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The Hero
Five years change a man, and when they have been spent in the bush fighting Boers, the changes are profound. So when Jamie Parson comes home with captain's pips and a Victoria Cross, he is no longer the boy he was. But not to his parents and Mary, his sweetheart...they expect him to fit in.Jamie can't, and shortly breaks off with Mary. Happiness remains a shadow, illusive as the Boers, and Jamie finds the moral struggle as relentless as the military.
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First published January 1, 1901
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About the author
W. Somerset Maugham
2,128 books6,102 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 - 30 of 58 reviews
August 9, 2013
There's something about the prose of Somerset Maugham - it's so simple, no excess verbosity whatsoever, and yet it is so beautifully crafted that it's always a delight to read. I loved this book - the content of the tale is utterly tragic: that of the soldier returned injured from war to find everything has changed and yet everything is the same; and yet there is so much humour in the narration of the story.
The characters are brilliant. Nearly all of them with the exception of Jamie ("the hero" of the tale) are so parochial and small-minded in their belief systems that they are utterly hilarious at points. I loved Mary's "I'm seriously distressed about my girls. They live in nasty little cottages, and eat filthy things; they pass their whole lives under the most disgusting conditions, and yet they're happy. I can't get them to see that they ought to be utterly miserable.'
'Oh , I know,' sighed the curate, 'it makes me sad to think of it.'
'Surely if they're happy, you can want nothing better,' said James, rather impatiently.
'But I do. They have no right to be happy under such circumstances. I want to make them feel their wretchedness.'
And the Vicar and his wife are utterly fantastic - Poor Mr Dryden who after Mary rejects his suit, dives straight back into the field of battle (but not having one to hand in the Kentish countryside, has to opt for the Mrs Jackson's (the Vicar's wife's) drawing room.
One cannot help but feel for poor James. Even though he really isn't a hero (and knows himself not to be) - his return from war after all, prompts him to reveal that he rather enjoys killing men; and that the heroic act for which he has been awarded the VC, would have worked out better for the person he tried to save, if he hadn't actually tried to save him in the first place. He suffers so dreadfully as his parents, Mary, village society and the prim ordered Kentish countryside itself strive to stifle every impulse of life and individuality out of him.
This is a tragic tale, with lots going on in it: humour, a representation of late Victorian rural life, and the stresses and strains suffered by a soldier returning from a bloody battlefield. It's well worth a read and like all Somerset Maugham, it's a joy to do so.
The characters are brilliant. Nearly all of them with the exception of Jamie ("the hero" of the tale) are so parochial and small-minded in their belief systems that they are utterly hilarious at points. I loved Mary's "I'm seriously distressed about my girls. They live in nasty little cottages, and eat filthy things; they pass their whole lives under the most disgusting conditions, and yet they're happy. I can't get them to see that they ought to be utterly miserable.'
'Oh , I know,' sighed the curate, 'it makes me sad to think of it.'
'Surely if they're happy, you can want nothing better,' said James, rather impatiently.
'But I do. They have no right to be happy under such circumstances. I want to make them feel their wretchedness.'
And the Vicar and his wife are utterly fantastic - Poor Mr Dryden who after Mary rejects his suit, dives straight back into the field of battle (but not having one to hand in the Kentish countryside, has to opt for the Mrs Jackson's (the Vicar's wife's) drawing room.
One cannot help but feel for poor James. Even though he really isn't a hero (and knows himself not to be) - his return from war after all, prompts him to reveal that he rather enjoys killing men; and that the heroic act for which he has been awarded the VC, would have worked out better for the person he tried to save, if he hadn't actually tried to save him in the first place. He suffers so dreadfully as his parents, Mary, village society and the prim ordered Kentish countryside itself strive to stifle every impulse of life and individuality out of him.
This is a tragic tale, with lots going on in it: humour, a representation of late Victorian rural life, and the stresses and strains suffered by a soldier returning from a bloody battlefield. It's well worth a read and like all Somerset Maugham, it's a joy to do so.
December 26, 2018
"He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured" - D. J. Trump. In the specific, this comment was intended to degrade and insult, but in the abstract, it makes a point. After all, heroism is ethereal. For it to exist at least two people, and oftentimes more, need to acknowledge its presence. If it’s not an agreed upon belief, the hero ceases to exist.
