Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website (GeneralBooksClub.com). You can also preview excerpts of the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Publisher: New York : Grosset ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Talented, but flawed
This story is set at some time around the turn of the twentieth century, before World War 1.The story opens in London, England.The unnamed narrator is a young man who has just written his first successful novel.Gingerly negotiating his way around the `literati' of England he attends a party at which he meets Mrs. Strickland.She is not herself an author but has a deep interest in meeting talented people.She gives parties at her house where food and drink is laid on, and where various members of the world of the arts and literature are invited.Eventually the narrator is invited to dinner at Mrs. Strickland's, though on arriving he finds that it is not a literary function, but a small private affair.It is here that the narrator meets for the first time Mr. Charles Strickland, who's life-story this book follows.Charles Strickland strikes the narrator as "... just a good, dull, honest, plain man."It is therefore with some surprise that the narrators later hears that Mr. Strickland has suddenly abandoned his wife and gone to Paris, apparently in the company of a young woman who worked at a tea-shop in the city.The narrator feels with some excitement that he has just entered the exciting, unseemly world of his own novel.The narrator's life-path crosses several time with that of Charles Strickland.Gradually as the story progresses we come to see Strickland as a markedly talented, yet severely flawed man.

This novel, first published in 1919, "... confirmed Maugham's reputation as a novelist and is probably his best-known book."This being said it should be noted that the book has moments of greatness, but is also partly flawed.

The plot is based on the life of the `post-impressionist' painter Paul Gauguin.It is, however, primarily a fiction and varies from that artist's real biography.Gauguin was for example French, not English.The points of similarity include:

An uneventful first half of life, with a career as a stockbroker,
A sudden break with his family,
Lack of recognition from the contemporary critics and general public,
Recognition of talent from some fellow painters,
Living in poverty,
A biting, sardonic personality,
Leaving Europe to live `close to nature' in Tahiti,
A non-representational art style in which, for example, color represented the emotions.

Rather interestingly Strickland physically resembles Vincent van Gogh, with his red hair and beard.Van Gogh was rather a different man to Strickland, though he too painted non-representationally, using color to express emotion.Strickland, like van Gogh spent a short time at an art academy where his efforts were viewed quite askance.Also like van Gogh, Strickland had an unseemly affair that resulted in the painting of a famous reclining nude.

The book is roughly divided into three even sections.The first section covers Strickland's unexpected departure to Paris.Here Maugham quite competently sets the scene, introducing us to Strickland's personality.The second section covers life in Paris, concentrating on the relationship with the Strove family.This part of the story is the most conventional segment and is rather uninteresting, at least plot wise.I was reminded of Emily Bronte's and her sister Charlotte Bronte's , though those books are much more successful than Maugham's.The third section revolves around the trip to Tahiti and it is here that the book truly shines.There seems to be something about the idea of `getting back to nature' that appeals to the psyche of modern man.

It should be noted that Maugham's narrator freely admits his own lack of knowledge of human nature and the motivations of the people he meets.The all-knowing narrator, so standard in many books, is gone, and instead we have am essentially modern device.The reader himself must decide what he believes about particular people.How much, we ask, can we know anyone other than ourselves?

Of course the novel has the theme of the genius.We are shows how unconscious forces drive such people, and how all else falls to the wayside on the road to the chosen goal.The novel also explores the theme of the artificiality of `civilized' society, and the retreat to a more `real' nature.This idea goes back at least as far as the Eighteenth Century Romantics, though it should be noted that Maugham has his own spin on the topic.Nature, for example, is not always the `pleasant mother' of the Romantics.

Strickland is adequately drawn as a terse, abrasive man with a monomania for his art.His name suggests the `strict land' he has chosen to dwell in, where everything is rejected except his calling. His name also perhaps suggests "strychnine' as he is poison to just about all who he meets.After his initial `conversion' to the path of art Strickland there is at first some humor arising from his candor about his rejection of social norms.Soon, however, a monomaniac becomes predictably dull, and Maugham has achieved the unusual task of writing about a central character by highlighting the people around him.The second section accents the Stroves, particularly Dirk, a good-natured man with perhaps more heart than sense.Interestingly Dirk may be Maugham's comment on the Romantics.The third section reveals to us a whole procession of characters, many of them eccentric, who encountered Strickland in various situations.These portraits greatly enhance the novel.

All in all this is certainly not a bad book, but not a great one either.The second section, as I have noted, mars the book to some degree.Maugham made a fact-finding trip to Tahiti and the details and highlights this journey seems to have given him greatly enriched that part of the book.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A look into another world in another time
Yet the writing is so full that we can feel part of this other world.

I came to this story by the back door. My first introduction to Somerset Maugham was through the movie "The Razor's Edge" (1946) staring Tyrone Power as Larry Darrell. I have no idea as to how much it was adapted from the book. Then in 1984 we watched Bill Murray as Larry Darrell. This film lost what magic the 1946 film had. So it was time to read the book. Yes I know very few films can do more than present the essence of a book. Turns out that even the older film wrote Summerset out of some of the scenes.

Larry is back from the war (WWI). As with many of us he is left with nagging questions about why one person lives and another must die. This problem leads Larry to search for the answers. He turns down opportunities and takes up a lifestyle to help him find answers. This story is told or narrated by Somerset Maugham himself. In the book Somerset takes more of an active part in the story. Larry came as close as any of us to the answer he seeks and we leave him much the same way one enters and leaves your life.
... Read more

Product Description
The stories in this collection move from Malaya to America and England, and include some of Maugham's most famous tales; 'Flotsam and Jetsam', the story of an old woman trapped for years in a loveless marriage in the remote rubber plantations; 'The Man with the Scar', and notably the opening story 'The Vessel of Wrath', a tale of the unexpected love that grows between a devout missionary nurse and a drunken reprobate. In this second volume of his collected stories, Maugham illustrates his characteristic wry perception of human foibles and his genius for evoking compelling drama from an acute sense of time and place. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Fine stories, awful book printing
I've loved Maugham's writing since I happened upon "Of Human Bondage" years ago in a resale shop.This collection of short stories is no different -- simply beautiful writing and very human stories.

On the other hand, the printing of this particular edition is horrible.The text is oversaturated so that each letter is horribly spread out and fat; very distracting to read.I'm happy with the writing, very disappointed with the quality of the printing.

Five stars for writing -- zero stars for the printing.

"Be happy, happy, happy"
Life's too short, as we learn in Somerset Maugham, to live it compromised by ugly feeling or jealousy, and it's also too short to read all of his stories of the South Seas collected in this Volume 4 of his Collected Short Stories.(Apparently through some quirk of Amazon, reviews of any of the four volumes of his collected are given here under Volume 4, and probably under each volume too.Oh well, maybe it makes sense, but I notice that practically every other review here is for Volume 1 which must have all the anthology pieces in it.)Here I really liked two stories, The Book Bag and P & O.It's true what they say, his stories are told simply and seem like they're going to be bor-r-r-i-i-n-n-g, but by page two or three you're hooked.

