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Transaction Large Print (2010), Edition: Lrg, Paperback, 312 pages
Description
Ashenden: Or the British Agent is a 1928 collection of loosely linked stories by W. Somerset Maugham. It is partly based on the author's experience as a member of British Intelligence in Europe during the First World War.
User reviews
LibraryThing member paradoxosalpha
I'm surprised that it took me so long to find my way to Ashenden or the British Agent, W. Somerset Maugham's espionage tales rooted in his own experiences of the First World War. Having read it now, I can see its ideas, tropes, and styles revived in all of the key Cold War spy novels I've read,
The protagonist Ashenden is somewhat modeled on the author, so he is a literary man recruited into the British intelligence service. He spends much of the book in neutral Switzerland, where he writes a play while supported by his spy work. Ashenden is valued by his organization as a judge of character more than a man of action. As a result, the book teems with diverse and carefully-drawn personalities. There is a good deal of humor, all of it very dry.
There is an acute awareness of the nature of intelligence work as being that of a cog in a machine, never seeing the ultimate origins or outcomes of one's labors, and this sensibility has an impact on the structure and pacing of the book. The chapters are short and unnumbered. Each has a dramatic unity of its own, and they are in chronological sequence, but there is no sense of a grand plot arc embracing the book as a whole. Often, the question that a chapter seems to have been posing with increasing intensity throughout finally goes unanswered--for the reader, if not for Ashenden himself.
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including those by Deighton and Fleming. Even Graham Greene's Our Man in Havana is something of an expanded and reoriented take on the "Gustav" chapter in Ashenden. Curiously, this 1928 book set during the previous war foreshadows the Cold War by concluding with the English spy's firsthand view of the October Revolution. The protagonist Ashenden is somewhat modeled on the author, so he is a literary man recruited into the British intelligence service. He spends much of the book in neutral Switzerland, where he writes a play while supported by his spy work. Ashenden is valued by his organization as a judge of character more than a man of action. As a result, the book teems with diverse and carefully-drawn personalities. There is a good deal of humor, all of it very dry.
There is an acute awareness of the nature of intelligence work as being that of a cog in a machine, never seeing the ultimate origins or outcomes of one's labors, and this sensibility has an impact on the structure and pacing of the book. The chapters are short and unnumbered. Each has a dramatic unity of its own, and they are in chronological sequence, but there is no sense of a grand plot arc embracing the book as a whole. Often, the question that a chapter seems to have been posing with increasing intensity throughout finally goes unanswered--for the reader, if not for Ashenden himself.
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LibraryThing member gibbon
Raymond Chandler, educated at an English public (that is to say, private) school and not given to high opinions of other authors, thought so well of this book that he asked his English publisher if he could get him a signed copy (he did). It is based on Maugham's experiences during World War I, and
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though it is a work of fiction was apparently used for some time as an instruction manual by British Intelligence. Maugham's introduction has some perceptive observations on the differences between fiction and life. Show Less
LibraryThing member leslie.98
Because this is a WW1 spy story, I have shelved it under thriller-suspense but it is not actually either thrilling nor suspenseful. Ashenden, like Maugham himself, is a writer drafted into the Secret Service but his job is more one of observation than of danger or action. As Ashenden says:
"Being no
Thus the book is more a series of connected short stories than a single novel. Maugham's wonderful prose is a joy to read as usual.
"Being no
Show More
more than a tiny rivet in a vast and complicated machine, he never had the advantage of seeing a completed action. He was concerned with the beginning or the end of it, perhaps, or with some incident in the middle, but what his own doings led to he had seldom a chance of discovering."Thus the book is more a series of connected short stories than a single novel. Maugham's wonderful prose is a joy to read as usual.
