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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“She must be well over eighty,” thought Ashenden. She did not look human, but
like a doll, the caricature of an old, old witch that an ironic toymaker had amused
himself with modelling. She lay perfectly still on her back, the tiny little body ...
“You would have thought that I should be angry with her for making such a fool of
me, me who had never known what it was not to gratify my smallest whim; I did
not believe that she refused me to inflame my desires, I believed that she told the
...
He was quite content to work on a salary and thought himself adequately paid; so
long as he could educate his boys and leave his widow enough to live on what
was money to him? He thought it a trifle vulgar to be rich. He looked upon culture
...
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - kristykay22 - LibraryThingThis is a compelling, although rather chilly, collection of loosely connected short stories following the intelligence work of Ashenden, a writer turned spy for the British government during World War ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - lamour - LibraryThingThis is volume three of Maugham's collected short stories. In this volume he has placed his stories that have the same protagonist, Ashendan, who is recruited to move to Switzerland where he will be a ... 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 |