The Breakdown of Space and Place: Conrad’s Nihilism in The Secret Agent

초록

“The breakdown of Space and Place: Conrad’s Nihilism in The Secret Agent” argues that Conrad’s nihilism derives from the collapse of the distinction between space and place. The result of this breakdown is seen in how London is both familiar and foreign, in how Verloc’s home and shop are one building, and in how the Italian restaurant all counter readerly expectations by either distorting the typical place or outright altering the usual place assigned to those spaces. In this London, the characters show how the labyrinth and maze metaphors are used to try and make an unmappable city mappable in order to find their identities. Winnie, who is the prime example of how a character employs the labyrinth, tries to make Verloc’s home-shop an ideal Victorian home. To Winnie, the home is the only path towards her identity of mother. Verloc, however, uses the maze to move sideways through various pathways, thus maintaining multiple identities. The Professor, unlike both Winnie and Verloc, refuses to read the city, embracing Conrad’s nihilism. Because of these various reactions to an illegible London, it appears that Conrad himself is looking on the separation of space and place with terror, which he then transfers to the different characters.

키워드