A trip to Paris

A detour to Paris ( Ashenden. Or the British Agent ) collected stories by William Somerset Maugham , which were published in 1928 by Heinemann in London and in the same year by Doubleday Doran in New York City. The translation into German came out in 1967.

It describes episodes from the life of the writer Mr. Ashenden around 1916. During the war , the British secret agent Ashenden took part in the struggle of the " allied nations " against the Central Powers . From neutral Switzerland, the agent sends his subordinate agents to Germany, for example, and rewards them for the information they provide.

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Foreword by the author

Maugham admits that in the book he processed his own experiences that he had made in the service of the Intelligence Department . The foreign secret service is meant . Despite the book's memorial character, Maugham would like the text to be understood as a product of the imagination.

R.

A few weeks after the outbreak of war, Ashenden left the continent and returned home. At a party in London he meets the secret service officer Colonel R. The military has served in India and Jamaica. He considers the writer to be a born secret service agent because he speaks several European languages ​​and writing should not arouse suspicion. R. points out to Ashenden that if he is successful, he must not expect thanks and otherwise he will not be helped. Ashenden doesn't mind at all.

The hairless Mexicans (The Mexican Hairless)

Ashenden is supposed to accompany the hairless Mexican - that is General Manuel Carmona - to Naples from Lyon . The English do not know whether the Mexican was ever a general. The Greek Constantine Andreadi, an agent of Enver Pasha , is expected in the city under Vesuvius . The general is supposed to prevent the Greeks from reaching Rome. After the Mexican has taken certain documents from the opponent and eliminated him, Ashenden, who was introduced to the Mexican as Mr. Somerville, is to be rewarded. Carmona wants to go back to Cuba as soon as possible. Ashenden-Somerville travels with a diplomatic passport and is amazed at his travel companions. He pretended to be the commander in chief of the Mexican army, spread out in a saloon car on the train to Italy and used eau de cologne instead of soap and water for his toilet.

The Dark Lady (The Dark Woman)

Ashenden suspects the Mexican is one of the biggest boasters. Then the general tells him the story of his lover, the dark lady from Mexico City . In contrast to the other numerous ladies that the Mexican has had, she is shy and only surrenders to him after he has whispered into her ear all the relevant military secrets regarding his instigated Mexican state revolt in bed. The dark lady turns out to be a spy for the President of Mexico. Unfortunately the general can't help it, he cuts her white throat.

The Greek (The Greek)

The Mexican lies in wait for Constantine Andreadi in Brindisi and can report to Ashenden that he has become the bosom friend of the Greek, who has taken the false name Lombardos, on the first attempt. While Ashenden is enjoying the comforts of Naples for days at leisure, the general kills the Greek but cannot produce any documents. Ashenden receives an encrypted message from Colonel R. After their decryption, Ashenden is horrified to learn that Constantine Andreadi is sick in Piraeus . The Mexican killed the wrong guy.

A trip to Paris (A Trip to Paris)

Ashenden lives in a comfortable apartment in a good Geneva hotel and enjoys the city extensively. He reads the Nouvelle Héloïse and flirts with the enemy: The charming Baroness de Higgins spies for Austria. Colonel R. whistles back. Ashenden wonders who is watching him; how the supervisor knows such little things. He is summoned to Paris to meet R. The colonel has a new assignment for the writer. Chandra Lal, an Indian rebel, operating from Berlin against the British, is to be shot. Chandra Lal loves the beautiful Italian Giulia Lazzari. As an Italian deported by the Germans to Holland, Giulia comes to England and sits in London for espionage. R. has threatened her with ten years in prison unless she lures Chandra Lal to Thonon . R. thinks that Ashenden is exactly the right man for this "chess game". Because the Indian must not be underestimated. Why should he venture into the Allied camp? First, Chandra Lal is to be conducted to Lausanne.