"The Book-Bag" is one of the most daring, since it brings up the topic of brother-sister incest.The narrator has little luggage but as if to make up for it carries around with him an enormous book-bag, like Santa's sack, and the native porters transporting it on his many island hops, curse him mightily.In Tenggarah, in Malaya, the Narrator gets out and engages a resident called Mark Featherstone and the two of them play cards at the club and drink and talk about Byron and his supposed affair with Augusta, his sister.One man leaves his cards spilled across the floor and stumbles out, and the narrator realizes, oops, I've put my foot in my mouth.He then gets to hear the story of a sister so far gone on her brother that, when he leaves her to return to England on a brief trip, goes a little nuts.I won't say what happens because it's too intense!But here Maugham approaches a Racinean intensity of sexual feeling that still leaves you seared.

In "P & O" the focus is on Mrs. Hamlyn, on her way home back to England from Yokohama, where her husband has abruptly abandoned her, not for a young flapper which might be excusable, but for a middle aged woman even older than she!Mrs. Hamlyn is hurt and bewildered, and her emotions shut down so she feels nothing.At Malaya the ship stops to pick up cargo and passengers, among them a simple Irishman called Gallagher, who soon becomes sick on the voyage--sick with hiccups.Maugham was a M.D. himself and could really work up a case of hiccups into something disastrous, and before long Gallagher is near death.The story is really all about (as I began writing) life being too short for regret."We live to be happy so short a time and we are so long dead."Mrs. Hamlyn's emotional journey is at the core of Maugham's story, but there are tremendous chills and thrills from following what apparently is a simple case of hiccuping but which soon turns into something far more sinister and chilling.Yes, this book is filled with so-called Orientalism, the mysterious ways of the East always painted as too arcane for white men to understand (or too primitive, exactly the opposite fault from the over-elaboration that Asians are elsewhere accused of).But in some stories, you really do feel the sense of culture shock when two worlds collide, each with its own set of learned responses, no world essentially any better than the other.

Each one a Gem
As a writer, Maugham considered himself "on the first row of the secondraters".I think he was being modest.Maugham has written some of the finest short stories ever written.His purpose was to do no more than tell an interesting story, but the reader gets much more. Each story isperfectly told; not one word is wasted, each character is fully realized.Maugham observes and never judges his characters. His short stories can be read many times and with each reading the reader finds something new and interesting.Somerset Maugham's short stories takes the reader to a time that is now past but still very relevant.

Great
Somerset is an amazing writer whose words flowed so freely and expressively it makes you want to cry.This book of shorts is classic Maugham and un-put-downable.You'll love it.

Fall or accomplishment ?
The story" Fall of Edward Barnard" is a confrontation between what is called'the Civilized World' and the indigenous, the savage, the primitive world. Edward, thankful to a relative already fascinated by the beauties of the islands around tahiti, had a one life opportunity to have a very introspective reflexion about the meaning of his life. Sent from Chicago for two years, he will delay his return and the promise he made to his bride Isabelle. Why ? Because facing the natural beauty, almost thunderstruck by such simplicity, he wonders what the use of all this hustle and constant striving in our cities which are all but stones with ceasless turmoil. After a unsuccessful beginning in working, he chose a simple life based on beauty, truth and goodness. His thoughts reach the universal when asking himself ( throughout the author's philosophy )why do we come into the world for to hurry to an office and work hour after hour ... Read more

Product Description
The Explorer

The Hero

The Land of Promise

The Land of The Blessed Virgin; Sketches and Impressions in Andalusia

Liza of Lambeth

The Magician

Moon and Sixpence

Of Human Bondage

Orientations

The Trembling of a Leaf ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

I never knew....
I never knew that there were so many great classics that I had never read. This one is tops and is easy to read even for those not accustomed to the language of some of these "older" novels. The book grabs you fairly quickly so it is easy to stick with it. I read the freebie on my Kindle and it was fantastic...one of my all-time faves (and I read a lot).

Don't let the title throw you off. It is about an orphan's life as he grows up under his uncle and aunt's care in the English countryside, his moves to various European cities to study just as many professions, and his eventual calling. ... Read more

Product Description
It is the end of the 19th century and Victoria's reign is coming to an end. It is also the end of an era, but no one knows. The landed gentry, so soon to lose their power, are the last to suspect.

Bertha Ley is mistress of Court Ley, a great spread of land. She marries Edward Craddock, a man beneath her station, but quite the essence of new order. A gentleman farmer, he is steady and a doer who turns Court Ley into an efficient farm. But Bertha wants passion and ardor: she gets reality.

Customer Reviews (5)

A Maugham Masterpiece
The heroine of this book, starts off as a very confident, quite headstrong girl, pursuing a man beneath her station.For when it comes down to it, Bertha is quite the idealist in love.As the book explains she really has only one way to love, and that's all consumingly.The book delves into her heartbreak once the honeymoon is over, and it becomes clear that her husband is one of those very sensible people, for whom love is quite on the mundane side, instead of the fireworks Bertha imagines, it's a little more like clockwork. She, and her marriage are compared to the rules adherant to livestock in her husbands eyes.

And to exacerbate her isolation is the fact that the town and it's townspeople, see in Edward a good, solid, contributing citizen, a paragon of strength, virtues, and good attributes, and congratulate her on her choice of spouse at every opportunity.She goes through stages, as her bitterness and resentment over Edwards' unchangeable personality as he refuses to give way from his sensible lifestyle in order to accommodate her in the attention that she craves.Of such a different temperment is he, that he is completely unable to understand her needs or feelings, and feels it's for her better good for him to remain that way.

The book takes a turn to compare Edward's non-passionate nature, to an admiring younger cousin who falls in love with her with the same heat and emotion as she has, providing just a small glimpse into a world where her feelings are matched.A pervading sensibility, eventually puts her feelings in check. But that experience lowers some of her expectations, and she comes to regard her marriage with an indifference which is the quality that makes it bearable for her.

The story of an unhappy marriage in the rural countryside doesn't strike one as that compelling of a plot-line, but the way in which it's written is so filled with poignant character observations, you can hardly read three pages in this book without finding a sentence that's deeply accurate and deftly serves up truths on human relationships and different temperments.And it's that introspective quality that makes this book amazing to read.

Nothing for people who like romance and kitsch
As a woman you can identify yourself very well with Bertha, but there is a big difference between the social situations. That's exactly what makes this book so special, you see yourself even if the reactions of Bertha are often stupid and wrong you understand what she feels and why she's doing it. You see that maybe in her situation you would have reacted the same way and that makes you thinking About it. There are many little things which tell so much about people's emotions and the situations.