The brilliance of this book is that Maugham surrounds the idea of heroism with his characters. They find it and see it and thus leave it up to the reader to make it real, or to dissipate its presence. The magic happens when you start to see both sides of the story at which point the idea of heroism becomes both real and imaginary. Maugham makes his point.
The Hero is obviously one of Maugham’s more obscure works. However, I found very relevant to today’s political climate. The book serves as a lighthouse of sorts. It casts a beacon over a century’s worth of time and shows us, the time travelers of civilization, the distance we have traveled. Themes such a war, patriotism, and education are contemplated by Maugham. One possible conclusion is that we haven’t traveled that far, but we cannot deny that have progressed nonetheless. We are slowly growing up.
The brilliance of this book is that Maugham surrounds the idea of heroism with his characters. They find it and see it and thus leave it up to the reader to make it real, or to dissipate its presence. The magic happens when you start to see both sides of the story at which point the idea of heroism becomes both real and imaginary. Maugham makes his point.
The Hero is obviously one of Maugham’s more obscure works. However, I found very relevant to today’s political climate. The book serves as a lighthouse of sorts. It casts a beacon over a century’s worth of time and shows us, the time travelers of civilization, the distance we have traveled. Themes such a war, patriotism, and education are contemplated by Maugham. One possible conclusion is that we haven’t traveled that far, but we cannot deny that have progressed nonetheless. We are slowly growing up.
April 26, 2014
Whoever said ‘the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation’[1] could have been referring to much of W. Somerset Maugham’s work. No author of his era drilled down so relentlessly into the anguish people suffer trying to lead acceptable lives while still hoping to find a scrap of love amidst society’s buttoned-down restrictions. Maugham’s primary setting was the England of the turn of the nineteenth century, a formidable crucible for his vulnerable protagonists who dream beyond their station, and whose growth (or demise) involves yielding to a brutally honest view of life, riddling them with angst and self-doubt.
In The Hero James Parsons returns to his idyllic and stifling British village from the Boer War a changed man. Awarded the Victoria Cross for an act of bravery, he considers the medal unwarranted (it’s not), and is idolized by the village of Little Primpton—until he breaks off his engagement to the woman who has been waiting five years for his return. In South Africa James encountered certain truths that have eluded his fellow villagers, and one of them is that falling in love with the wrong person (in his case the fickle wife of a superior officer) is more emotionally honest than pretending to be enamored with the supposedly perfect woman back home. Although James clearly sees the affair for what it was, he cannot go through the hypocrisy of marrying someone he doesn’t love, despite the fact that it will be his social undoing.
Typical of Maugham’s protagonists, the reader inwardly cheers when James pulls the trigger and makes a tentative break for happiness. Then we squirm as he makes one terrible choice after another, eventually asking his jilted fiancée to marry him—again. The tension is razor sharp in Maugham’s inner monologues, all delivered in precise prose devoid of profanity, explicit situations, and sentimentality. He manages some biting humor as well as he skewers the British middle class. Maugham’s characters, from the dowdy fiancée Mary Clibborn with her cold, haughty attitude towards the lowly patients she nurses, to James’ pious parents, to the foppish uncle who sees himself as a catch, to the aging would-be mother-in-law who wears a little too much rouge and has an eye for James, are all on target.
The Hero does not have the scope of Maugham’s Of Human Bondage, considered one of the finest 100 novels of all time, but it explores similar territory and does so with a much more economical word count and tighter plot. And, unlike the club-footed Philip Carey in Of Human Bondage, James Parsons is perhaps more deserving of life’s elusive rewards, although the outcome for him is much darker.
The Hero was first published in 1901 but the writing has aged incredibly well, considering the original audience, and any out-of-fashion devices are easily overlooked as the reader is pulled into James’ terrifying loneliness. It’s no surprise that Maugham was one of the best-selling authors of his time. He was, and continues to be, a master of the psychological novel.
[1] It was Thoreau.
March 14, 2017
This is a beautifully written piece of ridicule, mocking the so-called manners of early 20th century Englanders. The main character returns from war to his hometown of Little Primpton, perfectly named, and is described in countless variations of the word “grave” as he re-enters the heritage he inherited.
I had forgotten how much I love this author, who really knows how to afflict the reader, practically hitting us on the head with his hammering message. He names his characters aptly, from Mr. Dryland to Stone Fairley. The first burden of our reluctant hero is a ceremony in his honor, the exuberance of which blasts forth through a “hearty braying of trumpets reaching a highly decorated Amen, at last dying away in the startled air.” It is a picture of sincerity not always being the best way to measure truth.
