Ashenden, or, The British Agent

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Ashenden uses deceit, blackmail and entrapment against his adversaries, with potentially fatal consequences for them, and he does that to people with whom he is personally acquainted. This fascinating, and delightful, book is often regarded as the first spy story and a precursor to Smiley and James Bond. It starred John Gielgud as Ashenden, Madeleine Carroll (who was also in Hitchcock’s version of The Thirty-Nine Steps) as a female agent, and Peter Lorre as ‘The General’.

The book is certainly not 'exciting' in the way that we have come to expect within the thriller genre. Alapvetően ez az atmoszféra az, amitől végig jó volt nekem a kötetben: a békebeli európaiság leheletét érezni benne, amire elviselhetetlen súllyal nehezedik a háttérben zajló világégés, az a világégés, ami aztán pozdorjává is zúzta a fenn említett békebeliséget. The author starts the book with two siblings inheriting this house, which is quite run down, and then going back to its inception and following those who lives there or were connected with it in a series of chapters stretching from the eighteenth century up to the present day. He’s maybe flipped a few cards around to make things work more smoothly, but still at the end, with only a few cards left in play, finds himself unable to win the game.There are no rooftop chases or gun battles here, but rather touching character studies of the people who live and die in the world of espionage. His preface is a spirited—although prickly-- defense of the traditional literary concepts of “a beginning, a middle and an end. Somerset Maugham borrows heavily from his WW1 experiences as a spy based in Switzerland to spin this series of tales about his fictional alter-ego, Ashenden.

Escrito numa prosa doce, cativante, Somerset Maugham descreve-nos alguns episódios da vida de Ashenden, agente britânico nos serviços de espionagem dirigidos por R (precursor de M da saga de 007), num mundo onde aliados e potências centrais tudo faziam para influenciar países neutros, que assim se tornavam palco da teia ardilosa onde a trama e arte da dissimulação se tecem. The British tried to assassinate Chatto while he was in Geneva to meet other Indian nationalists, but in reality, the assassination attempt did not include betrayal by a lover.

shut their eyes to dirty work so that they could put their clean hands on their hearts and congratulate themselves that they had never done anything that was unbecoming to men of honour. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. This is a very “told” story, or a series of events, some connected, others not, with most of the recounting being conjecture going on in Ashenden’s head. The history didn't weigh these pieces down - they were about people living out their lives at a certain time.