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Red
A well-known short story.
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About the author
W. Somerset Maugham
2,125 books6,093 followersWilliam Somerset Maugham was born in Paris in 1874. He spoke French even before he spoke a word of English, a fact to which some critics attribute the purity of his style.
His parents died early and, after an unhappy boyhood, which he recorded poignantly in Of Human Bondage, Maugham became a qualified physician. But writing was his true vocation. For ten years before his first success, he almost literally starved while pouring out novels and plays.
Maugham wrote at a time when experimental modernist literature such as that of William Faulkner, Thomas Mann, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf was gaining increasing popularity and winning critical acclaim. In this context, his plain prose style was criticized as 'such a tissue of clichés' that one's wonder is finally aroused at the writer's ability to assemble so many and at his unfailing inability to put anything in an individual way.
During World War I, Maugham worked for the British Secret Service . He travelled all over the world, and made many visits to America. After World War II, Maugham made his home in south of France and continued to move between England and Nice till his death in 1965.
At the time of Maugham's birth, French law was such that all foreign boys born in France became liable for conscription. Thus, Maugham was born within the Embassy, legally recognized as UK territory.
His parents died early and, after an unhappy boyhood, which he recorded poignantly in Of Human Bondage, Maugham became a qualified physician. But writing was his true vocation. For ten years before his first success, he almost literally starved while pouring out novels and plays.
Maugham wrote at a time when experimental modernist literature such as that of William Faulkner, Thomas Mann, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf was gaining increasing popularity and winning critical acclaim. In this context, his plain prose style was criticized as 'such a tissue of clichés' that one's wonder is finally aroused at the writer's ability to assemble so many and at his unfailing inability to put anything in an individual way.
During World War I, Maugham worked for the British Secret Service . He travelled all over the world, and made many visits to America. After World War II, Maugham made his home in south of France and continued to move between England and Nice till his death in 1965.
At the time of Maugham's birth, French law was such that all foreign boys born in France became liable for conscription. Thus, Maugham was born within the Embassy, legally recognized as UK territory.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 10, 2025
Red by Somerset Maugham
Love, happiness in the South Seas and the Zen Master
This story is about love, happiness and the different and yet similar ways we have of coping with strong feelings at opposite ends of the world.
We are in the South Seas and part of the plot deals with the Kanakas, Samoans and the exotique images that the very reading of these names project in the reader’s mind. However, the main theme of love and the effects on it of the passing of time seems to be somewhat eternal and never changing, no matter what the circumstances, cultures, weather and latitude coordinates are.
Reading about the South Seas almost always gives me a longing to travel there. And not just that, but settle there.
The story of the misfortunes of the characters in RED serves as a good lesson, together with the findings of positive psychology and Daniel Gilbert in particular.
Studies have shown that we are not happier if we move to California, no matter how high we would rate such a move. People tend to come back to their base level of happiness.
If we would go to the South Seas, we would surely enjoy the beaches, the weather…for some time, but after some months we would get back to our problems.
Like the heroes of RED, we would love and lose that, and then we might even realize how lucky we were when in fact we thought ourselves miserable.
It is very interesting to see how the mind works, and Maugham was a wonderful observer of human beings. Somerset Maugham was an intriguing and fascinating personage himself.
In The Summing Up, he reveals that he has worked for the Secret Service and not only that, but played a major role in various parts of the world. About Russia, he reveals in his memoirs that he could have turned around the fate o the Revolution, had he been sent six months earlier.
Maugham had exceptional views on philosophy, religion and almost anything else. And he is open to suggestions and ideas coming from other people.
His views on God are sensible:
- I will not believe in a God who is less tolerant than I am. There is this strange feature of a God who throws his wrath around and insists on being loved and worshipped which Maugham criticized and I cannot agree more with his logic
- Then he mentions a gentleman who used to pray with his family, but would strike out the passages praising God ostensibly. This friend of the writer said that it is very ungentlemanly to insist on such lavish praise and that God surely wouldn’t like it
Indeed, there are some aspects that Maugham reveals that appear to have so much common sense and yet they are ignored and make God seem vain, jealous and sometimes even mean- with all that insistence on exaggerated praise, humble attitude towards a Being that comes out as insecure, unsure of Himself and not Godly at all, if we take these teachings and analyze them.
RED is also about the passing of time and its effect on love. There is an incident in the saga, where two lovers are separated- I’ll spare you the details for a maximum enjoyment of RED. It seems at the time that there is nothing more unfortunate than that.
