Ashenden in Espionage Aficionados

Aug 21, 2011 Dfordoom rated it it was amazing

Shelves: spy-fiction

W. Somerset Maugham’s Ashenden, or the British Agent is an example of one of my favourite genres, the early 20th century espionage tale. While spy stories set during World War 2 and during the Cold War have their charms I find the earlier tales set during the First Word War or in the years leading up to that war much more appealing.

Ashenden, or the British Agent, first published in 1928, is a series of linked stories relating the adventures of a writer of comic plays who is recruited into Britis ...more

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Jun 24, 2012 Feliks rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: brit-lit-modern

Its a wonderful book; quintessentially Maugham. More a Somerset Maugham book than an 'espionage' book; that is; the writing is more about the type of Englishman Ashenden is, than about spycraft. Filled with those great Maugham observations and gestures. Its all Written in that neat, concise, clipped style which is the English equivalent to Hemingway. There are some phrases and asides which will quite make you stop and digest; for they are so casual yet sharp.

Maugham is interested in telling us a ...more

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Mar 06, 2018 Sam Reaves rated it liked it

Not really a novel, this is a collection of episodes in the career of a British spy in Switzerland during the First World War, based, according to the author, on his own experiences. Maugham worked for British intelligence during the war, and, being already a well-known novelist, of course had to turn his experiences into fiction. How thinly fictionalized these tales are, we can only guess.
If you are looking for Bond-style swashbuckling or Smileyesque tradecraft, you won't find it here; espionag ...more

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Apr 11, 2014 Tim Adler rated it it was amazing

Maugham is a superlative craftsman and, to my mind, Ashenden shows him at the peak of his art; a collection of short stories up there with Chekhov or Raymond Carver. Sometimes nothing much happens. But phrases stick with you long after you have finished reading this book. Highly recommended.

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Jul 23, 2013 Brian rated it really liked it

After reading the reviews I was worried this might be too dull, but I ended up enjoying it.

Very engaging despite not having the typical amount of action. I just wish it had been tied together a little better. The ending in particular left me feeling robbed.

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Apr 20, 2013 Edward Parr rated it it was ok

For a book by W.Somerset Maugham, this was a shockingly poor memoir of his days as a British spy during WWI. The anecdotes are fairly uninteresting compared with those I've read in other memoirs and the style is overly verbose. ...more

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