodir a sim mesmo e todos em torno. Tais elementos, a despeito de escritos h? cem anos, nos remetem a uma busca n?o apenas sobre os elementos liter?rios de praxe enredo, narra??o, estilo mas numa perspectiva hist?rica e sociol?gica entre a percep??o da nossa virada de s?culo (XXI) e aquela da ?poca de Conrad (XX). Para completar essa busca, servimo-nos de uma abordagem multidisciplinar. Conclu?mos que O agente secreto descreve a??es e sentimentos de extrema humanidade e universalidade. Tais a??es e sentimentos ultrapassam classifica??es hist?ricas e sociais e tamb?m revelam algumas das profundas e terr?veis verdades sobre a atemporal natureza humana.

Abstract: The components of this paper are essentially based on grammatical cohesion which comprises reference (nominal and demonstrative), substitution and ellipsis (both nominal, verbal and clausal) and were selected from "Silent Snow, Secret Snow" by Conrad Aiken. Considering the language used by the author and by virtue of the cohesive peculiarity of the short story, we proposed a division of the text into two distinct parts, presenting, there fore, a new perspective in terms of structure, without any intention of altering the structural originality of the text,which is based on the sequence of the events presented in a chronological-, order.' This division into two parts may be justified by the relevance of the cataphoric items found in the first part and the anaphoric ones in the second, related to the same character(subject) and subject matter. In other words, the cataphoric elements in the first part (up to paragraph 20) become anaphoric in the second part (from paragraph 20 on), from the moment in which the name "Paul Hasleman" and "the snow" become explicit. With regard to the tables, the structure presented refers especially, to the first and the third ones. The other tables contribute to a more comprehensive study of the grammatical cohesion in the text. We may say that: Table One : : contains • cataphoric data up to paragraph 20 of the text; Table Two: registers anaphoric data up to paragraph 20 as well; Table Three: comprises anaphoric data - which were cataphoric from paragraph 20 up to the end of the short story; Table Four: contains substitution data (nominal, verbal ' and clausal) throughout the text; Table Five: registers data concerning ellipsis (also nominal, verbal and clausal) throughout the short story as well. All data analysed were selected having in : mind the cohesive relation between at least two sentences. Through out the data, the cataphoric items seem to contribute more effectively to preserve the essentially foggy atmosphere of the first paragraphs of the short story. But the same effect is not produced by anaphora (reference, substitution and ellipsis) which, while considering i its practical aspect/ taking the reader back to occurrences already mentioned and events previously refered to, promotes a more satisfactory interaction between the reader and the text in terms of comprehension. The attempt made in order to establish a parallel between grammatical cohesion and the atmosphere of the: text, considering the first as a "linguistic metaphor" of the second, enabled us to perceive vagueness as a result , not only of other elements of literary creation, but also as the result of the linguistic structures used by the author. The exophoric data and the comparative reference which also belong to the study of the grammatical - cohesive relations, were not considered for they do not present the cohesive relations proposed above. As the cohesive relations are not limited to those analysed in this paper, the lexical and the conjunctive items, were presented as proposed topic for further research completing thus the study of the cohesive relations found in the text.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2007.
Title from electronic title page (viewed Dec. 18, 2007). "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Education." Discipline: Education; Department/School: Education.

This thesis examines the influence of the London-based literary agent James Brand Pinker, a former magazine editor who established his agency on Arundel Street in 1896. Working with archives in Britain and America, this investigation situates his career among the broader changes which were taking place within literary culture from the 1890s up to 1922: particularly, heightened commercialisation within the publishing industry and the increasing professionalisation of the author. Literary agents emerged in response – and as an antidote – to these changes. While there has been growing interest in J.B. Pinker for some time, there has been little concentrated study. Due to the impressive array of clients Pinker amassed over the course of his 26-year career, this thesis cannot be exhaustive; it is instead a consideration of selected writers with whom he developed sustained, intimate or unusual relationships. The chapters, organised by author, address Arnold Bennett, Henry James, Joseph Conrad, Ford Madox Ford and finally D.H. Lawrence and James Joyce, the latter two considered together. This structure seeks to reveal the different types of relationship Pinker fostered, enacting roles as diverse as business partner, patron, bank manager, friend and even cinematic collaborator. While these authors enjoyed varying degrees of popular and critical success, taken together they testify to Pinker’s particular interest in promoting and developing the careers of struggling, young literary talent. The agency continued for some years after J.B. Pinker’s death, but this study covers the period from 1896 to 1922, from the establishment of the agency until his death. This thesis aims to contribute to the expanding fields of publishing history and network studies, and to the early history of modernism, as well as to our understanding of the authors concerned.

La spécificité et l'originalité des réécritures du mythe de Caïn dans les romans étudiés seront mieux saisies à l'issue d'un panorama diachronique qui, partant du récit biblique (Genèse IV), s'arrêtera sur ses principales lectures exégétiques, puis sur les grandes articulations de son histoire littéraire. Le Caïn du 20e est inséparable de la crise du sujet et des valeurs, des fractures historiques à l'oeuvre dans la modernité. La bipartition traditionnelle qui opposait Caïn et Abel selon un système axiologique radical, mais susceptible de se retourner, est frappée d'hybridité, vouée à l'ouverture et à la mobilité. L'équivocité que partagent les avatars des deux frères bibliques s'accompagne de l'exploration de la richesse d'un parcours caïnique tendu entre meurtre et création. L'ambiguïté de cet inténaire est idéale pour figurer le travail du négatif, la fécondité des déchirures, le processus de séparation et d'individuation autant d'éléments formulés par les penseurs de la modernité. Homo Faber, Caïn le civilisateur épouse la crise de la raison, ses risques de dérive vers la barbarie technicienne. Mais, père des artistes, il révèle aussi l'opposition entre monde hétéroclite de la vie et monde harmonieux de l'art, et la fonction d'antidote dévolue à celui-ci par une modernité qui cherche à unifier ses multiples fractures. Figure tragique mais porteuse d'espoir, le nouveau Caïn est placé au centre du processus dialectique de la création littéraire