His heavier burden is a fiancee to whom he was engaged before he departed for war. The arrangement was heartily promoted as an anchor for him, so he went along with it. After all, he had lived his entire life copesthetically under the reign of duty, albeit without ever experiencing even the tiniest spark of freedom.
During the war years, he had encountered the wildly romantic in a serpentine, flirtatious woman who ignited his life. Thus his burden: to pursue aliveness or to please the people? He vacillates between them, wandering outdoors where nature speaks, loud and clear. He sees the manicured gardens of family and friends as “gravid with silent life.” In contrast, the branches of blossoming forsythia splay forth with abandonment like “the abundant verdure of Paradise.” For the first time, he is seeing the constraints of duty in a place where people strive to “acquire the facial expression achieved by repeating the words prune and prism.”
This is satire at its juiciest: a citzenry thinking themselves the epitome of lovingkindness when, in actuality, their counsel kills -- first silencing, then freezing, then obliterating joy from a human life. Life here is cheerless and supercilious and downright mean. At one end of the spectrum, the portrayals of the earnest villagers are hilarious; at the other end of the spectrum, they are horrid. In between, the author serves up generous portions of what I can only describe as a proper shame.
I had forgotten how much I love this author, who really knows how to afflict the reader, practically hitting us on the head with his hammering message. He names his characters aptly, from Mr. Dryland to Stone Fairley. The first burden of our reluctant hero is a ceremony in his honor, the exuberance of which blasts forth through a “hearty braying of trumpets reaching a highly decorated Amen, at last dying away in the startled air.” It is a picture of sincerity not always being the best way to measure truth.
His heavier burden is a fiancee to whom he was engaged before he departed for war. The arrangement was heartily promoted as an anchor for him, so he went along with it. After all, he had lived his entire life copesthetically under the reign of duty, albeit without ever experiencing even the tiniest spark of freedom.
During the war years, he had encountered the wildly romantic in a serpentine, flirtatious woman who ignited his life. Thus his burden: to pursue aliveness or to please the people? He vacillates between them, wandering outdoors where nature speaks, loud and clear. He sees the manicured gardens of family and friends as “gravid with silent life.” In contrast, the branches of blossoming forsythia splay forth with abandonment like “the abundant verdure of Paradise.” For the first time, he is seeing the constraints of duty in a place where people strive to “acquire the facial expression achieved by repeating the words prune and prism.”
This is satire at its juiciest: a citzenry thinking themselves the epitome of lovingkindness when, in actuality, their counsel kills -- first silencing, then freezing, then obliterating joy from a human life. Life here is cheerless and supercilious and downright mean. At one end of the spectrum, the portrayals of the earnest villagers are hilarious; at the other end of the spectrum, they are horrid. In between, the author serves up generous portions of what I can only describe as a proper shame.
October 22, 2017
I remain amazed at how each generation seems to, in some fashion or other, with slight tweaks and customizations, repeat the human, relational, and social faux pas of our forebears. I am ever grateful to one of my first Goodreads Friends for recommending this "has no business not being much more widely read"piece of editorial prose on the propriety of good behavior by W. Somerset Maugham, nigh a century ago. Thoroughly and with clarity I seem to recognize the characters as if they were current and quite full of life, this very day. We do dance according to patterns, circuitously, repetitiously, and again. If I remove the trappings and focus on the behaviors wrought by pride and self interest, and ineptitudes, without using a filter of fog, Maugham's characters leap from the background into the real and familiar. I do believe I have said "I would never do or say ..." (something I observed in my folks), when I was a bit younger. I am but human and c'est la vie. Enlightening writing.
March 28, 2018
As many others have said, this is an excellent work.
I do have one problem, however.
Because of the passage of time since it was set/written, I'm not 100% sure I understand what WSM was trying to get at with the ending (after the hero shot himself).
In order to tie things up he uses one of the characters as 'Mrs Exposition'. This would be fair enough, but the woman has been shown to be deluded, and is therefore an unreliable narrator - more so concerning the feelings of others and their ethics and moral behaviour than actual facts.
I do have one problem, however.
Because of the passage of time since it was set/written, I'm not 100% sure I understand what WSM was trying to get at with the ending (after the hero shot himself).