Giulia Lazzari

Ashenden takes over Giulia Lazzari from two policemen and places her in Thonon in the Hôtel de la Place. Chandra Lal receives a telegram in which he is led to believe that his mistress is waiting for him at the Hôtel Gibbons in Lausanne. When the Indian can't meet his Giulia in Lausanne, he of course doesn't fall for the trick mentioned above. Chandra Lal stays in the safe Lausanne and does not go to Thonon. Eventually Ashenden wins the "game of chess" against Chandra Lal by using his writing skills. He dictates a letter to Giulia Lazzari, to which the Indian replies. Ashenden has the reply sent back to Lausanne unopened. Chandra Lal then falls into the trap, but is able to evade the grasp of his English mortal enemies. The fighter for Indian independence uses hydrogen cyanide .

Gustav

Ashenden travels from Geneva to Basel and checks his agent Gustav there. This representative of a Basel company with branches in major German cities is presented by Colonel R. as a model for the rest of the reporting British agents. But how it is with role models - Colonel R. has, purely intuitively, his concerns. And indeed, Ashenden realizes that Gustav had not gone to the German Reich in the last few months and collected money for nice reports, all invented from Basel. Gustav stays in business, however. On behalf of Ashenden, he is supposed to find out what the German spy Grantley Caypor, an Englishman, is doing in Lucerne .

The Traitor (The Traitor)

Ashenden is ordered from Basel by Colonel R. to the Lucerne hotel where Mr. Caypor lives with his wife of German descent. The Englishman is interested in botanicals. The corpulent 42-year-old from Birmingham is fascinated by the Swiss alpine flora . The couple lived in Southampton until 1914 . When the young Spaniard Gomez went to Germany on behalf of the British secret service, the journalist Caypor had betrayed him to the Germans. Gomez was convicted by a German court and then shot. Caypor receives 40 pounds a month from the German secret service agent Major von P., who operates from Bern. When Major von P. sends his agent Caypor to England, the traitor is arrested in France and shot by the English.

Behind the Scenes (Behind the Scenes)

Ashenden is sent by Colonel R. to X., that is the metropolis of a state of the Central Powers. A bloody revolution is imminent in this country. A Galician Pole named Herbartus is the agent's assistant . Ashenden has significant financial resources available for his secret mission.

His Excellency (His Excellency)

First of all, the narrator does not say a word about the above-mentioned secret mission. For this, Ashenden has Sir Herbert Witherspoon tell the story of his life and love in great detail. Sir Herbert is the British ambassador to Country X. People chat by the fireplace over a brandy . Now and then Ashenden throws in a reasonable comment in the almost embarrassing confession. Outside, less than 200 miles from the capital of Country X, soldiers are bleeding to death in the trenches.

Number or coat of arms (The Flip of a Coin)

The narrator finally lets the cat out of the bag. Herbartus is ready and just waiting for Ashenden's order. He is supposed to blow up Austrian ammunition factories. It seems that the Galician Pole has a remorse. A number of his countrymen will be torn or mutilated. The stupid war is condemned. Ashenden's always innocent superiors keep a low profile and let him take the orders. Finally, Ashenden and Herbartus find reasons for their own innocence after the blasts. The Germans had started such reprehensible actions in the Allied countries. Still, Ashenden cannot bring himself to the order. So he flips a coin.

A casual acquaintance (A Chance Acquaintance)

In 1917 Ashenden traveled from Europe via North America to Vladivostok and from there in eleven days by rail to Petersburg . Again, the traveler has almost unlimited financial resources to carry out a secret mission that the reader will never know. Ashenden's travel companion is the very talkative Mr. John Quiny Harrington from Philadelphia . The American carries a letter of recommendation for Mr. Kerensky personally. On behalf of his company, Harrington plans to do business with the interim government .