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LibraryThing member fourbears
Ashenden is a playwright who works for the British secret service as a spy in Europe during WWI. It’s based on Maugham’s own experiences. This is billed these days as a novel, but it’s also been published as Volume 3 of the short stories of W. Somerset Maugham. Ashenden is detached and
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sophisticated. He meets with shady characters who provide information, unmasks frauds and lures enemy agents to their deaths. There’s no plot as such, except in the individual stories, or some times in a series of 2 or 3 stories. The organization is chronological, with the last story about a mission to subvert the Russian Revolution, which happens too quickly for Ashenden to get his ducks in order. Reputedly the character of Ashenden inspired Ian Fleming’s creation of James Bond.Quirky characters are the interest in this book. There’s Chandra Lal, an Indian revolutionary working on the German side, whom Ashenden lures to his death using his lover as bait. There’s the “hairless Mexican” who’s an assassin hired by Ashenden’s boss, R., the head of the Secret Service. There’s Ashenden’s ex-lover, Anastasia Alexandrovna whom he meets again in Moscow and John Quincy Harrington, a naïve American businessman whom Ashenden meets on the Trans-Siberia railway to Moscow to get business contracts signed. Show Less
LibraryThing member themulhern
The writing is excellent but the stories conveyed very little. The television mini-series was in some ways more interesting...but also more casually plotted. Also, while the stories didn't struggle to link individual events the episodes did, making them, at some points, a bit preposterous.
The book
The book
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is interesting for its portrayal of the static nature of WWI. People travel in Europe, indeed in France, with no real apprehension that any armies will show up or that they will be shot up. Meanwhile, the war in the trenches goes on, killing everybody of the appropriate age. In contrast, tt seems that WWII more or less saturated all Europe with its violence. Show Less
LibraryThing member edwinbcn
“To drink a glass of sherry when you can get a dry Martini is like taking a stage-coach when you can travel by the Orient Express.” (p. 225-226)
Few literary sources are mentioned to explain Ian Fleming's creation of James Bond, although Eric Ambler's spy novels, published in the late-30s and
The truth behind the story is astonishing enough. In 1914, W. Somerset Maugham was recruited by the British Secret Service to stay in Switzerland, posing to work on a play, and in this disguise execute his work a a liaison and spy. The stories in Ashenden, or, The British agent are based on Somerset Maugham's own experience as an agent. The main character, modeled on the author, is an aristocratic, suave gentleman, ruthless enough to face blackmail, interrogation and murder, in the service of the Motherland.
Somerset Maugham cleverly borrowed Conan-Doyle's formula of a collection of loosely connected stories that each form an episode around the main character on an ongoing mission, similar to the The adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
John Ashenden might as well be the model for James Bond, perhaps a bit more aristocratic. Another similarity, is that, like in the James Bond novels, the chief of the secret service is never named other than merely by the use of an initial, thus Colonel R.
Ashenden, or, The British agent breathes the atmosphere of Conrad's Under Western eyes, in which foreign operatives, with long, foreign-sounding names meet in obscure hostels, plotting and conspiring to do mischief. The stories are not as exciting as later spy novels in the genre, but Maugham does bring an intriguing cast of characters together, Russian, Mexican and Indian, with characters such the hairless Mexican, The dark woman, or Giulia Lazzari.
Ashenden, or, The British agent was written and published in 1928, but based on Somerset Maugham experience during the Great War. It is a book that offers a different perspective of the First World War.
Few literary sources are mentioned to explain Ian Fleming's creation of James Bond, although Eric Ambler's spy novels, published in the late-30s and
Show More
onwards are sometimes mentioned. Another worthy contender would be Ashenden, or, The British agent by W. Somerset Maugham.The truth behind the story is astonishing enough. In 1914, W. Somerset Maugham was recruited by the British Secret Service to stay in Switzerland, posing to work on a play, and in this disguise execute his work a a liaison and spy. The stories in Ashenden, or, The British agent are based on Somerset Maugham's own experience as an agent. The main character, modeled on the author, is an aristocratic, suave gentleman, ruthless enough to face blackmail, interrogation and murder, in the service of the Motherland.
Somerset Maugham cleverly borrowed Conan-Doyle's formula of a collection of loosely connected stories that each form an episode around the main character on an ongoing mission, similar to the The adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
John Ashenden might as well be the model for James Bond, perhaps a bit more aristocratic. Another similarity, is that, like in the James Bond novels, the chief of the secret service is never named other than merely by the use of an initial, thus Colonel R.