Very Interesting
It's a very interesting book. It shows our feelings very well. It's simple to read. But I think it's more a book for women than for men. Mrs Craddock is an intelligent person and she has married a simple man. In the beginning she is very in love with him. And they are lucky. But later she notices that he is not Mr Right and her life gets boring. She leaves him and meets someone else in Italy.... I can recommend this book to everyone which is interested in love stories. But it's not a simple love story with a happy ending!

A Neglected Masterwork
W. Somerset Maugham has long existed somewhat on the periphery of literary and critical respectability: "a first-rate second-rater," someone once called him. But the more I read Maugham the more I become convinced that this is a snobbish appraisal, derived perhaps from his extraordinary popular success (if it's popular, it can't be good) and, later, from revelations regarding his homosexuality along with some unpleasant personal details related by various biographers. But none of this should get in the way of a reader seeking out Maugham's best work---"Of Human Bondage," certainly, and the much-less-known "Mrs. Craddock."

"Mrs. Craddock" is a stunningly powerful novel of one woman's compromises with the realities of love. Reminiscent on the one hand of Flaubert's "Madame Bovary," and on the other of Kate Chopin's "The Awakening," this novel has a vitality and brilliance of characterization all its own. Bertha, the heroine, is superbly rendered: a woman who is unable to understand until too late the nature of her emotional folly, a victim of her own self-imposed romantic delusions. Edward, her husband, is equally compelling: a fundamentally good man who has simply, in essence, married the wrong woman. Watching these two mismatched souls attempting to co-exist is engrossing, painful, and exhilarating. The story is solidly written in the usual Maugham plain style, and is just as relevant today as it must have been the year it was published.

This "lost" Maugham novel---ignored even by many Maugham admirers---deserves a wider readership. Those interested in Maugham's fiction of this period, or in turn-of-the-century novels centered on women, owe it to themselves to try this unjustly neglected masterwork.

Maugham's as usual
I'm a huge fan of the work of W. Somerset Maugham and I buy every book from him that catches my eye. Mrs. Craddock was not exception. The story of love and disappointment endured by Bertha Craddock is an odissey on how thewomen perceptions change when they find that they're not loved in the waythey expected. Me, as a male, couldn't help but feel sympathy for her andget angry at the way Bertha's husband snubs her need for love. The end ismarvelous and this makes the novel a must read for everyone who's ever beenin love. (I guess everyone) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A look into another world in another time
Yet the writing is so full that we can feel part of this other world.

I came to this story by the back door. My first introduction to Somerset Maugham was through the movie "The Razor's Edge" (1946) staring Tyrone Power as Larry Darrell. I have no idea as to how much it was adapted from the book. Then in 1984 we watched Bill Murray as Larry Darrell. This film lost what magic the 1946 film had. So it was time to read the book. Yes I know very few films can do more than present the essence of a book. Turns out that even the older film wrote Summerset out of some of the scenes.

Larry is back from the war (WWI). As with many of us he is left with nagging questions about why one person lives and another must die. This problem leads Larry to search for the answers. He turns down opportunities and takes up a lifestyle to help him find answers.This story is told or narrated by Somerset Maugham himself. In the book Somerset takes more of an active part in the story. Larry came as close as any of us to the answer, he seeks and we leave him much the same way one enters and leaves your life.

The Razor's Edge
Razor's Edge [VHS]

A Masterpiece
This is a powerful novel of one man's search for the meaning of life in the early 1900's. Well written and touches one's heart. I highly reccommend this book. If you have a chance, see the movie staring Bill Murray of the same name, it's extremely well done.

A look into another world in another time
Yet the writing is so full that we can feel part of this other world.

I came to this story by the back door. My first introduction to Somerset Maugham was through the movie "The Razor's Edge" (1946) staring Tyrone Power as Larry Darrell. I have no idea as to how much it was adapted from the book. Then in 1984, we watched Bill Murray as Larry Darrell. This film lost what magic the 1946 film had. Therefore, it was time to read the book. Yes, I know very few films can do more than present the essence of a book. Turns out that even the older film wrote Summerset out of some of the scenes.

Larry is back from the war (WWI). As with many of us, he is left with nagging questions about why one-person lives and another must die. This problem leads Larry to search for the answers. He turns down opportunities and takes up a lifestyle to help him find answers. This story is told or narrated by Somerset Maugham himself. In the book, Somerset takes more of an active part in the story. Larry came as close as any of us to the answer, he seeks and we leave him much the same way one enters and leaves your life.
... Read more

Product Description
A wartime reprint, with illustrations by Paul Gauguin and Frederic Dorr Steele. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Talented, but flawed
This story is set at some time around the turn of the twentieth century, before World War 1.The story opens in London, England.The unnamed narrator is a young man who has just written his first successful novel.Gingerly negotiating his way around the `literati' of England he attends a party at which he meets Mrs. Strickland.She is not herself an author but has a deep interest in meeting talented people.She gives parties at her house where food and drink is laid on, and where various members of the world of the arts and literature are invited.Eventually the narrator is invited to dinner at Mrs. Strickland's, though on arriving he finds that it is not a literary function, but a small private affair.It is here that the narrator meets for the first time Mr. Charles Strickland, who's life-story this book follows.Charles Strickland strikes the narrator as "... just a good, dull, honest, plain man."It is therefore with some surprise that the narrators later hears that Mr. Strickland has suddenly abandoned his wife and gone to Paris, apparently in the company of a young woman who worked at a tea-shop in the city.The narrator feels with some excitement that he has just entered the exciting, unseemly world of his own novel.The narrator's life-path crosses several time with that of Charles Strickland.Gradually as the story progresses we come to see Strickland as a markedly talented, yet severely flawed man.

This novel, first published in 1919, "... confirmed Maugham's reputation as a novelist and is probably his best-known book."This being said it should be noted that the book has moments of greatness, but is also partly flawed.

The plot is based on the life of the `post-impressionist' painter Paul Gauguin.It is, however, primarily a fiction and varies from that artist's real biography.Gauguin was for example French, not English.The points of similarity include:

An uneventful first half of life, with a career as a stockbroker,
A sudden break with his family,
Lack of recognition from the contemporary critics and general public,
Recognition of talent from some fellow painters,
Living in poverty,
A biting, sardonic personality,
Leaving Europe to live `close to nature' in Tahiti,
A non-representational art style in which, for example, color represented the emotions.

Rather interestingly Strickland physically resembles Vincent van Gogh, with his red hair and beard.Van Gogh was rather a different man to Strickland, though he too painted non-representationally, using color to express emotion.Strickland, like van Gogh spent a short time at an art academy where his efforts were viewed quite askance.Also like van Gogh, Strickland had an unseemly affair that resulted in the painting of a famous reclining nude.

