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THE SECRET AGENT - DEFINITIONS • RESEARCH QUESTIONS • CULTURAL ANALYSIS: A) the Secret Agent (J

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THE SECRET AGENT - DEFINITIONS • RESEARCH QUESTIONS • CULTURAL ANALYSIS: A) the Secret Agent (J UNDER COVER GOOD AND EVIL WITHIN BRITISH CRIME VA 2014-2015 FICTION Fondazione Sacro Cuore, Milano Prof. Monegato TABLE OF CONTENTS • CRIME FICTION - INTRODUCTION • THE SECRET AGENT - DEFINITIONS • RESEARCH QUESTIONS • CULTURAL ANALYSIS: a) The Secret Agent (J. Conrad), Sabotage (A. Hitchcock) b) The Man Who Was Thursday (G. K. Chesterton) c) 1984, (G. Orwell), Apple Macintosh - TV ad d) Casino Royale (I. Fleming) • CONCLUSIONS • MAPPING THE SECRET AGENT AS A CULTURAL AGENT – IS S/HE A HERO, A VILLAIN OR A CRIMINAL HERO? 2 REASEARCH QUESTIONS RESEARCH QUESTIONS: • How is the Secret Agent described in OUR selection of cultural representations? Is he a positive, a negative or an ambiguous character? Is he a “criminal hero”? • Are GOOD and EVIL two categories which could be applied to the character of the Secret Agent? Why? 4 RESEARCH METHOD • PROF: Identify a set of texts dealing with the character of the Secret Agent within a specific time and (cultural) place. • YOU: Build background knowlege around the texts (see: next slide) • YOU: Read, watch, «experience» the texts: • Identify three excerpts to be (visually) analysed over Christmas holidays. The should be at least 20 lines long. All excerpts should deal with the Secret Agent. Cut and paste your excerpts on a word document and send them to [email protected] . Don’t forget to mention all required biliogrphical references. DEADLINE: XIV December 2014 • CHRISTMAS HW: Analyse the texts – visual analysis on selected excerpts, answer the research questions for every single text. Don’t forget to use the Background Knowledge you’ve built around the novel. • CLASS AFTERNOON GROUP ACTIVITY: Compare and contrast your results • CLASS ACTIVITY: Draw to a possible conclusion 5 BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE • Title: • Date of publication: (circumstances…) • Author: (name, important dates, biosketch, relevant and pertinent ideas, fame) • Socio-cultural period (written and published): • Setting: • Main characters: • Plot: (don’t forget you should concentrate on the Secret Agent) • Some cover images: 6 CRIME FICTION INTRODUCTION GENRE-SUBGENRE: CRIME FICTION … SPY STORY POLITICAL WRITING THRILLER DYSTOPIA 8 CRIME FICTION: LITERARY ANCESTORS • CAIN AND ABEL • OEDIPUS THE KING, SOPHOCLES (430BC) • THE REVENGE TRAGEDY OF THE LATE ELIZABETHAN AND EARLY JACOBEAN PERIOD (END OF XVI CENTURY – BEGINNING OF XVII CENTURY) HAMLET (W. Shakespeare) • THE NEWGATE CALENDAR (1773) • CALEB WILLIMAS (1794) BY WILLIAM GODWIN • THE GOTHIC NOVEL • MÉMOIRES (1828) BY FRANÇOIS VIDOCQ • «THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGE» E.A.POE, 1848 9 CRIME FICTION: MIRRORING SOCIETY • 1812 (Paris): Bureau des Renseignements – first modern detective agency; 1850 (USA): first detective agency response to rising crime rates social and cultural upheavals that were a result of the Industrial Revolution: poorly planned and constructed urban areas, urbanization, large-scale urban unemployment birth of the modern police force: (1828) The Metropolitan Police Act 10 1848-… 11 THE BRITISH GOLDEN AGE • In crime fiction, the Golden Age of Crime Fiction refers to the period between the IWW and the IIWW, and is usually used to refer specifically to the flowering of British talent and to the mysteries written in Britain during this time. Conventionally, it starts in 1920 with Agatha Christie’s début novel – The Mysterious Affair at Styles 12 CRIME FICTION: NOW • FLUID DEFINITION • POPULAR TASTE • NOT ONLY LITERATURE AND REPORTAGES! 13 LET’S FOCUS OUR WORK ON THE SECRET AGENT - DEFINITIONS 1) a government employee whose job involves getting secret information about the governments of unfriendly foreign countries http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/secret-agent 2) Noun. a person employed in espionage Synonyms = spy, undercover agent, spook (AE), nark, cloak-and-dagger man http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/secret-agent 14 Thanks to prof.ssa N. Di Ciolla, Criminal Hero aa2014 2015 UNIMI THE CRIMINAL HERO: A NEW PARADIGM? HERO OR VILLAIN? • Edward Snowden – CIA and NSA employee. Divulged intelligence on US government practices and exposed mass-scale international surveillance. “From loyal NSA contractor to whistleblower, from patriot to America's most wanted” (Headline adapted from The Guardian, 1st February 2014) • Julian Assange – Founder of WikiLeaks (2006), which published footage of US soldiers shooting dead 18 Iraqi civilians from a helicopter. “To his supporters, Julian Assange is a valiant campaigner for truth. To his critics, he is a publicity-seeker who has endangered lives by putting a mass of sensitive information into the public domain.”(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world- 11047811) 16 THE HERO QUALITIES OUTSTANDING DEEDS PARADIGM OF HEROIC BEHAVIOUR OUTCOMES “hero-myth” 17 18 Criminal / Hero ? ADVENTURE INTENTION TYPE IMPACT OUTCOME 19 THE CRIMINAL • CRIME: “an intentional act in violation of the criminal law, committed without defence or excuse, and penalised by the State” (Tappan, Paul. 1947. 