Razumov, the hero/anti-hero in Conrad's 1911 Under Western Eyes is a middle-low class young college student in czarist Russia that by chance and to his sorrow turns out to be involved in a terrorist complot; he is not very happy with the social order but nonetheless is not convinced by the revolutionaries and rather wishes to make his own way as a hard working intellectual conforming with the system. It happens that the assassin of certain functionary asks him for help to escape and, after a thought, Razumov turns him in and -once again, to his sorrow- he is converted into a spy and given the mission of infiltrating the inner circles of the revolutionaries in exile under the cover of having been the second assassin and closest friend of the first one, which was executed. In the process he cheats, or has to cheat, good hearted persons to make his plot look convincing. He meets and falls in love with the sister of the assassin, which is in a constant state of depression for his brother's fate and mother's sickness. In the end he cannot stand with his consciousness and confesses himself to a circle of revolutionaries that beat him fatally so that he remains prostrated for the rest of his life in the native Russia.

One thing that does not quite fit is that, when referring to the 'true revolutionaries' Conrad usually mocks them, portraying them as ridiculous and exaggerated characters, particularly a famous and highly respected Peter Ivanovitch; I for myself would also not have that much of admiration for them, but neither for Razumov. Razumov did not have the obligation of being a hero, but on the other hand behaved poorly as a human being and it seems to me that Conrad somehow tries to redeem him - something absolutely impossible.

I wonder what people think about Conrad's intentions in this book, wonderfully written of course.

Razumov, the hero/anti-hero in Conrad's 1911 Under Western Eyes is a middle-low class young college student in czarist Russia that by chance and to his sorrow turns out to be involved in a terrorist conspiracy; he is not very happy with the social order but nonetheless is not convinced by the revolutionaries and rather wishes to make his own way as a hard working intellectual conforming with the system. 

It happens that the assassin of certain functionary asks him for help to escape and, after a thought, Razumov turns him in and — once again, to his sorrow — he is converted into a spy and given the mission of infiltrating the inner circles of the revolutionaries in exile under the cover of having been the second assassin and closest friend of the first one, which was executed. In the process he cheats, or has to cheat, good-hearted persons to make his plot look convincing. He meets and falls in love with the sister of the assassin, which is in a constant state of depression for his brother's fate and mother's sickness. In the end he cannot stand with his consciousness and confesses himself to a circle of revolutionaries that beat him fatally so that he remains prostrated for the rest of his life in the native Russia.

One thing that does not quite fit is that, when referring to the 'true revolutionaries' Conrad usually mocks them, portraying them as ridiculous and exaggerated characters, particularly a famous and highly respected Peter Ivanovitch; I for myself would also not have that much of admiration for them, but neither for Razumov. Razumov did not have the obligation of being a hero, but on the other hand behaved poorly as a human being and it seems to me that Conrad somehow tries to redeem him - something absolutely impossible.

I wonder what people think about Conrad's intentions in this book, wonderfully written of course.