The book is roughly divided into three even sections.The first section covers Strickland's unexpected departure to Paris.Here Maugham quite competently sets the scene, introducing us to Strickland's personality.The second section covers life in Paris, concentrating on the relationship with the Strove family.This part of the story is the most conventional segment and is rather uninteresting, at least plot wise.I was reminded of Emily Bronte's and her sister Charlotte Bronte's , though those books are much more successful than Maugham's.The third section revolves around the trip to Tahiti and it is here that the book truly shines.There seems to be something about the idea of `getting back to nature' that appeals to the psyche of modern man.

It should be noted that Maugham's narrator freely admits his own lack of knowledge of human nature and the motivations of the people he meets.The all-knowing narrator, so standard in many books, is gone, and instead we have am essentially modern device.The reader himself must decide what he believes about particular people.How much, we ask, can we know anyone other than ourselves?

Of course the novel has the theme of the genius.We are shows how unconscious forces drive such people, and how all else falls to the wayside on the road to the chosen goal.The novel also explores the theme of the artificiality of `civilized' society, and the retreat to a more `real' nature.This idea goes back at least as far as the Eighteenth Century Romantics, though it should be noted that Maugham has his own spin on the topic.Nature, for example, is not always the `pleasant mother' of the Romantics.

Strickland is adequately drawn as a terse, abrasive man with a monomania for his art.His name suggests the `strict land' he has chosen to dwell in, where everything is rejected except his calling. His name also perhaps suggests "strychnine' as he is poison to just about all who he meets.After his initial `conversion' to the path of art Strickland there is at first some humor arising from his candor about his rejection of social norms.Soon, however, a monomaniac becomes predictably dull, and Maugham has achieved the unusual task of writing about a central character by highlighting the people around him.The second section accents the Stroves, particularly Dirk, a good-natured man with perhaps more heart than sense.Interestingly Dirk may be Maugham's comment on the Romantics.The third section reveals to us a whole procession of characters, many of them eccentric, who encountered Strickland in various situations.These portraits greatly enhance the novel.

All in all this is certainly not a bad book, but not a great one either.The second section, as I have noted, mars the book to some degree.Maugham made a fact-finding trip to Tahiti and the details and highlights this journey seems to have given him greatly enriched that part of the book.

the alchemy of writing
I have put this, not new, but still beautiful book, on the reading list for a class I am teaching, Into The Heart of Art. This book stirred a lot of controversy when it was first published, because it's a brazen and obvious portrayal of the life of the well known artist, Gauguin, borrowing so unmistakeably from his life and yet, not at all Gauguin, because the artist portrayed has a very same but different life. The beautiful old copy of this book, which I got from Amazon, has lovely prints of Gauguin's paintings within, and if you can get it, I heartily recommend this particular edition! Somerset Maugham is a wonderful writer. The book itself makes us all ponder the nature of the creative spirit that pushes a person to the extremes of giving up so much that is "comfortable" to pursue his or her art. The Gauguin portrayed in this book is not a sympathetic character, and yet, he is pursued by his Muse. There are beautiful, memorable quotes about art in this book. Purchase it. Find them. Enjoy!

Another Quality Piece of Work from the Heritage Press
Heritage's The Moon and Sixpence features a brown slipcase and nubby beige cloth with brown print.

Parts One and Two of the novel are in contrasting illustrative styles and typefaces. F.D. Steele's pen drawings and Victorian decoration reflect the 19th style of the portions of the novel set in London and Paris. The remainder of the book, set in Tahiti, is illustrated with color reproductions of Gauguin and Polynesian decorative elements.

282 pp, cloth over hardback boards with a sewn binding.

wrong book
The picture on Amazon of THe Moon and Sixpence is not the book that was delivered!!! The picture is DECEIVING...Moon and Sixpence was delivered



but it was not the one with the cover jacket presented on the website!!!
I'm very unhappy about this.I know the book. I used to own it. ... Read more

Product Description
A generous anthology of fiction by the enduringly popular master Somerset Maugham, featuring in full and for the first time in one volume The Moon and the Sixpence Painted Veil, and The Magician, plus five major stories. From the caf society of Paris to the British colony of Hong Kong to the lush tropical island of Tahiti, you can travel half the world in this first-time-ever collection of three of the novels that indelibly established the popular literary reputation of W. Somerset Maugham in England and America. With him, too, you can explore that perilous territory of the human heart when the ambitions of driven men collide disastrously with the demands of passionate women. In the instant bestseller The Moon and the Sixpence, the novel Maugham famously based on the life of Paul Gauguin, love and art prove to be as incompatible as Europe and Tahiti, when the painter Charles Strickland (played brilliantly in the screen version by George Sanders) sacrifices the love of his wife, the goodwill of his friends, and the life of his mistress on the altar of his own genius. No less exotic than Tahiti is the cholera-ridden Hong Kong in The Painted Veil, which takes the adulterous Kitty Fane on a personal descent into hell in a steamy tale of passion hailed by Bookman as "one of the great short novels of our time." And in The Magician, a satanist takes dark and sinister revenge on the young woman who spurns him. Included in this volume, too, are five timeless short stories-including "The Letter," which was made into a movie starring a memorably murderous Bette Davis, and "Rain," the sultry tale of sexuality and hypocrisy that became a star vehicle for Joan Crawford. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An Excellent Collection, an Excellent Writer
Maugham claimed that he was "in the very first row of the second-raters". Maybe, but maybe not.

While his style may not elevate his work to the status of "great literature," you owe it to yourself to read Maugham. This collection is a fine place to start. The Moon and Sixpence is based on the life of Paul Gaugin and The Magician is based more than loosely on Aleistar Crowley's exploits. Fascinating people who Maugham used to craft page-turning stories around.

Maugham is greatly underappreciated. This is a great collection to begin exploring his work.

Global Tour De Force!
The ability of this man to put insight within insight into the innermost knooks and crannies of the human condition and then palce you, the reader, almost, but not quite, clautrophobically close to the action (or often a lack of) is literally mesmerizing! He was not a man easily fooled by anyone. He then endows the reader with this insight from which I, for one, leaned a great deal.

Every one of his characters is keenly observed and fully fleshedinto often tragic believability but always alive with their human-ness, warts and all.

I miss his stories more than any others when I'm finished. This collection is a global tour de force, rich in colour, intrigue and the dust that setles on the crooked paths his characters tread.

Get it, read it (several times), you won't be sorry! ... Read more

Product Description
Maugham’s enchanting tale of secrets and fatal attraction

The Magician is one of Somerset Maugham’s most complex and perceptive novels. Running through it is the theme of evil, deftly woven into a story as memorable for its action as for its astonishingly vivid characters. In fin de siècle Paris, Arthur and Margaret are engaged to be married. Everyone approves and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves—until the sinister and repulsive Oliver Haddo appears. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Spell-binding
The Magician is an early work of the still young(ish) Maugham. A compulsive attraction for a person unworthy of it stands between its protagonist and happiness: it shares a similar subject with works such as The Painted Veil, Theatre, and of course Of Human Bondage. But Maugham seems to have been still grappling with the implications of this interesting premise, and while in later works its development is psychological, here the attraction is excused as hypnotic. This makes for less analysis, but a faster-paced plot. Action begins in the artistic and occult demi-monde of 1900 Paris and takes the reader to a climax in the magician's lair in Yorkshire. Good is pitted straightforwardly against evil. Cliffhangers take place in suitably exotic settings. And though The Magician's storyline is mono-dimensional, Maugham weaves skilfully between the supernatural and the still explainable. Unlike other reviewers, or indeed the author himself as his introduction hints, I don't find his style has aged or that it was less effective in this earlier phase of his career.