'Who is the criminal?', American Sociological Review, 12: 96-112, p 100). • The perception of an act as “criminal” depends on three units of measure: SOCIETAL ATTITUDES - The consensus amongst the population about what is a right act and what is a wrong act (= mala per se); THE VIEW OF THE LAW - The degree of severity with which the law punishes any given act (= mala prohibita); THE OVERALL PERSPECTIVE - The evaluation of the level of harm caused by the act (this is a combination of societal view and State response). 20 THE LOVEABLE ROGUES: criminal heroes? • Robin Hood (English Folklore) - Anglo-saxon freedom fighter who combats against the Norman usurpers. “Steals from the rich to give to the poor” • Arsène Lupin (Maurice Leblanc, 1905) - “the gentleman thief ” 21 The Secret Agent (J. Conrad) Bassi, Mapelli, Redaelli, Smania Life (Poland 1857-Britain 1924) • Real name: Teodor Jozef Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski Poland • Tyrannical rule of Russia exile • 1874: Marseilles worked as a mariner • 1878: English ship learned English 1886 British subject • 1890: Africa Congo Diary • The horrors of the Congo mental breakdown • Abandon the sea and devote himself to writing dating is not simple some published in book form, some published serially • 1924: died for an heart attack 23 «Homo duplex» DUPLICITY characterizes both his interesting life and the contradictions of his work. • Double nationality • Two professional careers • Mixed social identity 24 The Secret Agent (1907) • Published in 1906Magazineshort story • Published in 1907 Book edition • Inspiration Greenwich Bombing of 1894. • Conrad's political novels anarchism, espionage, and terrorism. • Socio-cultural period: Late 19th century, late Victorian Age 25 Author’s Note «(…) I really think that The Secret Agent is perfectly genuine piece of work. Even the purely artisctic purpose, that of applying an ironic method to a subject of that kind, was formulated with deliberation and in the earnest belief that ironic treatment alone would enable me to say all I felt I would have to say as well as in pity.» NARRATIVE IRONY METHODOLOGY 26 Setting: London • London 1886 • Embassy • Greenwich park • Verloc’s house and shop 27 Characters: Mr. Verloc (the secret agent?) • A secret agent “agent provocateur” for an unnamed embassy who also owns a shop in London. • His primary characteristic, as described by Conrad, is indolence. • He is part of an anarchist organization. • He is married to Winnie, and lives with his wife, his mother-in-law, and his brother-in-law, Stevie. 28 Plot Mr Verloc is the owner of a shop and he works for a foreign embassy. He is a mysterious man who has some anarchist friends. He lives with his wife Winnie and her brother Stevie who has a mental disability. He is in charge of placing a bomb in Greenwich Park in order to move the public opinion against the anarchists. He uses his brother-in-law, Stevie, to carry the bomb but he accidentally gets killed stumbling on a tree root. During the investigation, Chief Inspector Heat finds connection with an ex-convict, Michaelis. However, his superior, the Assistant Commissioner shares some influential acquaintances with Michaelis. Winnie discovers, by a visit of Heat, that Stevie has been killed and kills his husband for revenge. Eventually she suicides while fleeing to France. 29 Covers 30 Sabotage (1936) The Secret Agent (1996) directed by A. Hitchcock directed by C. Hampton Bassi 31 Mr. Verloc (the secret agent) The Secret Agent (book) Sabotage Secret Agent (movie) • He is an agent provocateur. He is a saboteur. Same as the book. His physical • He works with words, he is not . He uses Stevie in order to features mirror his character. brave. have his work done. Embassy scene • He does not do anything, he Aquarium scene When Mr. Verlc is about to die, makes other poeple act. He owns a cinema. Mrs. Verloc tells him she only • He reckons Stevie’s death is an . After Stevie’s death, he is married him because of Stevie. accident and Winnie is partially worried for himself, not really Hat scene guilty because she wrote understanding Mrs. Verloc’s Stevie’s name and address on grief. his coat. • His shop of illegal material is a front for his real job, but it is not solid. • He seems an incompetent buffoon. 32 Aquarium scene • Mr. Verloc thinks he has done his job as a saboteur, however, he has only made London laugh. • He is incompetent and people mock his attempts of sabotage. 33 Embassy scene • Mr Verloc has difficulties trying to cross the road because of some carriages and horses. clumsy and amusing • Mr. Verloc is out of proportion: he is small compared to the enormous room and columns. • He seems a child when he is sitting on the couch it mirrors his character 34 Hat scene • Mr. Verloc seems astonished He did not expect his wife to kill him. He was sure of her love. • His hat falls down the stairs when Mrs. Verloc tells him she only married him because of Stevie The hat is the symbol of his job, it is the object that gives him credibility Together with the hat, the appearances fall.
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