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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Ashenden spoke to her as amiably as he could, a little as though he were talking
to a sick person, and there was no harshness in his voice. “Oh, yes, I made a fool
of myself. I wrote the letter the Colonel said I was to write. Why isn't that enough ...
“She began to talk away to Yvonne and my friend noticed that she had one
feature that oddly enough he found very attractive: she had a deep and husky
voice as though she were just recovering from a bad cold and, he didn't know
why, ...
And that frousy, ugly woman with the whisky voice, she had such a splendid
vitality, such a zest for life that she seemed to raise his own to some more vivid
level. It really did seem to him to burn with a pure, gemlike flame. Do people still
read ...
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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 |