Another Maugham Guilty Pleasure
I'm a sucker for Maugham, so I know I usually read his books and short stories through rose-colored glasses.I enjoyed The Magician and was taken with Oliver Haddo, but the ending left me mildly disappointed.Without giving anything important away, I have to say Maugham really falls short by weaving a corny "dawning day" metaphor into the closing scene.So overall I'll remember Haddo and even Margaret, but will promptly forget the plot.

Good Read, Disappointing Ending
I picked up this book because I had heard that Maugham had based his title character on Aleister Crowley, and Oliver Haddo is a well-drawn and imagined character.The plot and prose are terrific too for the first two-thirds of the novel, then a surprising event happens and it suddenly becomes melodramatic and clichéd with a B-movie ending.In retrospect, at the end of the book, it is easy to see how Maugham layered the work for the ending he wrote, but ultimately it robs the character of becoming magnificently evil and the novel of having the haunting power it could have had. ... Read more

Product Description
For Christmas, Charley Mason's father granted him a trip to Paris, all expenses paid. It should have been a lark, but on his first night Charley meets a woman whose story will forever change his life.

For Lydia has seen tragedy. The Russian Revolution displaced her family, left her homeless, fatherless. And for reasons that elude Charley, Lydia pines for a man half a world away--a dope dealer and murderer whose sins Lydia seeks to absolve through her own self- destruction. Haunting, erotic, deeply effecting, Christmas Holiday explores two souls capsized by compassion--and the confusion that engulfed a generation in the days between the Great Wars. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

A rough trip (for readers) through Paris
It has been said that the Nobel Prize Committee for Literature is adverse to mass-market success, which may explain in part why W. Somerset Maugham never received its honor.During the 1930s, a period of economic collapse and social turmoil, Maugham was the world's highest-paid author and lived a comfortable life at his house on the French Riviera.The Englishman was a household name amongst readers and is widely known today, but his success during a bleak period caused resentment in the literary set.

A second disadvantage, perhaps even more glaring, was Maugham's use of an obsolete writing style.Though considered a modernist, his fiction is cast in a simplified Victorian language that at times seems out of place with the subject matter.Even through the 1940s, Maugham's approach went practically unchanged while a younger generation of writers broke new ground.When Maugham, for instance, published his incomparable 'The Razor's Edge' in 1944, George Orwell had just completed 'Animal Farm' and Samuel Beckett had published his short story cycle 'More Pricks Than Kicks' ten years before.

'Christmas Holiday,' first published in 1939, is a later Maugham novel that receives no favors from his archaic, straightlaced prose.Though effective at times, his storytelling doesn't fit the era it is depicting and reads like a 1930s social commentary through the eyes of Anthony Trollope.Published just before the outbreak of World War II, it is an unbalanced, often neurotic tale in which Maugham seems to be fighting against developments that endangered western tradition.It is difficult for an author of Maugham's talent to write a 'bad' novel, but he was extremely close with 'Christmas Holiday' to achieving the feat.

Set in 1930s Paris, 'Christmas Holiday' is divided into ten lengthy chapters.The focal character is Charley Mason, a 23-year-old Cambridge graduate and descendant of a property-owning family who is vacationing alone on Christmas week.Most of his dealings are with Simon Fenimore, a boyhood friend now working as a journalist, and Lydia, a Russian prostitute to whom Simon introduces him.As a sensitive, artistic young man who acts out of pity for her sordid lifestyle, Charley travels through the city and shares a depressing hotel room with Lydia for nearly his entire visit.

Charley's trip becomes something of an underground odyssey.Lydia is the wife of Robert Berger, a thief who was sent to French Guiana for murdering a horse racing bookie.We learn through her recollections and those of Simon, who covered Berger's trial, about a love affair with tragic results.These accounts, told in flashback style, carry a high amount of suspense and are made quite interesting by the fact that Simon, a devoted nihilist, was amused by Berger's personality.Charley also encounters the Russian refugee community and two survivors of Guiana who further build up his perspective on life.

Maugham, who was 65 at the time of Christmas Holiday's publication, seems to be rehashing a great deal of his earlier novels.Charley's initial dilemma of becoming an artist and earning decent income is akin to Charles Strickland in 'The Moon and Sixpence,' while his dealings with Lydia and her sexual ambivalence mirror Philip Carey with Mildred Rogers in 'Of Human Bondage.'The deceit and violence of Robert Berger can also be found in several of Maugham's writings, especially his short story 'The Letter.'For those acquainted with his fiction, Maugham seems to be walking old territory and desperate to understand the social landscape where tradition and values were falling apart.

Aside from subject matter, 'Christmas Holiday' is sloppy in execution and in need of a rewrite.Maugham's characters sometimes break from their personality for no reason at all (Lydia suddenly jumps into a well-turned argument on politics) and the use of flashback and story-within-story cuts into the novel's pace as a whole.The book seems to lag and never really catches fire the way it should.'Christmas Holiday' manages to be engaging, but it ranks far below classics like 'Razor,' 'Of Human Bondage,' and 'The Painted Veil.'I would only recommend it to Maugham completists and those with an appreciation of Paris during the Great Depression.

Maugham's novels are available in softcover from Vintage Classics, while I have on my bookshelf (but not for long) a hardback copy of its 1939 printing from P. F. Collier & Son.Released in 2000, the Vintage edition appears to reuse Collier's original type, which is large and clear.All of Maugham's fiction, however, is worth reading.

Coming Of Age During One Week In Paris
Charley Mason is off to spend his Christmas week in Paris and the young respectable middle-class life he knows is suddenly thrown into sharp relief as he comes into contact with a world-weary russian prostitute who's life story becomes the real center of this novel.
Lydia works in a brothel and when Charlie's ascetic living friend Simon takes him there to show him a good time, Charlie befriends her instead and is drawn temporarily into her world.
Maugham draws on his intimate knowledge of both cultures to draw vivid characters and in describing varied settings from the Louvre to the backstreet cafes and brothels of pre-war Paris. The tale related to Charlie by his new acquaintance is the heart of the story and quite a story it turns out to be.
I recently read that this was not considered by Maugham to be one of his better novels but it is still highly entertaining, enlightening and a fine read.

