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Mateo Salazar

Spies and Espionage

Rhys Davies

February 29th, 2024

The not so amazing life of Ashenden the spy

Question: In the Maugham’s preface to the novel, he describes the general business of

espionage as monotonous. Is this view of espionage reflected in his fiction? Explain with

reference to types of duties Ashenden is expected to carry out.

In this book, the author since the beginning, provides us with information about

espionage, as not necessarily something spectacular or heroic. Instead, he details it as typical

daily work. From what we learned in class, we can conclude that probably some of the

adventures that are narrated in the book have occurred in real life, as the writer belonged to

the Secret Service. Therefore, it can be deduced that he has enough knowledge related to this

world to explain some things that really happened. However, he can simply hide this behind

spy fiction because of a law of the United Kingdom about the spies. As far as the play is

concerned, the main character Ashenden, is a retired writer engaged in espionage on the side

of the British government during the First World War. Throughout the book, several missions

in which our protagonist participates are depicted, and despite not having all the details that

his superior "R" possesses, Ashenden performs his work in an appropriate way for general

success.

As for the types of missions it carried out, they were not something of the other world,

mainly recruitment, follow-up, information gathering, and contact among agents. Most of
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these are explained in Chapter 1, entitled R (p. 2–3). In the same way, all the missions

assigned to him did not have complete information, either the trip to Paris, the journey with

the hairless Mexican, or the moments in which he should meet the German agent. All these

missions were explained throughout the book. To simplify this aspect, you could define

Ashenden missions more as formalities than as adventures.

Once you have the context of both the story and the author as such, you can answer

the question posed step by step. Ashenden performs a monotonous job due to the repetitive

and discreet nature of his tasks as a spy. The text reflects this sense of monotony through

routine and a lack of emotion in the activities and missions he takes on. However, as he is a

highly educated man, he does not feel that monotony is tiresome, and we can see this in

chapter seven of "A Trip to Paris" at the time when it is textually said,

"Ashenden was in the habit of asserting he was never bored. It was not notions that

only such persons were as had no resources in themselves, and it was but the stupid depended

on the outside world for their amusement" (p. 107).

This is a subtle nod to the previous information provided by the author regarding his work as

a secret agent at the time. It wasn’t something glorious or something spectacular. It was

something more routine.

In addition, it is highlighted that Ashenden interacts with people who could be

considered uninspiring to get links or keep a low profile. This is explained in the line: "He

knew few people, for it was his business to keep in the background, but he had picked up a

chatting acquaintance with several persons" (p. 108). This interaction with uninteresting

individuals contributes to the feeling of monotony in their working lives.

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We can also discuss that another reason for the reading not being as entertaining as

one thinks is when we understand that several of the activities assigned to it are more read,

write, and wait for instructions. And that when you can do something besides that gets

exciting; this can be seen in the chapter A House Call at the time when Ashenden, to escape a

little of his routine, decided to break into a station and steal some important documents from

the German secret service, which is then textually described as a distraction amidst

monotony.

Given all the above, we can reach the conclusion that the author’s statement about

what espionage work is like is real. Throughout the book, even though he finds ways to

distract himself, a spy’s work is understood as monotonous since it is all about the

repetitiveness of their tasks, the lack of emotion in their daily activities, and the interaction

with uninspiring people. All of this leads him to seek entertainment in his own imagination to

counter the apparent monotony of his work as a spy.

Maugham, William. Ashenden. Vintage Digital, 2009