In order to tie things up he uses one of the characters as 'Mrs Exposition'. This would be fair enough, but the woman has been shown to be deluded, and is therefore an unreliable narrator - more so concerning the feelings of others and their ethics and moral behaviour than actual facts.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 30, 2012
Solidly good, solidly great when it comes down to some of Jamie’s ideas (on wars, on reason). An early sign of Maugham’s strengths, “The last thing I expect is consistency in an animal of such contrary instincts as man.” Not without great cheekiness, either. Plus: the hero’s name is Jamie. Will never not enjoy that.
“When you do anything, are you ever tormented by a doubt whether you are doing right or wrong?”
“Never,” she answered, firmly. “There is always a right way and a wrong way, and, I’m thankful to say, God has given me sufficient intelligence to know which is which; and obviously I choose the right way.”
“What a comfortable idea! I can never help thinking that every right way is partly wrong, and every wrong way partly right. There’s always so much to be said on both sides; to me it’s very hard to know which is which.”
“Only a very weak man could think like that.”
“Possibly! I have long since ceased to flatter myself on my strength of mind. I find it is chiefly a characteristic of unintelligent persons.”
August 27, 2015
This is one of Maugham’s early books. I don’t know how many if any were written between his first published in 1897 and this one published four years later. This is the second I've read of his early books and to me this book lacks a certain polish when I compare it to his later books, like Of Human Bondage or The Razor's Edge, but I’m no expert it’s just a feeling.
This story focuses on a young man, a boy really, who becomes engaged prior to his being shipped off to India with the military. From India he goes to war in Africa and returns home after five years. During his five year absence he is exposed to the world and combat. He returns home a wounded hero who is a changed man from when he left home five years earlier. He is disillusioned, no longer in love with his fiancé and seems unable to adjust to being home. His family can't understand nor accept these changes, making his homecoming difficult.
Maugham is harsh as he portrays the British upper middle class as being ignorant and unbending in their beliefs of duty, honor, and morality. One passage that illustrates this attitude is (spoiler) “Throughout the country, in the comfortable villa or in the stately mansion, you will find as much prejudice and superstition in the drawing-room as in the kitchen; and you will find the masters less receptive of new ideas then their servants; and into the bargain, presumptuously satisfied with their own nescience.”
It’s this attitude and mindset that makes for an unbearable situation when our returning soldier, James Parsons, breaks his engagement with Mary Clibborn he is viciously ostracized by everyone in the community.
The stories tragedy begins when James becomes deathly ill and is nursed back to health by Mary and his mother. When the crisis is past but James is not completely well he feels emotionally attached to Mary for saving his life. In his physical and mentally weakened condition and feeling obligated to Mary, he proposes marriage again. This as you might expect is a huge mistake. As James’ health improves and the marriage date approaches James becomes more desperate, is he to honor his word and live in misery or again disgrace himself.
This is a quick pleasant read and shows Maugham’s early skill at writing deeply descriptive characters and surroundings. As for the story itself, it’s not one of his best efforts, but I can heartily recommend it
This story focuses on a young man, a boy really, who becomes engaged prior to his being shipped off to India with the military. From India he goes to war in Africa and returns home after five years. During his five year absence he is exposed to the world and combat. He returns home a wounded hero who is a changed man from when he left home five years earlier. He is disillusioned, no longer in love with his fiancé and seems unable to adjust to being home. His family can't understand nor accept these changes, making his homecoming difficult.
Maugham is harsh as he portrays the British upper middle class as being ignorant and unbending in their beliefs of duty, honor, and morality. One passage that illustrates this attitude is (spoiler) “Throughout the country, in the comfortable villa or in the stately mansion, you will find as much prejudice and superstition in the drawing-room as in the kitchen; and you will find the masters less receptive of new ideas then their servants; and into the bargain, presumptuously satisfied with their own nescience.”
It’s this attitude and mindset that makes for an unbearable situation when our returning soldier, James Parsons, breaks his engagement with Mary Clibborn he is viciously ostracized by everyone in the community.
The stories tragedy begins when James becomes deathly ill and is nursed back to health by Mary and his mother. When the crisis is past but James is not completely well he feels emotionally attached to Mary for saving his life. In his physical and mentally weakened condition and feeling obligated to Mary, he proposes marriage again. This as you might expect is a huge mistake. As James’ health improves and the marriage date approaches James becomes more desperate, is he to honor his word and live in misery or again disgrace himself.
