Ashenden or the British Agent

By W. Somerset Maugham

A fictionalized account of Maugham's experience in the British Intelligence Department during World War One. Ashenden, a writer by profession, is recruited as an agent. He is sent overseas. This is no guns blazing, explosions bursting, high-speed chase type of agent. Ashenden is sort of a middle management agent, getting reports from spies in the field, arranging for the spies to be paid and sending the info on to his bosses higher up. Most of the spies he deals with are like himself, ordinary people recruited because of their access to information and their willingness, in some cases, to betray their native land. Of course, if any of them, including Ashenden, are found out, it will mean death. Indeed, two of the stories are about people being tracked down with the ultimate goal their execution, although one of these people is not a spy but a terrorist.
So Ashenden doesn't pack a gun and doesn't know how to disarm a bomb and relies on public transportation to get around. But nevertheless, he is a heartless, cold and ruthless character and I can only hope that that part is fiction, otherwise I would have to conclude that Maugham was a son of a bitch. For instance, Ashenden uses a woman's self-interest against her, making her chose between her own imprisonment for ten years and her lover, the terrorist's, life. She begs and pleads and weeps and he just looks at her and forces her over and over to write deceiving letters luring her lover to his entrapment and death. In another story, dealing with a British citizen who is spying for the enemy, Ashenden tricks the traitor into going back to Britain and into the waiting hands of the authorities, knowing he will never return, leaving behind his wife who loves him desperately and who Ashenden knows will be emotionally destroyed by the loss of her husband. I guess his boss knew he was picking the right man for the job when he recruited Ashenden.

This was a pretty interesting look at what being a spy was really like during WWI. It wasn't glamorous and it wasn't dashing about being all suave and sophisticated.
As Maugham points out, "The work of an agent in the Intelligence Department is on the whole extremely monotonous. A lot of it is uncommonly useless." Mostly it required sitting about in hotels and waiting for the info to arrive and then sending it on to HQ. Most of the spying was actually done by locals who were willing to gather data mainly for the money they were paid. Ashenden worked out of neutral countries which allowed him to freedom to move around, under his guise of being a writer. It was risky but it certainly wasn't as risky as being on the frontlines getting shot at. A nice dose of reality in a world were James Bond, Jason Bourne and the Tom Cruise character of Mission Impossible are presented as the typical kind of spy.

The Razor's Edge

By W. Somerset Maugham

Set in the decades after World War I, this is the story of a man and a woman and some of the people in their lives. The main focus is Larry, a young American who was a pilot in the war. He saw a good friend die saving Larry and it changed him, it unbalanced him. Just a boy, really, he was forced to confront issues of mortality and the meaning and purpose of life. Coming back from the war, he was foundering and lost and the principles he had been raised on seemed inadequate to address his questions. Having a small fortune to finance his studies, Larry embarks on a search for enlightenment, a search that will take decades.
Before heading off to war Larry had a girl friend, Isabel, daughter of a wealthy broker and after he comes home they decide to marry. But first Larry wants to spend a few years finding himself and Isabel graciously agrees to let him go off to Paris by himself. After awhile, hoping he has gotten it out of his system, she comes looking for him. Once there, Larry asks her to give up her wealthy lifestyle and join him with his modest income on his search for meaning. But Isabel feels it is Larry's duty as a manly man to quit goofing around and get a job. They part amicably, mainly because Isabel is positive that Larry will miss her and cave in to her wishes. But he doesn't cave. He just disappears, hitting the road and later finding a job working in a coal mine. Manual labor clears his mind, he claims.
So Isabel gives up and marries a worthy boy from back home who loves her dearly and they have a good marriage and children and all is swell except that Isabel is still carrying a torch for Larry.
Isabel is leading the life she wanted until the stock market crash of 1929 ruins her and her husband, who had invested heavily in stock margins. Now she and her family are in Paris living by virtue of her wealthy uncle's charity. (He was smart enough to pull his funds out of the market months before the crash.)
Meanwhile Larry is drifting, searching for the meaning of life. He turns up back in Paris for a short while and meets and old friend from back home, Sophie. Sophie has had an unhappy life and taken to drink and drugs for comfort. Her husband and baby were killed by a drunk driver. Suddenly Larry has a mission - to save Sophie from herself. He talks her into marrying him.
When Isabel finds out about the impending marriage she is pissed. She has this ridiculous fantasy that Larry is a virgin and has never been with any other woman. She wants Larry to remain single so she sabotages Sophie's new-found sobriety and Sophie goes off on a bender and disappears and then Larry disappears once again ending up in India where he finally finds the answers he has been seeking at the feet of a guru.
In contrast with the saintly Larry, we have Isabel's rich uncle, Elliott. Elliott lives for society, to see and be seen with the best people. A man of impeccable taste and manners, Elliott has ingratiated himself into high society. He loves hobnobbing with the upper classes. This is the main goal and focus of Elliott's life. This is his reason for living and he has succeeded. He knows everyone and is invited everywhere and his cup runneth over. His life is offered as a counterpoint to Larry's. Larry's search is presented as worthy and inspiring and dignified and Elliott's life is presented as vain and pointless.

This was not the book for me. When they trot out the mystical mumbo-jumbo, I just got to say, no thanks! I didn't like the Larry character, I thought his behavior was not selfless but selfish. I agreed with Isabel that it was unreasonable of him to ask her to give up wealth and privilege to follow him on his poverty-stricken search for the meaning of life. More than once Larry gives away most of his stuff and then remarks on how "free" it made him feel. I don't understand how a couple of books and some shirts and pants could make him feel tied down. Supposedly the Larry character is based on a real person and if that's the case he must have been something else. Loon is the word that comes to mind.
Anyway, the story was pretty good, reading about the lives of the privileged classes, about Isabel, Elliot and Sophie. The appearance of Sophie into the story was a breath of fresh air with her foul mouth and frank sexuality. Back then Sophie was foul and vulgar but now her dialog reads like most people today talk. But when the author goes on and on about Larry's experiences in India, he lost me. All that metaphysical shite, yuck!