This particular reader, however, thinks it qualifies as a novel. Not only does Ashenden's profession help unify the many revelations of deception and the hidden aspects of character recorded here, but the “Great War” helps unify the narrative too. The book begins in the heart of Western Europe, in neutral territory, and progresses from the carrying of small bits of information, to the arrangement of assassinations and betrayals, to violent disruptions in the Russian streets in the days before the Soviet revolution. Throughout the novel, the morality of Ashenden's sphere of action becomes increasingly compromised until at the end he arrives at the gates of a newly unstable modern world. Il che echeggia la vicenda personale dello stesso Maugham che durante la Grande Guerra fu coinvolto dal servizio di spionaggio inglese, proprio come anni dopo capitò a Graham Greene. A Chance Acquaintance", "Love and Russian Literature", "Mr. Harrington's Washing" as Mr. Harrington's Washing Maugham was a spy during this war, spending much of his time in Switzerland and it is claimed, had he been in Tzarist Russia 6 months to a year earlier, he might have influenced the Bolshevik Revolution. In contrast, Maugham’s portrayal of the ‘villains’ is humane and sympathetic. For example, in The Traitor, the description of the German spy learning that the British have executed her husband leaves the reader sympathising with her, not with Ashenden.

I am Indian, and it's good to get this out of the way: at one point, the Ashenden's spymaster, "R", calls an Indian rebel leader a nigger. On the other hand, Ashenden himself is quite sympathetic to the leader when "R" talks about him for the first time. Un viaggio condito di ironia e cinismo, commedia più che suspense, e soprattutto scrittura piacevole, buona costruzione delle trame, succosi incastri. Ashenden has an important place in modern Mythology. This book, along with the Gadfly, are the two biggest influences on Fleming’s James Bond. Here we have the sophisticated multi-lingual Englishman of good breeding fighting those Axis spies during the First World War. He knows how to play bridge, to mix in excellent society and to hold his own. Out of the social scene he uses his cover as a playwright to interact with his street runners – the poor and down at heel.I was very impressed by this book. It was the first book I read by W. Somerset Maugham. Maugham's beautiful writing evokes the life of a spy and is based on his own spying experiences during World War 1. As might be expected, Maugham perfectly expresses the reserved and understated dialogue of upper-class Brits of this period. In the extract below, Ashenden is awaiting instructions from “R”. Ashenden’s response to the reality of spying is to become emotionally detached. The story is told with a great deal of dry humour, but his disillusionment is particularly clear in the Russian section of the novel. Ashenden makes it clear that he is not the right man for the job and the Secret Service has sent him purely because no one else is available. Characterisation On 7 August 1959, BBC Television broadcast a live version of "The Traitor." Written by Troy Kennedy Martin and directed by Gerard Glaister, it starred Stephen Murray as Ashenden, Donald Pleasence as Grantley Caypor, and Mai Zetterling as Frau Caypor. No copy is known to exist.

Ashenden, written by Somerset Maugham and loosely based on his experiences as an MI6 agent during World War One, was published in 1928. Ashenden, a collection of 16 interconnected stories, is based on W. Somerset Maugham’s own experiences as a British secret agent in Switzerland and Russia during World War I. When first published, the stories seemed so authentic that Winston Churchill accused Maugham of breaching the British Official Secrets Act. As a consequence, the author burned 14 unpublished Ashenden texts. The collection is extremely important in the development of British espionage fiction, and both John le Carr and Len Deighton give Ashenden as a source of inspiration for their novels. What makes the stories innovative is that, in contrast to the lurid adventures depicted in the spy fiction of E. Phillips Oppenheimer and William le Queux, the action in the Ashenden stories is often unglamorous, inconclusive, and even anticlimactic. During World War One, Germany attempted to support Indian nationalists, hoping to distract Britain and preventing Indian troops fighting in Europe. The Indian nationalists in Germany were known as the Berlin Committee. Kathleen Kuiper, Cakes and Ale (novel by Maugham). Britannica.com, 2011. Accessed 23 November 2013.the work of an agent in the Intelligence Department is on the whole extremely monotonous. A lot of it is uncommonly useless. The material it offers for stories is scrappy and pointless; the author has himself to make it coherent, dramatic and probable,"