This is a quick pleasant read and shows Maugham’s early skill at writing deeply descriptive characters and surroundings. As for the story itself, it’s not one of his best efforts, but I can heartily recommend it
March 26, 2020
Before I started this, I mistakenly thought it was an historical novel, which was never Maugham's strong suit (Catalina comes to mind). Thankfully, I was wrong. I mean, it's period now, but not then.
James "Jamie" Parsons has come home to his quiet, provincial British home after being in Africa five years, fighting in the Boer War. While he was away, he fell in love with the flashy, exotic, and kind of coarse wife of a buddy of his, although the passion was never consummated, because Jamie nobly suffers his crush, clearly relishing the pain more than he probably would have the reality of the affair. Mrs. Wallace wears too much perfume and jewelry, dresses too elaborately, and is well aware of the attention she attracts from men; it's doubtful she feels anything like love for anyone but herself, but Jamie is too besotted to see it.
So when Jamie gets home to his stolid fiancee of five years, Mary, suddenly she doesn't seem like the wife he thought he wanted when he was an innocent, small-town kid. Mary's mom is a vain woman who treats her daughter like shit, so Mary has been spending most of her time with Jamie's parents, who dote on her probably too much.
What follows is some delightful melodrama. Jamie gets the balls to break off the engagement; the little town gossips and meddles, the local vicar (a much better match for the it-turns-out religious bigot snob Mary, who you initially feel sorry for until she moralizes over all the "poors" she ministers to) proposes to Mary, who turns him down; Mrs. Wallace turns up in London; Jamie gets typhus; Mary nurses him back to health; Mary's bitch of a mother thinks Jamie is in love with her. Not one single character is truly likable, and it's all delicious.
The ending is a corker, too. I enjoyed the whole thing very much.
James "Jamie" Parsons has come home to his quiet, provincial British home after being in Africa five years, fighting in the Boer War. While he was away, he fell in love with the flashy, exotic, and kind of coarse wife of a buddy of his, although the passion was never consummated, because Jamie nobly suffers his crush, clearly relishing the pain more than he probably would have the reality of the affair. Mrs. Wallace wears too much perfume and jewelry, dresses too elaborately, and is well aware of the attention she attracts from men; it's doubtful she feels anything like love for anyone but herself, but Jamie is too besotted to see it.
So when Jamie gets home to his stolid fiancee of five years, Mary, suddenly she doesn't seem like the wife he thought he wanted when he was an innocent, small-town kid. Mary's mom is a vain woman who treats her daughter like shit, so Mary has been spending most of her time with Jamie's parents, who dote on her probably too much.
What follows is some delightful melodrama. Jamie gets the balls to break off the engagement; the little town gossips and meddles, the local vicar (a much better match for the it-turns-out religious bigot snob Mary, who you initially feel sorry for until she moralizes over all the "poors" she ministers to) proposes to Mary, who turns him down; Mrs. Wallace turns up in London; Jamie gets typhus; Mary nurses him back to health; Mary's bitch of a mother thinks Jamie is in love with her. Not one single character is truly likable, and it's all delicious.
The ending is a corker, too. I enjoyed the whole thing very much.
February 14, 2013
Excellent read. The plot is quite simple but the narrative, like all of Maugham's, is extremely impressive. Despite the geographic and time period barriers, there are many places where the reader identifies with the protagonist's dilemma, view points and arguments. Thereby, this book is eternal and immortal and will continue to be relevant so long as people fall in and out of love, believe and disbelieve in religion and obey or disobey authority.
A less-known but very impressive work of Somerset Maugham, perhaps second only to his opus, 'Of Human Bondage'. A thoroughly enjoyable and fast read.
A less-known but very impressive work of Somerset Maugham, perhaps second only to his opus, 'Of Human Bondage'. A thoroughly enjoyable and fast read.
August 23, 2012
Interesting story about a British soldier named Jamie Parson who returns home from the Boer War after five years at the turn of the 20th century and the struggles of him adjusting to late Victorian era country life. As always, Maugham does a great job with the characters, despite the book being kind of short each one was pretty fleshed out. I gave this four stars just because I wish it were a lot longer and I wasn't satisfied with the ending. But I can easily see why someone would give this five.
March 10, 2016
A soldier returns from a war to his loving parents and his loving fiancee with a wound, a VC and a much broader view of the world than he had when he left as a youth.
There is a tyranny in love and a stifling of thought and expression in never looking outside one's own life. The young soldier is trapped.
Maugham could see outside the narrow confines of a middle-class English village. He undoubtedly found it stifling himself. His sympathies are with the young man.
This is an excellent novella, which could easily have been expanded into a full novel and become amazing.
There is a tyranny in love and a stifling of thought and expression in never looking outside one's own life. The young soldier is trapped.
Maugham could see outside the narrow confines of a middle-class English village. He undoubtedly found it stifling himself. His sympathies are with the young man.
This is an excellent novella, which could easily have been expanded into a full novel and become amazing.
December 30, 2015
Maugham's prose style is, on the surface, pretty straight forward but manages to pose much deeper issues to think about. His characters and situations resonate on many levels of human interaction, emotions and dilemmas. He's a master of showing instead of telling the reader - one is left with much to consider and for me, always something I can relate to in my own life. In this one, parental and societal expectations, heroism, duty, promises, 'you can't go home' etc. I recommend it.
June 28, 2011
One can recognise several developing characters that come to fruition later in 'Of Human Bondage'. There are some nice touches where the countryside description reflects a character's emotion or reflections. As always with Maugham one must step back in time to understand some of the actions and reactions to events and social situations.
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November 30, 2017Already I have found a quote worth saving (as I do so often with Maugham) - "Flattering themselves on their ideals and their high principles, they vegetated in stupid sloth and in a less than animal vacuity" I will write more when I am complete but as so often (with Maugham) - I'm amazed I hadn't read this before. Major good story. so much like today.
September 9, 2016
This novella has the trademark characters, plot and timeline of a typical Maugham short story. But the characters are too one-dimensional, save perhaps for Mary, who is The Real Hero of the story. File this under preview/prototype for Of Human Bondage.
December 30, 2018
I love Maugham's prose--always flowing and euphonious and always punctuated with humor and insight. In The Hero, the author explores one of his classic themes--the stifling nature of social convention and pretense.
March 13, 2016
what a fucking mong!!! more like the zero!!!
January 3, 2021
A classic great.
May 9, 2018
This is the first novel by Maugham that I've read, and I'm glad I decided to read one of his lesser celebrated books first. It was short, and free, so it was a no-brainer, but it so happens it was a good choice.
I'm surprised by certain things I've read about Maugham's style, that he lacks an original voice, or that his prose is not as colorful as other celebrated authors, that he makes use of convenient forms of rhetoric, speech, and cliche, that kind of thing; because it seems to me that he's just as good a writer as Henry James, for example, while not as lyrical and mellifluous as Galsworthy, nor as expansive as George Eliot. The thing I take most powerfully from this novel is its honesty. It is at times brutally honest. Maugham lays open his protagonist to total scrutiny, allows us to see every feeling, every desire, every thought and raw nerve, and lets us feel the final sensation of claustrophobic moral constraint and helpless entrapment and resolve.
I'm almost inclined to give the novel only four stars, because if I'm honest myself I have to admit the narrative is unbalanced: there is too much 'telly' reportage and probably not enough 'show' ie: graphic description. If it were a poem, it would be heavy-handed and didactic. But as a novel, it redeems itself of its artistic faults by being so absolutely straightforward, and painfully accurate, especially for the period in which it was written. James loathes Mary and is in love with Mrs. Wallace; these are plain facts not dithered over or danced around in the least, in the way they would be if George Eliot had told the story. Had Eliot penned it, it would have been twice as long, beautifully delineated, and we might have been more accepting of its climax due to her authorial command; but from Maugham we get it straight and without any delicacy at all.
Unfortunately, Nature is the way it is, and tragic, pointlessly terrible things occur all the time. One could argue, should it be the job of the artist to bring Nature's losers into the spotlight? We know, as Thoreau had said, "that most men lead lives of quiet desperation", but do we need to open a novel for entertainment and have this desperation and seeming purposelessness paraded before us? Shouldn't we focus on the good, on the brighter side, on the greener pastures of our human experience?
Two years ago I would have said, yes, the artist ought to point to man's possibilities, his meaning, his purpose and intentionality in an ostensibly hostile world and cosmos. And I still do say, yes, this is what artists ought to do. But then again, what of those among us who don't get the happy ending and the sweeping music as the credits roll up? There are undoubtedly far more of those in the world, and in our history, than the happy winners who catch the golden ring and go out with a kiss and a smile and a symphony orchestra.
