The Kite

by W. Somerset Maugham

Stories in the Travelman Short Stories series take the reader to places of mystery, fantasy, horror, romance, and corners of the universe yet unexplored. In turn, readers take them on the bus or subway, slip them into briefcases and lunchboxes, and send them from Jersey to Juneau.Each classic or original short story is printed on one sheet of paper and folded like a map. This makes it simple to read while commuting, convenient to carry when not, and easy to give or send to a friend. A paper envelope is provided for mailing or gift-giving, and both are packaged in a clear plastic envelope for display. The cost is not much more than a greeting card.

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Novels, British Literature

22 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

William 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.

Reviews

[Luís · Rating 5 out of 5]

The prose of Mr Maugham enchants me. Delightful!

[Somi · Rating 3 out of 5]

مجموعه ای با دَه داستان کوتاه که تمامی داستان ها نثری منسجم و منظم داشتند. نثر موام ساده و دلنشین است و لذت داستان شنیدن را به همراه دارد

[Nima Barani · Rating 4 out of 5]

دستپاچگی سامرست را می بینم
در لغات ، احساسات ، خاموشی
نمی توان ایستادگی کرد
در این کتاب با قلب واژگون
همچون
هرزه ای سراسیمه
به دنبال بیان رعب و ذات متوحش خویش
از طریق هم خوابگی با داستان هایی پراکنده
در غاری تاریک است
حالش را فهمیدم
دوستش داشتم
مانند صبحی زشت

[Diana Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought "Let's go fly a kite". I loved kite flying when I was young but this is not my story. I did think it was a good story albeit a short one by one of my very favorite authors.

[Antonis Giannoulis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Μια ιστορία που θα μπορούσε να είναι ένα επεισόδιο από τις 7 θανάσιμες πεθερές. Μικρή ανάπτυξη και σύντομη. Καθαρό θεμα . Σε γενικές γραμμες αδιάφορο.

[Katerina Koltsida · Rating 4 out of 5]

Παρά πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα ηθογραφια

[Soshyans Varahram · Rating 2 out of 5]

اگه قرار بود به داستانها امتیاز بدم، سه از پنج کاملن منصفانه بود ولی یک ستاره کم کردم که تاثیر ترجمه ی ویراست نشده رو یادآور بشم. بعضی جاها یه پاراگراف رو به ناچار دوبار خوندم تا منظور را حدس بزنم. در شناسنامه کتاب هم اثری از نام ویراستار نبود. آخرین داستان این مجموعه به نام "وطن فروش" یه سر و گردن بالاتر از بقیه بود.

[Hend · Rating 4 out of 5]

deep stories with philosophic view with great understanding of human nature......

[Дмитрий · Rating 3 out of 5]

Первое произведение этого автора, которое я прочитал. Точнее, прослушал радиопостановку. Забавная история о молодом человеке, который сел в тюрьму из-за воздушного змея.

[Yasmeen · Rating 4 out of 5]

ان شاء الله هرجعلها بريڤيو محترم من الناحية التحليلية لما انتهي من مذاكرة مقرر رواية ال ١٩ واراجعه للامتحانات كدة زي م اتعودت كل ترم اسمع هنا لنفسي💚
الله المستعان🚶🏻‍♀

[نورا نورالدين · Rating 3 out of 5]

أعلم أن هذه قصة غريبة أنا نفسى لا أفهمها، وإذا دونتها كتابة فهذا فقط بسبب أمل ضئيل هو أننى أكتبها لعلنى أحصل على صورة أوضح لها...
معنية قصص موم بالبحث عن ما وراء تصرفات البشر، تصلح نماذجها لكل وقت ... فقط بعضها بسيطة فى حبكتها شحيحة فى تفاصيلها.