And yet, in retrospect the narrator doubts that. And he may be right in saying that, when we reach a maximum high we often do not see that it is all downhill from there.
It reminds one of the stories of the Zen Master, told at the end of Charlie Wilson’s War by the great actor that was Philip Seymour Hoffman
In this village, a little boy is given a gift of a horse. The villagers all say, "Isn't that fabulous? Isn't that wonderful? What a wonderful gift."
The Zen master says, "We'll see."
A couple years later the boy falls off the horse and breaks his leg. The villagers all say, "Isn't that terrible? The horse is cursed! That's horrible!"
The Zen master says, "We'll see."
A few years later the country goes to war and the government conscripts all the males into the army, but the boy's leg is so screwed up, he doesn't have to go. The villagers all say, "Isn't that fabulous? Isn't that wonderful?"
The Zen master says, "We'll see."
The same with RED, we feel devastated at various points, but with hindsight- it might all be for the better- We’ll see…
You can read this great story at:
http://maugham.classicauthors.net/red/
Love, happiness in the South Seas and the Zen Master
This story is about love, happiness and the different and yet similar ways we have of coping with strong feelings at opposite ends of the world.
We are in the South Seas and part of the plot deals with the Kanakas, Samoans and the exotique images that the very reading of these names project in the reader’s mind. However, the main theme of love and the effects on it of the passing of time seems to be somewhat eternal and never changing, no matter what the circumstances, cultures, weather and latitude coordinates are.
Reading about the South Seas almost always gives me a longing to travel there. And not just that, but settle there.
The story of the misfortunes of the characters in RED serves as a good lesson, together with the findings of positive psychology and Daniel Gilbert in particular.
Studies have shown that we are not happier if we move to California, no matter how high we would rate such a move. People tend to come back to their base level of happiness.
If we would go to the South Seas, we would surely enjoy the beaches, the weather…for some time, but after some months we would get back to our problems.
Like the heroes of RED, we would love and lose that, and then we might even realize how lucky we were when in fact we thought ourselves miserable.
It is very interesting to see how the mind works, and Maugham was a wonderful observer of human beings. Somerset Maugham was an intriguing and fascinating personage himself.
In The Summing Up, he reveals that he has worked for the Secret Service and not only that, but played a major role in various parts of the world. About Russia, he reveals in his memoirs that he could have turned around the fate o the Revolution, had he been sent six months earlier.
Maugham had exceptional views on philosophy, religion and almost anything else. And he is open to suggestions and ideas coming from other people.
His views on God are sensible:
- I will not believe in a God who is less tolerant than I am. There is this strange feature of a God who throws his wrath around and insists on being loved and worshipped which Maugham criticized and I cannot agree more with his logic
- Then he mentions a gentleman who used to pray with his family, but would strike out the passages praising God ostensibly. This friend of the writer said that it is very ungentlemanly to insist on such lavish praise and that God surely wouldn’t like it
Indeed, there are some aspects that Maugham reveals that appear to have so much common sense and yet they are ignored and make God seem vain, jealous and sometimes even mean- with all that insistence on exaggerated praise, humble attitude towards a Being that comes out as insecure, unsure of Himself and not Godly at all, if we take these teachings and analyze them.
RED is also about the passing of time and its effect on love. There is an incident in the saga, where two lovers are separated- I’ll spare you the details for a maximum enjoyment of RED. It seems at the time that there is nothing more unfortunate than that.
And yet, in retrospect the narrator doubts that. And he may be right in saying that, when we reach a maximum high we often do not see that it is all downhill from there.
It reminds one of the stories of the Zen Master, told at the end of Charlie Wilson’s War by the great actor that was Philip Seymour Hoffman
In this village, a little boy is given a gift of a horse. The villagers all say, "Isn't that fabulous? Isn't that wonderful? What a wonderful gift."
The Zen master says, "We'll see."
A couple years later the boy falls off the horse and breaks his leg. The villagers all say, "Isn't that terrible? The horse is cursed! That's horrible!"
The Zen master says, "We'll see."
A few years later the country goes to war and the government conscripts all the males into the army, but the boy's leg is so screwed up, he doesn't have to go. The villagers all say, "Isn't that fabulous? Isn't that wonderful?"
The Zen master says, "We'll see."