The Hero is a great and tragic book, and it paints its story without shallow, degrading anti-humanism and mockery. This is not a misanthropic novel. It probably perfectly reflects the lives and sufferings of many, many millions of human beings past and present. Read it.
I'm surprised by certain things I've read about Maugham's style, that he lacks an original voice, or that his prose is not as colorful as other celebrated authors, that he makes use of convenient forms of rhetoric, speech, and cliche, that kind of thing; because it seems to me that he's just as good a writer as Henry James, for example, while not as lyrical and mellifluous as Galsworthy, nor as expansive as George Eliot. The thing I take most powerfully from this novel is its honesty. It is at times brutally honest. Maugham lays open his protagonist to total scrutiny, allows us to see every feeling, every desire, every thought and raw nerve, and lets us feel the final sensation of claustrophobic moral constraint and helpless entrapment and resolve.
I'm almost inclined to give the novel only four stars, because if I'm honest myself I have to admit the narrative is unbalanced: there is too much 'telly' reportage and probably not enough 'show' ie: graphic description. If it were a poem, it would be heavy-handed and didactic. But as a novel, it redeems itself of its artistic faults by being so absolutely straightforward, and painfully accurate, especially for the period in which it was written. James loathes Mary and is in love with Mrs. Wallace; these are plain facts not dithered over or danced around in the least, in the way they would be if George Eliot had told the story. Had Eliot penned it, it would have been twice as long, beautifully delineated, and we might have been more accepting of its climax due to her authorial command; but from Maugham we get it straight and without any delicacy at all.
Unfortunately, Nature is the way it is, and tragic, pointlessly terrible things occur all the time. One could argue, should it be the job of the artist to bring Nature's losers into the spotlight? We know, as Thoreau had said, "that most men lead lives of quiet desperation", but do we need to open a novel for entertainment and have this desperation and seeming purposelessness paraded before us? Shouldn't we focus on the good, on the brighter side, on the greener pastures of our human experience?
Two years ago I would have said, yes, the artist ought to point to man's possibilities, his meaning, his purpose and intentionality in an ostensibly hostile world and cosmos. And I still do say, yes, this is what artists ought to do. But then again, what of those among us who don't get the happy ending and the sweeping music as the credits roll up? There are undoubtedly far more of those in the world, and in our history, than the happy winners who catch the golden ring and go out with a kiss and a smile and a symphony orchestra.
The Hero is a great and tragic book, and it paints its story without shallow, degrading anti-humanism and mockery. This is not a misanthropic novel. It probably perfectly reflects the lives and sufferings of many, many millions of human beings past and present. Read it.
August 19, 2024
Jamie Parson returns from the Boer War to find his home changed beyond recognition. But not due to the actions of those around him. No, it's because of how the war has changed him. I haven't looked at the scholarly work on this novel, but certainly someone must have recognized it as a pioneering description of PTSD, combat fatigue, shell shock, or whatever it may best have been termed at the turn of the nineteenth/twentieth centuries. I'm guessing there are some notations from Maugham's journals that indicate who inspired this character. In any case, Maugham himself was a young man when he wrote this book, and no doubt had many acquaintances with firsthand experience of the war. Hero provides a full scale, in depth character study of Jamie against the background of not very eminent Victorian family and friends. What interests me in particular, is that Jamie may not be the only victim of psychological trauma in the story. His father underwent similar experiences and the shock of violence. But the elder Parson escaped back into a retired life of Victorian platitudes and cliches. Jamie is living on the cusp of change, the Victorian era wavering and falling into the Edwardian. His responses are thus more "modern." Jamie also susses out his fiance, Mary, and her true character, which is revealed when she goes on a nursing tour through the cottages surrounding her villa and dismisses or even reverses the treatment a physician has ordered for dying and suffering people. All to bolster her own ego. It's a wicked stripe that pulsates throughout the novel and makes any pity someone might later apply to Mary's situation something not deserved.
March 13, 2017
This is a beautifully written piece of ridicule, mocking the so-called manners of early 20th century Englanders. The main character returns from war to his hometown of Little Primpton, perfectly named, and is described in countless variations of the word “grave” as he re-enters the heritage he inherited.
