After an introduction from Fr. Jim Lies, Professor Susan Ohmer introduced Joseph Condrad’s The Secret Agent. She started by discussing the ironic tone that Conrad uses throughout the text, and explained that this was a deliberate decision from the author. Furthermore, Conrad was heavily inspired by Charles Dickens, whose books were famous for mysterious subterranean connections between his characters, which we also see in The Secret Agent. Verlac, the main character and spy in the novel, lives in many worlds: his secret career as a spy; his private life with his family; and the shop which acts as a front. Ohmer emphasizes the porousness of these worlds and the steps that Conrad took to demonstrate this..
Rereading the text, Ohmer continued, always reveals new observations that one may have missed before. She pointed out doorways as a recurring motif found in the text, and stated that they served as a point of connection for different spaces and characters in the novel.
A key theme in the novel is interconnectedness, which appears in all kinds of ways. Ohmer noted how these connections are often subtle, such as the scene where the Inspector and Assistant commissioner meet and the novel takes us back and forth between their inner thoughts as they ponder each other’s motives.
After Fr. Lies welcomes the audience back from their breakout rooms, he and Ohmer launch into a conversation and answer questions from the audience. They discussed the dedication to H.G. Wells and Ohmer noted that Wells also had novels which came out at a similar time. Conrad and Wells were friends and were both socially and politically aware and suspicious of England’s imperial ambitions. One student posed the question: “Can we trust our narrator, or does his overtly critical take reflect how we see the characters?”. Ohmer responded that this speaks again to the ironic tone of the novel, but the book takes care to show us other other nuanced perspectives.
Ohmer made note of how Conrad’s contemptuous portrayal of these characters spoke to his own political beliefs. Conrad’s father was imprisoned by the Imperial Russian government and his background made him disdainful of anarchist movements like the ones he portrays in The Secret Agent. The novel was a way of putting them in their place but Ohmer explained that this changed in later renditions of the text, especially in his portrayal of the character of Winnie, which takes a more heartfelt tone. This was reflected in Hitchcock’s adaptation, which was marketed as a melodrama because so much of it focused on Winnie’s intense emotional state.
Fr. Lies went on to ask about the directorial choices Hitchcock made in his adaptation of The Secret Agent and The Lodger. Ohmer noted that the differences were not so much directorial choices, but examples of Hollywood censorship in the 1930s. In comparison to the creative control he wielded in the 1950s, Hitchcock took on a much more limited role in his early films due to strict regulations that studios had to follow.
Fr. Lies then asked why Hitchcock selected this novel, and Ohmer explained that he was attracted to the relationship between Verlac and Winnie. Ohmer concludes by stating that despite the creative liberties taken in the film, Hitchcock often remains true to the relationship between these characters. As an example, Ohmer describes how the dialogue of the final scene is exactly the same as the final text from the book.
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