Abstract The "Defective" Generation: Disability in Modernist Literature aims to provide an analysis of how Anglo-American authors in the early twentieth century conceived of, utilized, and portrayed disability in their fiction. Building on the existing scholarship in the field of Disability Studies, I argue that modernists revise the tradition of representation to make disabilities a generational trait rather than a sign of individual deviance. In novel after novel, multiple characters exhibit some form of illness or impairment, which appears as both cause and effect of the instabilities and traumas of modernity. Like many of their predecessors, then, these authors portray diverse health conditions as "defects" rather than natural variations in the human body, and most draw little distinction between the types of "disorders" they represent. This perspective, however, becomes particularly destructive in the era leading up to the Holocaust, when eugenical attitudes would lead to the murder or sterilization of over a million people with disabilities. Modernists also continue to exploit disability's potential for metaphor and sometimes evoke traditional stereotypes. Unlike traditional representations, however, these works do not resolve what the authors perceive as the "problem" of disability by curing or eliminating it; instead, they portray characters struggling to lead fulfilling lives despite feeling limited by their health. Working against the public's conception of disability as solely a medical condition, many of these authors further depict the social forces that turn a perceived "difference" into a "disability." The project is arranged into four chapters. In the first, "Idiots and Other Degenerates: Disability at the Dawn of Modernism," I use Joseph Conrad's novel The Secret Agent to illustrate how disability becomes characteristic of a generation, primarily through the influence of degeneration theory. Mocking the popular conception of a society divided into the "fit" and "unfit," Conrad creates a circle of characters who judge others to be degenerate while ignoring their own similar traits. From that beginning, I move in chapter 2, "Modernist Style: The Inward Turn and Portrayals of Mental Illness," to an analysis of the effects of stylistic experimentation on depictions of disability in both Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway and F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night. The authors' use of multiple points of view in these works leads to a representation of both an individual's experience of psychosis and the stigma that can accompany such illness, and, like Conrad, both writers elide the differences between the seemingly able-bodied characters and those they deem disabled. These authors also offer a contrast in perceptions. Whereas Woolf treats shell shock and emotional instability largely as the unavoidable effects of World War I, Fitzgerald links both schizophrenia and alcoholism to decadent behavior, thus aligning himself with the public's perception of illness as a matter of intent. Moving from style to theme, in chapter 3, "Impaired Relationships: Physical Injury and the Pursuit of Romance," I explore the ways in which authors depict physical impairments as obstacles to personal relationships. Through a comparison of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises and the "Nausicaa" chapter of James Joyce's Ulysses, I discuss the intersection of gender identity, disability, and romance. I argue against the critical consensus that Jake Barnes feels emasculated by his injury and that Gerty MacDowell is "doomed" to spinsterhood because she limps, contending that both authors allow their characters to maintain a sense of masculinity or femininity consistent with the hegemonic ideals of their time. While Hemingway presents Jake's wound as a physical disability that prevents his having the relationship he desires, Joyce uses Gerty's limp to mark her as an imperfect beauty in preference to an array of idealized iconic images, and in her encounter with Leopold Bloom grants her the sexual attention that she desires. In my final chapter, "African American Modernism and a Deadly Game of Blind Man's Buff," I shift focus from mainstream to African American modernism with an analysis of Richard Wright's Native Son,, addressing the author's use of folklore in relation to the metaphor of blindness. Posing the literally blind Mrs. Dalton as a revenant of the American colonists who ignored the humanity of those they enslaved and as a symbol of continuing oppression, Wright develops Bigger Thomas as both a trickster who exploits the "blindness" of others and a badman who rebels against it. My conclusion then addresses the use of disability metaphors, the attitudes those metaphors expose, and the authors' apparent agreement with or challenges to contemporary perceptions of disability. Although critics have previously analyzed specific works or certain aspects of disability representations during this era, this project seeks a more comprehensive discussion of disability in modernist fiction than currently exists. My hope is that it will enhance our understanding of both the period's literature and the harmful attitudes that existed at the time, which the work of Disability Studies has endeavored to overturn.

This study examines the motivation factors that make some individuals (terrorists) confidential informants. The study is based on the assumptions of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theories. Accordingly, main assumption of the present study is that some individuals with unsatisfied needs in religion-abusing terrorist (RAT) networks choose to become confidential informants to satisfy their predominant needs. The main hypothesis for the purpose of this study is “The individuals’ decision-making processes to cooperate with law enforcement intelligence (LEI) as a confidential informant is affected by some motivation factors during recruitment process.” The present study tests 27 hypotheses in order to answer two main research questions. To meet its objectives the present study uses quantitative research methodology, constructs a cross-sectional research design, and employs secondary data analysis to test the hypotheses of the research questions. A dataset was formed based on official records of Turkish National Police by including all confidential informants within eight different RAT networks in Turkey. First, individual effect of each motivation factor on being a confidential informant is tested and discussed in detail. Then two group specific multivariate models for being an informant in Al-Qaeda and Turkish-Hezbollah are illustrated, compared and contrasted. Both bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses not only revealed the extent of individual effects of motivations among RAT groups, but also helped us to build fitting multivariate models that explain the probability of being informants in certain RAT networks. By doing so, the present study aims to make contributions to the literature and practice on this relatively unexplored phenomenon. Findings indicate that while some motivation factors are common among all RAT networks, the strength and direction of their effects vary among different RAT networks.