The same with RED, we feel devastated at various points, but with hindsight- it might all be for the better- We’ll see…
You can read this great story at:
http://maugham.classicauthors.net/red/
April 27, 2025
thanking my english teacher who printed it out for me after we discussed our favorite short stories.
May 12, 2025
My God, this story. I don’t know how many times I’ve gone over it in my head, or told someone to read it.
What is true love?
Does it happen between two old souls of great depth? Or is it largely a function of innate passion available only to the young and beautiful?
Maugham seems to think it’s the latter, but understands this penultimate moment in human life perfectly:
“… Red was the most comely thing you ever saw… his beauty just took your breath away. He was tall, six feet and an inch or two… made like a Greek god, broad in the shoulders… His skin was dazzling… There never was anyone more beautiful. There was no more reason for him than for a wonderful blossom to flower on a wild plant. He was a happy accident of nature.
… You cannot imagine how exquisite she was. She had the passionate grace of the hibiscus and the rich colour. She was rather tall, slim, with the delicate features of her race, and large eyes like pools of still water under the palm trees; her hair, black and curling, fell down her back, and she wore a wreath of scented flowers. Her hands were lovely. They were so small, so exquisitely formed, they gave your heartstrings a wrench… Her smile was so delightful that it made your knees shake… She was too beautiful to be real.
And these two young things, she was sixteen and he was twenty, fell in love with one another at first sight. That is the real love, not the love that comes from sympathy, common interests, or intellectual community, but love pure and simple. That is the love that Adam felt for Eve when he awoke and found her in the garden gazing at him with dewy eyes. That is the love that draws the beasts to one another, and the Gods. That is the love that makes the world a miracle. That is the love which gives life its pregnant meaning. You have never heard of the wise, cynical French duke who said that with two lovers there is always one who loves and one who lets himself be loved; it is a bitter truth to which most of us have to resign ourselves; but now and then there are two who love and two who let themselves be loved. Then one might fancy that the sun stands still…”
Nailed it.
It’s what I came to this Earth for, what makes the trials and tribulations of the unenlightened human life all worthwhile. It is the beautiful dream which somehow, somehow must be true.
As the adage goes, marriages are made in heaven… and Maugham brings you to earthly paradise itself-the lush tropics - to experience it. For how many of us are destined for this fortune?
Just fabulous, and one of my favorite short stories of all time.
Please do not miss this.
.
What is true love?
Does it happen between two old souls of great depth? Or is it largely a function of innate passion available only to the young and beautiful?
Maugham seems to think it’s the latter, but understands this penultimate moment in human life perfectly:
“… Red was the most comely thing you ever saw… his beauty just took your breath away. He was tall, six feet and an inch or two… made like a Greek god, broad in the shoulders… His skin was dazzling… There never was anyone more beautiful. There was no more reason for him than for a wonderful blossom to flower on a wild plant. He was a happy accident of nature.
… You cannot imagine how exquisite she was. She had the passionate grace of the hibiscus and the rich colour. She was rather tall, slim, with the delicate features of her race, and large eyes like pools of still water under the palm trees; her hair, black and curling, fell down her back, and she wore a wreath of scented flowers. Her hands were lovely. They were so small, so exquisitely formed, they gave your heartstrings a wrench… Her smile was so delightful that it made your knees shake… She was too beautiful to be real.
And these two young things, she was sixteen and he was twenty, fell in love with one another at first sight. That is the real love, not the love that comes from sympathy, common interests, or intellectual community, but love pure and simple. That is the love that Adam felt for Eve when he awoke and found her in the garden gazing at him with dewy eyes. That is the love that draws the beasts to one another, and the Gods. That is the love that makes the world a miracle. That is the love which gives life its pregnant meaning. You have never heard of the wise, cynical French duke who said that with two lovers there is always one who loves and one who lets himself be loved; it is a bitter truth to which most of us have to resign ourselves; but now and then there are two who love and two who let themselves be loved. Then one might fancy that the sun stands still…”
Nailed it.
It’s what I came to this Earth for, what makes the trials and tribulations of the unenlightened human life all worthwhile. It is the beautiful dream which somehow, somehow must be true.
As the adage goes, marriages are made in heaven… and Maugham brings you to earthly paradise itself-the lush tropics - to experience it. For how many of us are destined for this fortune?
Just fabulous, and one of my favorite short stories of all time.
Please do not miss this.
.
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February 17, 2019i want to read this book. my email address rubelparvrz.bd@gmail.com
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews