Ashenden, Or: The British AgentThis fascinating book contains probably the most expert stories of espionage ever written. For a period of time after it was first published, the book became official required reading for persons entering the British Secret Service. During World War I, Maugham enlisted with an ambulance unit, but was soon shifted to the Intelligence Department. Although these stories were based on the author's own experiences as a British agent during the war, he emphasized that they were written purely as entertainment, at which, indeed, Ashenden succeeds. Maugham's clarity of style, the perfection of his form, the subtlety of his thought, veiled thinly behind a worldly cynicism, has made him an international figure. |
From inside the book
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This of course was a question that Ashenden was not prepared to answer, but not
thinking it politic to say so, he determined to give a reply from which the
ambassador could learn little. He had already made up his mind from the look of
him ...
The black tie suggested a small party, perhaps only Lady Anne, the
ambassador's wife, whom Ashenden did not know, or one or two young
secretaries. It did not presage a hilarious evening. It was possible that they might
play bridge after ...
Ashenden had the impression that the ambassador enjoyed in his well-bred way
the sensation of ignoring the pomp in which he lived. They might have been
dining in one of the great country houses of England; it was a ceremony they ...
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - lamour - LibraryThingThis is volume three of Maugham's collected short stories. In this volume he has put his stories that have the same protagonist, Ashendan who is recruited to move to Switzerland where he will be a ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - jimgysin - LibraryThingIt's easy to see why this one is considered an archetype of espionage fiction. The fact that the book was first published back in the late 1920s means that some of the dialogue and narrative will ... Read full review
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Bibliographic information
| Title | Ashenden, Or: The British Agent Volume 5 of Collected edition of the works of W. Somerset Maugham Short story index reprint series |
| Author | William Somerset Maugham |
| Edition | reprint |
| Publisher | Doubleday, Doran, 1941 |
| Original from | the University of California |
| Digitized | 23 May 2009 |
| ISBN | 0836940520, 9780836940527 |
| Length | 304 pages |
| Subjects | › Fiction / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |