Book Anatomy · The Secret Agent
The Secret Agent: Commercial facts
13 lenses on commercial facts for The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad. Count lenses are exact for our text. AI lenses are our reading and cite only quotes that passed a word for word check.
Jump to: L1 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6 L7 L8 L9 L10 L11 L12 L13
L1. Total word count. Count
1907, 91,008 words. See the full lens on the book page.
L2. Chapter count and average length. Count
1907, 91,008 words. See the full lens on the book page.
L3. Length against modern norms for the genre. Both
91,008 words. Modern crime and mystery often runs 70,000 to 90,000 words, so this is long for the shelf today. These ranges are rough trade norms, not rules.
At 91,000 words, the book is long for a crime novel but typical for literary fiction of 1907. Modern crime thrillers run 70,000 to 90,000 words; this book's length reflects Conrad's philosophical depth and dense prose style rather than plot complexity.
L4. First published as a serial or a volume? Research
1907, 91,008 words. See the full lens on the book page.
Facts from outside the text (sales, serial history, adaptations, sequels, most quoted lines). Coming in a later phase, with sources and dates.
L5. Serial instalment breaks and how each ends. Both
The book was not serialised. It was published as a complete novel in 1907. No serial instalment breaks exist in the text.
L6. Sales and reviews in its day. Research
Facts from outside the text (sales, serial history, adaptations, sequels, most quoted lines). Coming in a later phase, with sources and dates.
L7. Adaptations: film, TV, stage, count and type. Research
Facts from outside the text (sales, serial history, adaptations, sequels, most quoted lines). Coming in a later phase, with sources and dates.
L8. Sequels and series. Research
Facts from outside the text (sales, serial history, adaptations, sequels, most quoted lines). Coming in a later phase, with sources and dates.
L9. Modern books in the same mould (comps). AI
Modern comps: Donna Tartt's The Little Friend (domestic crime, unreliable family), Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley series (moral compromise and evasion), Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad (police investigation and hidden motives), Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go (quiet horror and inevitability).
L10. Who it would be shelved for today. AI
Today the book would be shelved in literary fiction and crime. It appeals to readers of psychological thrillers, historical crime, and literary modernism. It suits readers who value prose style and moral complexity over plot pace.
L11. Content notes. AI
Content notes: murder, suicide, bomb explosion with graphic description of remains, child death, domestic violence, anarchist violence, political conspiracy, psychological distress.
Chapters: Ch 9, Ch 11, Ch 12, Ch 13
Blown to small bits: limbs, gravel, clothing, bones, splinters—all mixed up together. I tell you they had to fetch a shovel to gather him up with. (Ch 9, para 247)
He saw partly on the ceiling and partly on the wall the moving shadow of an arm with a clenched hand holding a carving knife. (Ch 11, para 123)
The only murderer that would be found in the room when people came to look for Mr Verloc would be—herself! (Ch 12, para 2)
L12. A modern pitch line and blurb. AI
A secret agent caught between a foreign power and his own conscience orchestrates a bombing that kills his wife's beloved brother. When she discovers his crime, she murders him. His accomplice seduces her for money, then abandons her to suicide. A masterwork of moral collapse and the cost of deception.
L13. Title style against genre norms. AI
The title is direct and functional, naming the protagonist's role. It avoids the melodramatic or poetic titles common in Victorian fiction. The style is modern and understated, fitting the book's tone of quiet horror.
Ask The Secret Agent a question about its craft (free beta)
Answers cite chapter and paragraph, and every quote is checked against the text. (3 free questions a day).
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