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Kite by Somerset Maugham – one of my favorite writers, author of The Man With The Scar https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... and other magnum opera

10 out of 10

The kite is yet another phenomenal story from the magician Somerset Maugham…he was a god to me, when I was about twenty-two, I spent time in hospitals, and this Magister Ludi made those days and nights not just more bearable, but brought delight, bliss, and he has become one of my two top luminaries

Marcel Proust https://realini.blogspot.com/2013/09/... is the other overwhelming creator, he is the proof that Penelope Lively was spot on – and she gave me the chance to worship, despite the fact that I am an atheist, there are a number of Gods – Writers that are worth admiring
‘The novelist has an infinity of choices, He chooses what is to happen, to happens, and in what way he will relate what happens, the picture he constructs is complete on its own terms…when he says this is the story and the whole story we must accept it…perhaps novelists are the only people telling the truth’ We find that In According to Mark https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/02/...

Herbert Sunbury appears to be the main character of The Kite, although we could focus on the Oedipal Complex, then The Kite might be the leading role, as representing the intense attachment to the mother, Beatrice Sunbury, who dominates her son, she controls all he does, including this obsession for flying the thing
The Kite is also representative of freedom, when the man flies it, it is a symbol of the infinite possibilities, flying, controlling the elements, the wind, rising above, so there is this other side to this complex narrative, which packs a lot, in just a few pages, and we can sympathize with the protagonist, and reject him

Up to the age of twenty – well, writing this I realize that even after that, spoiler alert, maybe for ever – the imposing mother has her way, and she is of the opinion – nay, conviction – that up to thirty, thirty-five, her boy, or any other, could not possibly know what he wants, so as he gives signs of rebellion, she is aghast
At one stage, he starts going out, and after a while, he says he wants to bring a girl home, to the protest, and anger of his parent -the female, again, as I write things, I sometimes come to see things from a different angle, we use a different part of the brain when we write, and it is furthermore a good exercise, the main reason why I do it

Mrs. Sunbury is questioning, and finds out that this woman has dropped something, Herbert picked it up -you fell for that thing, she comments – and then they agreed to meet again, he took her to the moving pictures (so this is where you have been going) and this has been going on for three months, if memory does not fail me
The overbearing mother does everything to make the visit an embarrassment, she sees that this is a ‘common girl’, not used with good manners, when a piece of cake falls down, she says ‘I am sure it is clean, I do not mind eating it’, to which the older woman comments ‘sure, it must be clean, but I will not have a guest eat that’

Beatrice Sunbury is arrogant, more than hostile, and makes the girl, Betty, feel terrible and she would say that to her friend, once they are out – the father, Samuel Sunbury, is more tolerant, but he is in no way the one to guide, set the direction of…well, anything in that household, he takes his orders from the boss of the place
Betty complains, Herbert is furious when he comes back into the house, and his mother says that ‘the simple woman will not come here again’, ‘you must reconsider that, because I asked her to marry me’, what with her so humiliated, suffering, I felt I had to ask her – this is crucial, because the man does not really feel love

In some way, he is pushed into a closer, or as intimate as possible a connection by his mother…I need to correct the previous, a simple way to amend that would be to edit, delete it, but why do that, when I can write about my own experience – remember, there is a spoiler alert, which tells you you should stay away…
Marriage is not the most intimate connection, take the example of a few hours ago (and this is the continuous experience of this marital bliss) when a car with 666 plates was parked in front of my garage, last night, and kept there until 11, when I sent to the president of the Association of Owners a message…

Saying what happened, and adding that the car has a special number, this prompted a rebuke from the spouse, who is somewhere out, along the lines of ‘was there a need, what special number, who laughs, silly jokes, I said the 666 is a sign, and then she says it is for you aka me’…she is always on the side of the other
I am always wrong, foolish, obnoxious, only this time I may have the last laugh, because this 666 was probably connected with another car, which is parked right on her ass, the wife can hardly park because of this friend of 666, and in that particular case, she is really infuriated, but you see, if it bothers me, it is legitimate, if it is an issue with you, then you are clearly in the wrong, whoever pissed you off is an aristocrat, good guy…so, Betty married Herbert, then left her job, he had a spilt with his parents (mother) and then returns to see them with this special kite, which becomes his obsession, leaves home, and then the wife destroys the kite

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”

[Masood · Rating 4 out of 5]

مجموعه ای از 6-8 داستان کوتاه.
داستان هایی به زبانی کاملا ساده و پر از پیچیدگی های احساسی به سبک موام .
بادبادک داستان مردی که عاشق پرواز دادن بادبادک بود و رابطه با همسرش تحت تاثیر این علاقه افراطی به هم ریخته.
داستان وطن فروش . مردی انگلیسی با زنی آلمانی در دوره جنگ جهانی ازدواج کرده، مردی شاداب و سرزنده و کوهنورد،همسر آلمانی اش را دوست دارد و برای پول کشورش را می فروشد. و به خسارت هایی که میزند حتی لحظه ای فکر نمی کند.

