Intro to W. Somerset Maugham

1. “The Razor’s Edge”, 1944

The story of Larry Darrell, an American who gives up a life of relative leisure in order to live a life dedicated to the pursuit of truth and meaning. Narrated by a friend, who remarks on the differences in Larry before and after World War I in which Larry served. When the Great Depression hits, Larry is better off than many of his old friends who value society and its luxuries and suffer financial losses. Central to this story is the character of Elliot Templeton, a loveable dandy who is one of the most charming characters ever created by Maugham.

2. “Of Human Bondage”, 1915

This lengthy book is the story of the life of Philip Carey (or, in some ways, the story of the trials and tribulations of Philip Carey). Born with a clubfoot, Philip’s mother dies when he is nine years old. Philip is sent to live with his uncle, a local vicar. Philip discovers that his passion is reading and study. Intensely sensitive and often miserable, young Philip is sent to boarding school, where he is tormented by the boys because of his shyness; there, he becomes besotted with a friend who eventually rejects him. Following graduation at 17, he moves to Germany for a year; then back to London, where he is desperately unhappy; and finally to Paris, where he believes he may triumph as an artist. Failing at this, Philip returns to London and pursues medicine, during the study of which he meets Mildred – a crude waitress at a local café with whom he falls desperately in love. The agony that he endures over Mildred – and the fact that he seems to be attracted to what is worst in her nature – takes up much of the novel. By the end, Philip has rid himself of his self-destructive obsession with her, and accepted a life of mediocrity. “Of Human Bondage” is a tale of yearning for freedom and struggle with the banal; of doomed love and crippled hearts and souls. This novel is a masterpiece both in terms of the writing and in terms of its scalpel-like dissection of the human spirit.

3. “The Painted Veil”, 1925

Shallow, beautiful and poorly educated, Kitty marries the passionate and intellectual Walter Fane, a bacteriologist, merely so she can be married before her younger sister. They move to Hong Kong, where Kitty is enormously bored and soon embarks on an affair with Charles Townsend, a politician. When Walter finds out about the affair, he forces Kitty to accompany him out of Hong Kong, to a cholera-infested region of China. There, Kitty flourishes. Humbled by the work and faith of the nurses at the local hospital, she begins assisting them in their duties; she also develops a newfound respect for Walter. Kitty realizes that she is pregnant but does not know if the child is Walter’s or Charles’, a fact that she tells Walter. By the end, Walter has died from cholera and Kitty returns to England with her young daughter. The title is taken from a sonnet by Shelley that begins "Lift not the painted veil which those who live/Call Life: though unreal shapes be pictured there…”, which is about people looking for meaning in either their existence or that of others, and finding the search to be false and disappointing.

Commentary: Despite how depressing Maugham must seem, his novels are in fact delightful to read, and often (although darkly) humorous. It may be better to read the chronologically later “The Razor’s Edge” first, as recommended here, in order to get a feel for Maugham’s writing and his thematics. “Of Human Bondage”, while the greater book, is also the greater commitment. Maugham’s characters are often aggravatingly flawed (in fact, it is only the charming Elliot Templeton, for whom Maugham provides a bitter end, who is truly likeable). Maugham’s masterful examination of the human condition, his painstaking exploration of the borders between genius and mediocrity, and his narrative of quests, both true and false, is compelling. Read together, these three novels provide access to the scope of Maugham’s work and topics.