Conrad and Masculinity

84 Conrad and Masculinity
The narrative voice also has a peculiar fixation on idleness, seen as
unhealthy, unhygienic and morally corrupt. Idleness and the
grotesque body are linked by this voice, both being seen as implicitly
threatening to, or subversive of, masculinity. If we term the notional
owner of this unidentified voice ‘the narrator’, then the point of view
of this unnamed narrator remains slightly hazy, because of his
tendency to blend his own comments into the thoughts of characters
via the use of free indirect discourse. 45 Nevertheless, the narrator is a
somewhat dominating presence in the novel, not only because of his
tone, but also because of his unpleasant views, prejudices and
tendency to what might be called hysterical animosity.
Idleness is particularly associated with Verloc, whose body is
throughout treated with a distaste which centres on his alleged laziness.
He is described, for example as ‘burly in a fat-pig style’ (13) and
the narrator observes that ‘his idleness was not hygienic ... He had
embraced indolence from an impulse as profound as inexplicable and
as imperious as the impulse which directs a man’s preference for one
particular woman in a given thousand’ (12). One of the disturbing
features of the narrator’s attitude to Verloc is that it is shared with
Vladimir, who reflects (and comments) unfavourably on Verloc’s
‘fleshy profile’ and ‘gross bulk’ (24). The narrator’s perspective has a
habit of merging at points with that of singularly unsympathetic characters,
such as Vladimir or the Professor. One might argue that this
implies that there is no narrator, only a set of narrative devices; yet we
are obliged to depend, at least initially, on this narrative voice for
many facts and judgements. It is unclear how far it can be relied upon
even factually. For example, it claims that Verloc ‘was too lazy even
for a mere demagogue, for a workman orator’ (12), yet Verloc claims
with apparent plausibility that his powerful voice has been ‘famous
for years at open-air meetings and at workmen’s assemblies in large
halls’ (23). The possibility is implied of a contrast between the hardworking,
upright, bounded, morally responsible male body and the
idle, recumbent, grotesque, degenerate body. This contrast is along
the lines of the classical versus grotesque body antithesis described by
Stallybrass and White. But in The Secret Agent this antithesis seems
unable to maintain itself, as grotesque features invade the realm of the
‘classical’ dominant male body. In Chapter 5, Inspector Heat’s chance
meeting with the Professor in the street frames a retrospective account
of Heat’s inspection of the horrible mangled remains of Stevie. In both
scenes Heat appears superficially as the classical body in contrast to
the grotesque body of the ‘miserable and undersized’ (81), ‘unwhole-