Ashenden, or, The British agent breathes the atmosphere of Conrad's Under Western eyes, in which foreign operatives, with long, foreign-sounding names meet in obscure hostels, plotting and conspiring to do mischief. The stories are not as exciting as later spy novels in the genre, but Maugham does bring an intriguing cast of characters together, Russian, Mexican and Indian, with characters such the hairless Mexican, The dark woman, or Giulia Lazzari.
Ashenden, or, The British agent was written and published in 1928, but based on Somerset Maugham experience during the Great War. It is a book that offers a different perspective of the First World War.
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LibraryThing member ben_a
This is a loosely grouped collection; if you expect a unified spy story, you will be disappointed. Rather, Maughm provides brief exercises in technique and character observation all of which emphasize the unrelenting grimness of espionage. No less a master than Charles McCarry listed this
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collection of short stories one of his five favorite spy stories. I can't say that it was to my taste, but romantics and idealists like myself should probably be forced to read Maughm occassionally. 11.12.06 Show Less
LibraryThing member traumleben
Beautifully written. Perfectly unexciting. It's really more a series of vignettes or short stories rather than a singular story arc. Maugham spends more time on details surrounding the action itself. As he says in his preface, "fact is a poor story teller." In this case, he conveys the fact and
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truth of intelligence work: more often than not, necessary but not very exciting. Show Less
LibraryThing member tnilsson
This is the best spy book I have read. And it is deemed to be the best spy book by more authors and book lists than I can count. It is a quiet book about a spy-master around WWI (written by an ex-spy), so don't go into it expecting James Bond. Go into it expecting a more true-to-life depiction of
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what it is (or was) like to be a spy. But if you are not put off by quiet books, and can separate real life from fiction, you will probably love it. Highly recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member dbsovereign
A favorite of mine because it introduced me to Maugham. Loosely based on Maugham's own experiences as a British spy, the stories ring true in revealing the rather banal aspects of what it's really like.
LibraryThing member eowynfaramir
I enjoyed reading this book; but I'm not sure I will want to reread it. Maugham's style is eminently readable and he is very clever.
I can imagine that if I had read it when it was first published I would have been very impressed with the style and the details about spying in a foreign country. It
Here is one of my favorite paragraphs: "Ashenden sighed, for the water was no longer quite so hot; he could not reach the tap with his hand nor could he turn it with his toes (as every properly regulated tap should turn) and if he got up enough to add more hot water he might just as well get out altogether. On the other hand he could not pull out the plug with his foot in order to empty the bath and so force himself to get out, nor could he find in himself the will-power to step out of it like a man. He had often heard people tell him that he possessed character and he reflected that people judge hastily in the affairs of life because they judge on insufficient evidence: they had never seen him in a hot, but diminishingly hot, bath."
Overall, I recommend the novel if you have never read Maugham and want an easy introduction.
I can imagine that if I had read it when it was first published I would have been very impressed with the style and the details about spying in a foreign country. It
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is really a collection of almost independent stories, with a framing device of the intelligence work of the agent Ashenden. Here is one of my favorite paragraphs: "Ashenden sighed, for the water was no longer quite so hot; he could not reach the tap with his hand nor could he turn it with his toes (as every properly regulated tap should turn) and if he got up enough to add more hot water he might just as well get out altogether. On the other hand he could not pull out the plug with his foot in order to empty the bath and so force himself to get out, nor could he find in himself the will-power to step out of it like a man. He had often heard people tell him that he possessed character and he reflected that people judge hastily in the affairs of life because they judge on insufficient evidence: they had never seen him in a hot, but diminishingly hot, bath."
Overall, I recommend the novel if you have never read Maugham and want an easy introduction.
