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Article: Time as power: The politics of social time in Conrad's the secret agent. (21).(Critical Essay)
- Article from:
- Conradiana
- Article date:
- June 22, 2000
- Author:
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Initially deemed an "honourable failure" by even Conrad himself,(1) The Secret Agent continues to provoke critical debate about its quality. As Jacques Berthoud observes, many critics, influenced by Conrad's assessment, maintain that the novel "for all its stylistic and narrative brilliance remains short in intellectual substance and coherence." In fact, Berthoud, writing in 1996, elaborates, "during the last two decades commentary on the novel--whether politicized, deconstructive, post-colonial, feminist, historical, Freudian, or even plain appreciative--has continued to take for granted that The Secret Agent remains a conceptually low-powered work." (2) Berthoud defies ...