1914
A01=W. Somerset Maugham
Author_W. Somerset Maugham
Category=FBA
Category=FBC
Category=FHD
Category=FJMF
Category=FYB
classic
contemporary fiction
eq_anthologies-novellas-short-stories
eq_bestseller
eq_classics
eq_fiction
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eq_modern-contemporary
eq_nobargain
eq_thrillers
espionage
first world war
his first his second
hitorical thriller
i have a secret
james bond
literary fiction
of human bondage
our secret war
secret service
switzerland
the great war
the razor's edge
the world at war
top 10 fiction
vintage classics
war
war fiction
war will i am
world war 1
world war 2
ww1 fiction
ww2
ww2 fiction fiction
Product details
- ISBN 9780099289708
- Weight: 248g
- Dimensions: 129 x 197mm
- Publication Date: 06 Jul 2000
- Publisher: Vintage Publishing
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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When war broke out in 1914, Somerset Maugham was dispatched by the British Secret Service to Switzerland under the guise of completing a play. Multilingual, knowledgeable about many European countries and a celebrated writer, Maugham had the perfect cover, and the assignment appealed to his love of romance, and of the ridiculous. The stories collected in Ashenden are rooted in Maugham's own experiences as an agent, reflecting the ruthlessness and brutality of espionage, its intrigue and treachery, as well as its absurdity.
William Somerset Maugham was born in 1874 and lived in Paris until he was ten. He was educated at King's School, Canterbury, and at Heidelberg University. He spent some time at St. Thomas' Hospital with the idea of practising medicine, but the success of his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, published in 1897, won him over to literature. Of Human Bondage, the first of his masterpieces, came out in 1915, and with the publication in 1919 of The Moon and Sixpence his reputation as a novelist was established. At the same time his fame as a successful playwright and writer was being consolidated with acclaimed productions of various plays and the publication of several short story collections. His other works include travel books, essays, criticism and the autobiographical The Summing Up and A Writer's Notebook. In 1927 Somerset Maugham settled in the South of France and lived there until his death in 1965