داستان ازدواج مصلحتی. داستان مردی که به خاطر فرماندار شدن در یکی از مستعمره های فرانسه باید ازدواج کند. ازدواجی که اتفاقا خیلی خوب از آب در می آید. زن می گوید ما چون از روی مصلحت ازدواج کردیم انتظار چندانی از هم نداشتیم و با هم خیلی راحت کنار آمدیم و کم کم عشق و علاقه هم به وجود آمد.
و چند داستان دیگر.

[Nermeen · Rating 5 out of 5]

a collection of short stories .
one of the most adorable variable short stories. I've read since I was 14, and since then I'm keep on reading and reading .

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story was great for a laugh. A lot of reviewers choose to vilify the mother in this story, but all the characters are characteristic of certain types of people. The dad is very easy going and wants a life free from strife. Herbert, is a lot like his dad but he does strike out on his own and start a new life. He also makes the ultimate decision to stay in jail on principle, which is the act of a man going through a marital break up rather than that of a son who only does what his mom wants. Then there is Betty, who is immature and was just looking for a free ride. The depth of this story can be surprising. A lot of symbology can be attached to the kite, but it could also just be a hobby that the family really enjoys doing together. This story could also be looked at as the ridiculousness of marriage. Narrated by Kenneth Danziger; library c/d.

[Ahmed Elmandooh · Rating 5 out of 5]

a wonderful story I have an exam about next Monday :D , it expresses and shows the consequences of the undemocratic upbringing of children. And how it affects and ruins a man's life. when he has such a dominant mother who controls him in every single detail, making him a doll or even a robot! and can't see the world beyond her orders and strictness, The story is full of symbols that emphasize the way in which a mother and son can be stick to each other in a toxic way. It teaches us how it is important to have an independent identifies as individuals.

[Atiyeh · Rating 4 out of 5]

یکی از بهترین مجموعه داستان کوتاه هایی بود که خوندم. داستانهاش کاملا سروته داشتن و شخصیت ها و فضای داستانها خوب ساخته و پرداخته شده بود.

[Marwan · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Mohammad Mirzaali · Rating 3 out of 5]

داستان‌های کوتاه استاد ساده و مبتنی بر یک گره عاطفی یا اخلاقی اند: انگار سامرست موام بزرگ خواسته لحظات و بزنگاه‌های خاص انسانی را به داستان کوتاه بدل کند. دوست‌داشتنی بودند.

[Manoj Saha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic

[Settare · Rating 3 out of 5]

داستان‌های روان، ساده و خوب از سامرست موام، هم خواننده را با نثر موام آشنا می‌کند هم حتی می‌توان اسمش را گذاشت کتاب آموزشی برای انشا نویسی یا داستان نویسی. از آن دسته کتاب هایی که بی هیچ قصدی توی نمایشگاه پیدا می‌شوند و اسم و عکس جلد و نویسنده، توجهم را جلب می‌کنند که دست به جیب بشوم. راضی.
این قسمت از کتاب هم کاملا توی مغز مانده است :
به زودی، شاید تحت تاثیر سیاهی شب و دل و جرئتی که تاریکی به او داده بود و یا احساس تنهایی با دریا، خواننده ی تنور ایتالیایی همراه با گیتار شروع به خواندن کرد. نخست به آرامی ولی بعدش صدایش را به تدریج بلندتر کرد و موقعی که موسیقی تمام وجودش را تسخیر کرد با احساس فراوان شروع به خواندن کرد. صدای واقعی یک ایتالیایی را داشت، ماکارونی، روغن زیتون و نور آفتاب.
داستان بادبادک را هم تقریبا از همه داستان ها بیشتر دوست داشتم و میخواستم به خاطر آن یک داستان، به کتاب، چهار ستاره بدهم.

[O · Rating 4 out of 5]

"You know, Betty isn't a bad girl. I've seen her several times, there's nothing wrong with her except her insane jealousy of Herbert's kite;"

And that's it ladies and gentlemen, that's the story. It was hilarious, where the hell did Maugham get all these stories from? Did he make this one up? I doubt. He overheard it in a bar, someone told him, you can't make this shit up.

Also, the cold dank of a British mother-in-law. So aptly described >< Take win, man.

[Ala'a El-Nabawy]

I studied this book at school, I remember that I was in love with most of the book stories;the lunatics guy story & the story itself which the book holds it's name. They were seemed to be irrational & dull actually but I remember that they were having something deep & interesting in common ... may be the focus on the human slips !!!

[Mohammad Ali Shamekhi · Rating 3 out of 5]

داستانی که بیش از همه برایم جذاب بود، "دوست خوب" نام داشت. در مرتبه ی بعد این داستان ها جالب بودند: "خانه"، "خادم کلیسا"، "جای زخم"، سالواتوره"، "می بل" ، "بادبادک"، "ازدواج مصلحتی" و "وطن فروش".

در ضمن داستان "مردی از گلاسکو" را شجاع الدین شفا هم با عنوان " شب چهاردم ماه" ترجمه کرده است. میان این دو ترجمه تفاوت های وجود دارد مثلا جاهایی یکی جمله را ایجابی ترجمه کرده و دیگری سلبی و قس علی هذا.

[Mohammad Aboomar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I studied this book in high school. It was such a wonderful introduction to an amazing storyteller.

[Moushmi Radhanpara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A delightful short prose.

[Atena | آتنا · Rating 3 out of 5]

ما کلافی سردرگم از ویژگی های متناقض هستیم.وقتی بعضی ها به من می گویند در اولین برخورد به بدی و خوبی شخصی پی می برند،شانه هایم را بالا می اندازم چون خودم هر چه بیشتر کسی را می شناسم رفتار او بیشتر من را گیج می کند.قذیمی ترین دوستان من کسانی هستند که می توانم بگویم کوچک ترین چیزی درباره آنان نمی دانم.

حقیقت این است که در یک ازدواج مصلحتی شما انتظار کمتری دارید و در نتیجه کمتر نا امید می شوید. چون شما هیچ تقاضای غیرمنطقی از یکدیگر نمی کنید و دلیلی برای رنجش وجودندارد. شما به دنبال کمال نیستید و در نتیجه اشتباهات یکدیگر را تحمل می کنید.عشق خوب است،اما اساس مناسبی برای ازدواج نیست برای آنکه دو نفر در ازدواج احساس خوشبختی کنند،باید قادر باشند به هم احترام بگذارند. باید شرایط و علایق آنها شبیه به هم باشد و اگر آنها آدم های معقول باشند و مایل باشند بدهند و بگیرند،زندگی کنند و اجازه زندگی دهند،هیچ دلیلب وجود ندارد که پیوند آنها به اندازه پیوند ما موفق نباشد.

بعضی ها او را سنگدل می پنداشتند،چون بیشتر مواقع در عوض اینکه به دیگران وابسته باشد به آنها علاقه مند می شد و حتی در چند نفری که به آنها وابسته بود،حسن ها و عیب ها را به یک اندازه می دید.وقتی کسی را دوست داشت،بدان معنا نبود که چشم هایش را روی اشتباهات او می بندد، او از ضعف های آنها ناراحت نمی شد،بلکه با بالا انداختن صبورانه شانه هایش آنها را می پذیرفت. و از آنجا که با صراحت و صمیمیت درباره دوستانش قضاوت می کرد،هیچ وقت ناامید نمی شد و به ندرتدوستی را از دست می داد. بیشتر از آنچه که بتواند بدهد نمی خواست.