You can never go home again




"Christmas Holiday" takes place in a period of interlude between the two world wars in England and France when the worst in world affairs was not over but yet to come. For Charley Mason, the young Englishman the gift of 5 days in Paris his parents have given him turns out to be less the anticipated celebration and more of an unsettling interlude in his own life. It develops for him into a revelatory journey that blemishes his happy heart and privileged home life. He reunites in Paris with a troubled boyhood friend Simon now a news reporter who he hasn't seen for two years. Charley is bewildered and tries to gain perspective on Simon's seeming metamorphosis into a self-confessed misanthropist and insensitive manipulator. It is Simon who lays out all the sores of humanity for Charley's tender sensibilities to collide with. At the Sérail, a cabaret where bare breasted dancing girls glitter in harem pants and turbans and can be taken upstairs for a price, Simon pairs Charley with "Princess Olga" the working name of an enigmatic Russian girl named Lydia. Charley is ensnared by Lydia's anguished life story, her orphaned state, her poverty and unreasonable devotion to a convict husband whose imprisonment and guilt she feels she must share through her own continued suffering. For a brief time the reality of Charley 's respectable, comfortable and secure existence becomes entwined with those whom fate has not so similarly blessed. His"Holiday" changes him forever.

Here again Maugham's gift for telling a story is evident. He uses words with a facility that brings a narrative to life in a way that engages the imagination and enables the reader to vividly picture the characters and events. A recommended read.

An Awakening in Paris
I've read most of Somerset Maugham's major novels, and many of his short stories.He is one of my favorite English authors, mostly because of the skill with which he so easily marries place, time, and scenery into the drama at hand.The motivations and actions of his characters are generally believable and in tune with their characterization.Christmas Holiday is no exception, although in my book it's far behind his three best novels, "Of Human Bondage", "The Razor's Edge", and "The Moon and Sixpence".I like the story, but after two readings continue to find it less memorable than the novels just mentioned, or many of his South Pacific short stories.

Charley Mason, a middle class college student from England is given a holiday in Paris by his Babbit-esque father during Christmas-time.He gladly accepts, and there, looks up his philosophically engrossed friend, Simon.Simon has been living a spartan lifestyle, filling his head with fascist political idealogy.No matter how friendly Charley tries to be, Simon pushes him away in a misguided attempt to make himself "hard" and impervious.The interactions between Simon and Charley remind me of those between Anthony Beavis, Helen Amberley, and Mark Staithes in Aldous Huxley's, "Eyeless in Gaza".Both novels, which were written in the late 1930's, portray the tense build-up to WWII, and the brewing hostility of zealous fascists.Maugham certainly came across people seduced by fascist ideaology at this time, and Simon is the fictional incarnation of these uncompromising dogmatists.

The bulk of the story evolves around Charley's lengthy discussions with a young Russian prostitute named Lydia, introduced to him by Simon.Lydia is really the main focus of the novel, and it's her wild, and dramatic life-story which captivates and eventually opens Charley's naive and sleepy eyes to the complexities of the world, and especially women.Instead of using her for pleasure, as Simon had intended, Charley be-friends her (in accord with his gentlemanly nature) and spends his vacation time getting to know her.The best parts about the novel to me are Maugham's descriptions of the Parisian background.Unlike Huxley, Maugham has a play-write's acute sensibility to atmosphere, and is very comfortable describing and utilizing scenery:Charley's comfortable English home, Simon's spartan studio, Charley's pleasant hotel room, the streets of Montparnasse, the smoky cafes, bars, and restaurants, the Louvre, St. Eustache, French Guyanna, etc. are all vividly drawn.Each significant conversation between the characters takes place in a location which enhances and compliments the larger story.At the Louvre when Lydia shows Charley her favorite painting, a simple picture of bread and wine by Chardin, and tells him what it means to her, Charley, who had been reminiscing and searching for all the "significant" paintings his art-snob mother had so eloquently spoken to him of, is visably affected.

The contrast between Charley and all that he represents, with Lydia and her tragic world, is the heart of the novel.The main drawbacks to me are Robert Berger's (Lydia's imprisoned husband)overly-consuming story, and the seemingly sleight handling of Charley throughout.The Robert Berger mystery is interesting in itself, but sometimes didn't jibe well with the "Charley Mason explores and comes of age in Paris" storyline.And Maugham sometimes seems ambiguous about likable characters like Charley (or, Larry in "The Razor's Edge").I think this reflects Maugham's increasing bitterness in old age, ala Lord Henry Wotton ("Dorian Gray").As always with Maugham, there has to be drama, and I think Maugham's self-described status as "the best of the second-raters" is never more apropos than in Christmas Holiday.

Maughm - Storytelling at its best.
Maughm has the unusual talent of baring truths about human nature in a most simplified fashion. His insights into the complexities of human relationships reveal his incredible talent with words. Maughm has been my absolute favorite writer for years...His unpretentious writing style reveals intelligence in the most positive way, extending out to anyone who loves to hear a wonderful story.
"Christmas Holiday" begins and ends in one exhilirating whirlwind, without ever a moment of slight boredom. Maughm writes with a fluidity that cannot be matched by any other writer. He is simply the best at his art - storytelling. ... Read more

Product Description
This title has fewer than 24 printed text pages. Big Stupe is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Charles V. (Charles Vincent) De Vet is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Charles V. (Charles Vincent) De Vet then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of Somerset Maugham's plays, including THE CONSTANT WIFE, OUR BETTERS, SHEPPEY, THE SACRED FLAME and THE CIRCLE. Last published in 1991. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Great Underrated Read
These stories are great reading.He was really a master of the short story.I especially like those stories based in "the colonies", Asia, Africa.Great reading on plane.I read them in Africa and he truly captures the dichotomy/hypocrisy between the white man and the native(s). ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Classic Masterpiece of Travel
In "On a Chinese Screen" Maugham has written 58 beautiful yet astute caricatures of people he met and places he visited during his journey up the Yangtze River in 1919/20. Each small tale is a perceptive observation about a time of day, a person's character, a place or an event. Maugham's writing is eloquent and beautiful. He doesn't waste words. "For", according to Maugham, "in writing the important thing is less richness of material than richness of personality." The richness and perceptiveness of Maugham shines in each story. Each sketch holds you to the end.

Maugham's most astute observations in "On a Chinese Screen" are reserved for the people he meets. For example, when talking about consular employees and their indifference to their surroundings he observes "it made little difference to them in what capital they found themselves, for they did precisely the same thing in Constantinople, Berne, Stockholm, and Peking." And after speaking to a Chinese official who was lamenting the loss of China and traditional values in the youth, and the disrepair of the temples, Maugham notes that he (Maugham) "knew all the time that he [the official] was a rascal." And of an Italian missionary who had been in China for 50 years he writes "the passion of his eyes bespoke the battles long fought out in the uttermost depths of his heart, and his soul cried out in them, vanquished and bleeding, yet triumphant, and he exulted in the unclosed wound which he offered in willing sacrifice to Almighty God." Brilliant!

Maugham writes compassionately about the plight of the locals. He describes the bearers' burdens and notes that admiration for their strength and perseverance is not allowed. He writes compassionately about the foreigners who find themselves out of place and struggling to adapt. He writes with tragic sadness about the tower from which mothers throw their unwanted babies. Yes, with sadness, deep sadness. Without doubt Maugham is an astute observer of the world, of the people around him, of circumstance, of his time.

I am glad this book is available again. I first saw it in a bookstore in Taipei in 1999. At that time I didn't have money on me to buy and thought I could buy it the next day. Alas when I went back it had already been sold. I looked for it on Amazon but no copies were available and from that day forward, every time I went into a bookstore I asked them if they had a copy. In 2002 I remember asking a store in Hong Kong if they had it in stock. The assistant laughed at me saying they last had it in stock more than five years ago. I eventually found it at another store in 2004 on a brief visit to Hong Kong. It was worth the wait and I have not been disappointed. Needless to say, it never gets lent out.

If you are a lover of literature and a lover of travel then this is a must read. Very seldom are such deep perceptions captured by travel writers and very seldom do travel writers write with such depth, clarity and beauty.It's a small book, can be read in a day and can be re-read countless times. One never gets bored of the prose, of the ideas, of the thoughts, of the descriptions. One of the stories, "The Old Timer," describes the colorful life and travails of a 76 year old English Captain who had been in China for most of his life. At the end of the story Maugham writes: "The dying of the day made him think, he (the Captain) knew not why, of his long past and of his great age. He regretted nothing.`By George,' he muttered, `I've had a fine life.'" I'm sure Maugham could have said the same.

Notes of an Englishman in China
William Somerset Maugham was 45 years old when he went on a trip to China in the winter of 1919. Always an astute observer, he jotted down notes, elaborated them, and finally had them published as a book in London. Fortunately, this small volume is now available again as a Vintage Classics paperback in the UK (and in the reviewer's favorite Shanghai bookstore). "On a Chinese Screen" is an appropriate title for the book because it depicts mostly English people against the backdrop of China at the beginning of the century. In 58 short sketches, the longest of which fits on just nine printed pages, Maugham portrays English missionaries, officials, army officers, adventurers and company managers. Maugham gently mocks their narrow-mindedness and indifference towards the country in which they spend a major part of their lives. "On the whole," he remarks, "it made little difference to them in what capital they found themselves, for they did precisely the same things in Constantinople, Berne, Stockholm, and Peking . . . China bored them all, they did not want to speak of that; they only knew just so much about it as was necessary to their business." Their attitude towards the Chinese was one of "mistrust and dislike tempered by optimism," and they did not bother to learn the language.

Whereas Maugham is agreeably malicious in his portraits of the English and their wives, he can get outright scathing and sarcastic when he describes the hypocrisy of protestant missionaries. The Catholics have a better standing with him, which explains why Graham Greene calls Maugham a writer of great dedication. Maugham has a healthy disregard of professedly religious people whose deeds do not live up to their words, no matter whether they are English missionaries who behave as if they were in the civil service or whether they are Chinese farmers who perform the rites "like an old peasant woman in France does her day's housekeeping." Maugham's depiction of the Chinese countryside leaves no lasting impression, yet sometimes he creates images of sheer beauty: "the yellow water in the setting sun was lovely with pale, soft tints, it was as smooth as glass." The focus of his observations are people. Maugham senses the human beings who peek out from behind the roles they play in the scheme of the British Empire. Though he appears to be detached from the hardships of the Chinese, one can feel the effort it takes him to stay aloof when he observes the coolies, the "human beasts of burden", and remarks that their "effort oppresses you. You are filled with a useless compassion." Maugham's most heart-wrenching piece is a story with the innocent title "The Sights of the Town" in which he tells of a so-called baby tower used by the peasants to drop unwanted babies to their deaths. Spanish nuns in the nearby town try to save at least some of the unwanted newborns by paying twenty cents for every one because, as they say, the peasants "have often a long walk to come here and unless we give them something they won't take the trouble."

Maugham, as skeptic and acerbic as he can be, also has a great sense of humor, freshness of observation and unconventionality of comparison. Summing up his impression of an opium den, he writes it reminded him "somewhat of the little intimate beerhouses in Berlin where the tired working man could go in the evening and spend an peaceful hour." Well, I would not compare opium so non-chalantly to beer but his tongue-in-cheek British snobbery is definitely enjoyable. As is his mockingly spiteful aside towards Americans whom he regards to be such extremely practical people "that Harvard is instituting a chair to instruct grandmothers how to suck eggs." My favorite funny piece in the book is Maugham's explanation why democracy gets flushed down by the Western sense of cleanliness. In his words, "it is a tragic thought that the first man who pulled the plug of a water-closet with that negligent gesture rang the knell of democracy." Just check it out. Even if he were not kidding, it would be a side-splitting theory.

Some of the things Maugham observed eighty years ago still apply. For example, "one of the peculiarities of China is that your position excuses your idiosyncrasies." And you can still see people getting their heads shaved on the sidewalk by old barbers. However, I can not report that "others have their ears cleaned, and some, a revolting spectacle, the inside of their eyelids scraped." In general, the life of the Chinese was as impenetrable to Maugham as were the Chinese houses with their monotonous expanse of wall broken only by solid closed doors. Only in the portraits of an old Chinese philosopher (who impotently dreams of the old and better China) and a young drama professor (who lacks any broader vision of China) we get a glimpse of the inner lives of the Chinese.

The back cover of the Vintage Classics paperback edition shows a photo of the middle-aged Maugham. Turning his head to the observer, he has a look of weary curiosity in his eyes and a tiny smile in the corners of his mouth - as if he wanted to say, "that is how it is. What do you think?" ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of stories featuring Ashenden--a writer drawn into the war through undercover intelligence--reflects the author's experiences in the Intelligence Department during World War I. (General Fiction). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

VERY LOOSELY ORGANIZED, ALMOST NEVER SUSPENSEFUL, AND SUFFERS FROM A MAJOR QUALITY-CONTROL PROBLEM
In my hardback copy of ASHENDEN (1927), Maugham's "Preface" (1941) provides autobiographical background and discusses how life and art differ in his fiction, with some snide remarks about other modern novelists; his comments on plot seem to be largely derived from Aristotle's Poetics. (Ironically, THIS book does not have any sort of A-to-Z plot that holds it together.) All in all, ASHENDEN is VERY LOOSELY ORGANIZED, ALMOST NEVER SUSPENSEFUL, AND SUFFERS FROM A MAJOR QUALITY-CONTROL PROBLEM: although a few passages are really excellent, many parts are very long-winded and seem out of place in an espionage book; many others (including several whole chapters) seem like padding.

SPOILER ALERT: TO DEMONSTRATE THIS POINT, I'M WRITING A SUMMARY OF THE BOOK:

Chapter 1 ("R."): Ashenden, a writer, meets the head of the British Secret Service and is recruited. Chapter 2 ("A Domiciliary Visit"): Returning from a mission to his hotel in Geneva, Ashenden finds Swiss police in his room; he easily thwarts them but wonders who has informed against him; similar to his "Preface," fiction and life and beginnings, middles, and ends are mentioned, with sniping at some writers of modern fiction. Chapter 3 ("Miss King"): Ashenden is called at 3 a.m. to the bedside of Miss King, the dying English governess of two Egyptian princesses, but she has had a stroke, and he is unable to get any message from her before she dies; if it is read alone, this chapter amounts to an Unsolvable Puzzle. Within the total book, either this episode must become relevant later, or Maugham is doing exactly what he has criticized other writers of doing. (Rather than give my own answer, I will let other readers of ASHENDEN think about this and decide which it is).

Chapters 4, 5, and 6 form a unit. Chapter 4 ("The Hairless Mexican"): R. sends Ashenden to Italy on a new mission with General Carmona (aka the Hairless Mexican, a flamboyant and peculiar spy who is the type that Ian Fleming and others would later imitate in their works); their mission is to get papers that a Greek is going to pass along to the Germans. Chapter 5 ("The Dark Woman"): During their journey to Italy, the Hairless Mexican tells Ashenden about a woman he deeply loved but whose throat he cut, believing her to be a spy working for the Mexican government; then they discuss the conventions of Detective Fiction. Chapter 6 ("The Greek"): The Hairless Mexican murders the only Greek on the ship, and he and Ashenden search for the papers but find none; Ashenden finds a telegram waiting for him, and they go out to eat (Maugham has a good scene in which the Hairless Mexican dances with women, Zorba-like); Ashenden decodes his telegram at the railroad station and learns, ironically, that the Greek spy was delayed by illness and that the wrong Greek has been killed; thus far, this is the best chapter.

Chapters 7 and 8 form a unit. Chapter 7 ("A Trip to Paris"): Ashenden gets a new mission: take the lover of an Indian freedom fighter to the border of Switzerland as bait to kill this man; Ashenden admires the opponent greatly, but R. calls the man a "greasy little [N-word]"; Ashenden surmises that R. reads "shilling shocker" detective fiction, speculates on R.'s apparent discomfort in high-class settings, and notes that some woman has given R. some roses for his office. Chapter 8 ("Guilia Lazzari"): After several exchanges of letters with Guilia Lazzari, the Indian freedom fighter falls into the trap but commits suicide with poison; Guilia Lazzari asks for her dead lover's watch, a gift which had cost her 12 pounds; this is a very good chapter.

Chapters 9 and 10 form a loose unit. Chapter 9 ("Gustav"): Gustav is a Swiss businessman who was writing model reports for the British--only they were totally worthless, since he never left home to get information; Ashenden gives him a small assignment: get information about a Brit living in Switzerland who is working for the Germans. Chapter 10 ("The Traitor"): Ashenden, claiming to be an ill member of the Censorship Department, makes the acquaintance of the Brit who is a traitor (and his German wife and ugly little dog); the German spymaster falls for the bait and sends the traitor back to England to work in that department; instead, the traitor is executed (I wondered why, instead, he was not given false information to feed to the German spymaster); this is a long and well-written chapter, showing some of the complexity of a few people and closing with a sad scene of the traitor's wife realizing that her husband is dead, when the man's dog howls as she leaves the post office with no letter from him.

Chapters 11, 12, and 13 form a loose unit. Chapter 11 ("Behind the Scenes"): Ashenden is sent to a country herein called "X" to stay in touch with people who might start a revolution; while there he learns that the American ambassador is miffed that the British ambassador has not sat down with him over a drink to discuss matters; Ashenden passes this tip to the British ambassador, who is grateful and asks Ashenden to come dine with him; this is a very short chapter; in what seems a subordinate manner, a Galician Pole who helps Ashenden is mentioned (this man will be a central figure in chapt. 13). Chapter 12 ("His Excellency"): In a long chapter, the British ambassador tells Ashenden about his love affair with a coarse, ignorant female acrobat (whom he sometimes beat up) before his marriage, and his life-long regret that he broke it off and married a woman he did not love; some of these details are as vivid as those of Philip's infatuation with Mildred in Maugham's novel OF HUMAN BONDAGE, but what place does this tangential material have in a book about espionage during WW I? Chapter 13 ("The Flip of a Coin"): Ashenden, walking to meet the Galician Pole mentioned in chapter 11 about a mission to blow up a German munitions factory and its many Polish civilian workers, looks up at the "frosty stars"; when he meets the man, he cannot think clearly enough to make a decision and, after pondering the cosmic futility of men's lives--his own and the British ambassador's included--he abdicates responsibility and tosses a coin to "decide" whether the mission goes ahead or not; we are not told which way the coin landed: in one sense, an Unsolvable Puzzle is created by this chapter's ending; however, this chapter probably is an instance of "Didactic Fiction" about the nature and purpose of "Life."

Chapters 14, 15, and 16 form a final loose unit. Chapter 14 ("A Chance Acquaintance"): Ashenden, on a new mission in Russia, travels with an American businessman who talks constantly during their 11-day train ride across Russia; this seems to have little direct connection with the plot pertaining to espionage. Chapter 15 ("Love and Russian Literature"): The narrator makes self-conconscious reference to "these stories" and the characterization thus far of Ashenden, indicating that Ashenden has a "tender" side that has not yet been represented; Ashenden's brief love affair with a married Russian woman (5 years before the Russian Revolution) is recounted in a silly satiric manner; they went to Paris to test whether they would be compatible, and she, who ate scrambled eggs every morning, told him yes, but he, who detested those eggs, escaped to New York instead; the structural point of this long digression is solely to introduce this woman. Chapter 16 ("Mr. Harrington's Washing"): Ashenden's mission fails when the Bolsheviks take control; the talkative American, Mr. Harrington, insists on getting his washing before leaving the city and is found lying dead on a street by the Russian woman and Ashenden, still clutching his laundry; this ending seems to be an attempt to create a feeling of pathos in readers, but for me it does not succeed.

As I remarked above, this book is very loosely organized, almost never suspenseful, and suffers from a major quality-control problem: although a few passages are really excellent, many parts are very long-winded and seem out of place in an espionage book; many others (including several whole chapters) seem like padding. However, Maugham DOES have a good vocabulary, and most readers would do well to keep a large dictionary nearby.

A literary James Bond.
An amazing fictional account of Maugham's real life adventures as a spy for Great Britain during WW I. Written in Maughm's usual concise and elogant prose, these stories make the reader root for Ashenden who is nothing short of a literary James Bond. This account, written as a collection of short independent stories, shows that, when in the hands of an author with a command of the English language, suspense and intrigue can be create in a book in other ways besides stringing together one action scene after another. Simply Maugham at his best ... Read more