An obviously related work in Conrad's canon is Under Western Eyes (1911), his major effort to deal with the experience of Polish nationalists in exile. Unlike The Secret Agent, Under Western Eyes is set in Switzerland and Russia, but the latter book also deals with the petty intrigues of revolutionists and political agitators, and the many ways they betray their cause and values.

The Secret Agent also shares some thematic concerns with Nostromo, Conrad's other major novel of political events. But The Secret Agent differs strongly from Nostromo in certain ways: The Secret Agent lacks both Nostromo's exotic setting and its epic presentation of the momentum of historical events.

At first glance, The SecretAgent seems to have little in common with Conrad's sea stories and his tales of Europeans tested in the Malaysian or Indonesian jungles.

But a second glance suggests that the petty betrayals of Conrad's...