Love and Russian literature (Love and Russian Literature)

Ashenden meets his former lover Anastasia Alexandovna Leonidov again in Petersburg. Anastasia had returned to Russia from Western Europe after the March Revolution . Years ago this love had failed a one-week, more serious probationary period in Paris. Ashenden had fled because he couldn't eat scrambled eggs with his mistress for more than three consecutive mornings. On the fourth morning he had stubbornly insisted on Setzei. Now love has long since grown cold.

Mr. Harrington's Washing

When Ashenden hints at the woman about his political intentions and financial possibilities, he becomes an interesting man again. Anastasia hopes to use Ashenden's money to direct the fortunes of her Russia. On November 7, 1917, all of Anastasia and Ashenden's projects and also Mr. Harrington's brand-new contract with the interim government came to an end. Harrington, a very clean man, is shot dead in the street in the turmoil of the revolution in Petersburg when he quickly fetches a pile of his good shirts from the laundry before leaving for Sweden.

shape

The right column in the table below shows which stories belong together.

If the narrator lacks facts, he sometimes makes assumptions. For example, he assumes that the traitor Caypor was referred to the German secret service through his German wife.

The subordinates of the British agent Ashenden come from all over the world, just not from England. Ashenden sometimes recruits, hires, supervises and pays them, but does not get his hands dirty. For example, when the colonel murdered the wrong Greek in Naples, Ashenden passed the time in the city. The reader only learns the result of the crime.

interpretation

Maugham used himself as a model for Mr. Ashenden. Virendranath Chattopadhyaya is behind Chandra Lal . British agent Donald Gullick would have been sent to kill Chattopadhyaya. The latter was on the way to Mahendra Pratap in the episode .

Ashenden or The British Secret Agent

Reference is made to a more recent edition in German: W. Somerset Maugham: Ashenden or The British Secret Agent. Stories. German by Wulf Teichmann, Eva Schönfeld and Helene Mayer. Diogenes Verlag, Zurich 1972, 1976. ISBN 3-257-20337-3 . A comparison of the two editions reveals that stories that belong together in terms of the plot were lined up in Diogenes to form one story. The Diogenes edition is more extensive than the first German-language edition by Scherz Verlag. Because it still contains the story "Sanatorium" and the story "Miss King" is much longer than the story "R." The latter is like the little introduction to "Miss King".

Ashenden or The British Secret Agent	A trip to Paris
Miss King	R.
The hairless Mexican	The hairless Mexican. The dark lady. The Greek
Giulia Lazzari	A detour to Paris Giulia Lazzari
The traitor	Gustav the traitor
his Excellency	Behind the scenes His Excellency number or coat of arms
Mr. Harrington's laundry	A chance acquaintance Love and Russian literature Mr. Harrington's laundry
sanatorium	not included

Film adaptations

• In 1936, Alfred Hitchcock took the material for his secret agent from the stories "The Hairless Mexican" and "The Traitor". In it, John Gielgud played Mr. Ashenden and Peter Lorre played the Mexican general Manuel Carmona. Lilli Palmer and Michael Redgrave appeared in supporting roles.
• In 1991, Christopher Morahan created the four-part series "Ashenden" for the BBC from episodes of the book . Alex Jennings played Mr. Ashenden, Ian Bannen played "R.", Harriet Walter played Giulia Lazzari, Alan Bennett played Grantly Caypor and Alfred Molina played General Carmona.

German edition used

• A trip to Paris. Translated from English by Eva Schönfeld. Ullstein Book No. 2770, Frankfurt am Main 1971 (1st edition 1973). 189 pages (unabridged edition. Licensor: Scherz Verlag, Bern 1967), ISBN 3-548-02770-9

Individual evidence

1. ^ W. Somerset Maugham bibliography
2. ↑ Edition used, p. 48, 13. Zvu
3. ↑ Edition used, p. 47, 17. Zvu
4. ↑ Edition used, p. 181, 16. Zvu
5. ↑ Source: Ashenden: Or the British Agent
6. ^ German IMDb and English IMDb
7. ↑ Four-parter in the English IMDb and in the German IMDb