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LibraryThing member kristykay22
This 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 I. The stories are based on Maugham's own work during the war and are frequently cited as a main
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influence on the character of James Bond. Ashenden (and, probably, Maugham) has an approach to spy work that is both playful and serious. He brings a writer's power of observation to his interactions with intelligence agents, fellow spies (both friendly and unfriendly), and targets. His descriptions of characters are evocative and detailed, sometimes funny, and (as you might imagine) occasionally more than a little racist and sexist. The plots sometimes get bogged down in the parade of closely observed characters, but are generally paced well. I'm not sure why Maugham decided to end the collection with the story that he did, but my goodness this thing has a rough ending. Maugham was one of the most popular writers of the 20s and 30s, and this is a good time capsule of that style. Worth reading, but probably not essential unless you are a spy novel type. Show Less
LibraryThing member soylentgreen23
Maugham wrote amazing short stories, and lived an amazing life. In this volume he recounts some of his adventures during the First World War, when he lived something of a charmed life in France, Switzerland, America and Russia. As always, his stories touch on concepts of love and loss and the
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fundamental lack of mutual understanding that so often plagues relationships. Show Less
LibraryThing member lamour
This 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 contact for British agents and an observer of German agents. In some of the incidents, he is
In "The Traitor" he must entice a German agent to leave the safety of Switzerland to go to England where he will be arrested and shot for being a traitor. As he becomes close to the man, he almost hopes he is not successful in tricking him.
In Mr. Harrington's Washing" he travels across Russia by train in the days leading up to the Revolution accompanied by an American salesman. They are Petrograd when the Bolsheviks take over. The American refuses to believe he is in danger and refuses to leave until he gets his clothes back from the laundry which turns out to be deadly mistake.
Maugham claimed that working in the Secret Service was mostly boring and that these stories were based on his experiences as an agent.
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successful but in others he or his assistants fail.In "The Traitor" he must entice a German agent to leave the safety of Switzerland to go to England where he will be arrested and shot for being a traitor. As he becomes close to the man, he almost hopes he is not successful in tricking him.
In Mr. Harrington's Washing" he travels across Russia by train in the days leading up to the Revolution accompanied by an American salesman. They are Petrograd when the Bolsheviks take over. The American refuses to believe he is in danger and refuses to leave until he gets his clothes back from the laundry which turns out to be deadly mistake.
Maugham claimed that working in the Secret Service was mostly boring and that these stories were based on his experiences as an agent.
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LibraryThing member jimgysin
It'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 appear dated and awkward by contemporary standards, but the tale of a British spy operating on the
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continent during World War I remains a classic. Alfred Hitchcock was behind a movie based on parts of the story, but I could just as easily see it being tackled by Orson Welles in his prime. A fun and interesting read throughout, with only a few minor pacing missteps, and with a memorable ending. Show Less
LibraryThing member leslie.98
Because this is a WW1 spy story, I have shelved it under thriller-suspense but it is not actually either thrilling nor suspenseful. Ashenden, like Maugham himself, is a writer drafted into the Secret Service but his job is more one of observation than of danger or action. As Ashenden says:
"Being no
Thus the book is more a series of connected short stories than a single novel. Maugham's wonderful prose is a joy to read as usual.
"Being no
Show More
more than a tiny rivet in a vast and complicated machine, he never had the advantage of seeing a completed action. He was concerned with the beginning or the end of it, perhaps, or with some incident in the middle, but what his own doings led to he had seldom a chance of discovering."Thus the book is more a series of connected short stories than a single novel. Maugham's wonderful prose is a joy to read as usual.
Show Less
LibraryThing member psalva
Quite an interesting collection of spy stories, all centered around Ashenden, openly based on Maugham himself who was a WWI spy. The stories flow into each other but could be read individually. Many unlikeable characters, colonial BS, racism, and antisemitism make some of the stories distasteful.
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Yet, overall I’m glad I read this. I’m intrigued by Maugham for some reason and I haven’t figured out why yet. Show Less
LibraryThing member BooksForDinner
Just a straight classic of early spy genre writing. So good.
Subjects
Awards
Language
Original publication date
1928
Physical description
312 p.; 10 inches
ISBN
1412811724 / 9781412811729