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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Perhaps at the moment of death a love for her country, a love that had been dead
for half a century, awakened again in her—(“I'm silly to fancy these idiotic things,”
thought Ashenden, “it's cheap and tawdry fiction.”)—and she had been seized ...
It is strange, I felt no anger because she had betrayed me, I should have hated
her because of her vileness, I could not, I only felt that my soul was enveloped in
night. Poor thing, poor thing, I could have cried for pity for her. I drew my arm very
...
You know the kind of thing. Popular Spanish music and a mantilla, a fan and a
high comb. She's been dancing all over Europe for the last ten years.” “Is she any
good?” “No, rotten. She's been in the provinces in England and she's had a few ...
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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 |