I had forgotten how much I love this author, who really knows how to afflict the reader, practically hitting us on the head with his hammering message. He names his characters aptly, from Mr. Dryland to Stone Fairley. The first burden of our reluctant hero is a ceremony in his honor, the exuberance of which blasts forth through a “hearty braying of trumpets reaching a highly decorated Amen, at last dying away in the startled air.” It is a picture of sincerity not always being the best way to measure truth.
His heavier burden is a fiancee to whom he was engaged before he departed for war. The arrangement was heartily promoted as an anchor for him, so he went along with it. After all, he had lived his entire life copesthetically under the reign of Duty, albeit without ever experiencing even the tiniest spark of life.
During the war years, he had encountered the wildly romantic in a serpentine, flirtatious woman who ignited his life. Thus his burden: to pursue aliveness or to please the people? He vacillates between them, wandering outdoors where nature speaks, loud and clear. He sees the manicured gardens of family and friends as “gravid with silent life.” In contrast, the branches of blossoming forsythia splay forth with abandonment like “the abundant verdure of Paradise.” For the first time, he is seeing the constraints of Duty in a place where people strive to “acquire the facial expression achieved by repeating the words prune and prism.”
This is satire at its juiciest: a citzenry thinking themselves the epitome of lovingkindness when, in actuality, their counsel kills -- first silencing, then freezing, then obliterating joy from a human life. Life here is cheerless and supercilious and downright mean. At one end of the spectrum, the portrayals of the earnest villagers are hilarious; at the other end of the spectrum, they are horrid. In between, the author serves up generous portions of what I can only describe as a proper shame.
I had forgotten how much I love this author, who really knows how to afflict the reader, practically hitting us on the head with his hammering message. He names his characters aptly, from Mr. Dryland to Stone Fairley. The first burden of our reluctant hero is a ceremony in his honor, the exuberance of which blasts forth through a “hearty braying of trumpets reaching a highly decorated Amen, at last dying away in the startled air.” It is a picture of sincerity not always being the best way to measure truth.
His heavier burden is a fiancee to whom he was engaged before he departed for war. The arrangement was heartily promoted as an anchor for him, so he went along with it. After all, he had lived his entire life copesthetically under the reign of Duty, albeit without ever experiencing even the tiniest spark of life.
During the war years, he had encountered the wildly romantic in a serpentine, flirtatious woman who ignited his life. Thus his burden: to pursue aliveness or to please the people? He vacillates between them, wandering outdoors where nature speaks, loud and clear. He sees the manicured gardens of family and friends as “gravid with silent life.” In contrast, the branches of blossoming forsythia splay forth with abandonment like “the abundant verdure of Paradise.” For the first time, he is seeing the constraints of Duty in a place where people strive to “acquire the facial expression achieved by repeating the words prune and prism.”
This is satire at its juiciest: a citzenry thinking themselves the epitome of lovingkindness when, in actuality, their counsel kills -- first silencing, then freezing, then obliterating joy from a human life. Life here is cheerless and supercilious and downright mean. At one end of the spectrum, the portrayals of the earnest villagers are hilarious; at the other end of the spectrum, they are horrid. In between, the author serves up generous portions of what I can only describe as a proper shame.
February 10, 2020
This is a book with stupendously lucid prose, immaculately laid out characters, with a weak character and a strong narrative. Here Maugham demonstrates the simple beauty and power of pure, unadultered clarity. A brilliant book and I can't wait to delve further in Maugham's work!
The trivial becomes the ruin of a hero who returns home to find everything the same. James Parsons will live long in my memory as one who discovers the absurdity of life only to forget it. It warns against forgetting the absurdity and succumbing to the world as it is. Maugham splices across the figurines of society and lays out a sensitive novel worth relishing. His style allows you to read on and on without feeling the strain, a rarity in the breed of geniuses that he belonged to. It's a pity he inhabited the modernist world or he would definitely generate even more praise than he does.
Apparently, this one isn't even close to his best work! It loses a star for the fact that it could have been perfect but for small shades of immaturity and sloppiness which can be gleamed clearly because the rest of it is so much better!
The trivial becomes the ruin of a hero who returns home to find everything the same. James Parsons will live long in my memory as one who discovers the absurdity of life only to forget it. It warns against forgetting the absurdity and succumbing to the world as it is. Maugham splices across the figurines of society and lays out a sensitive novel worth relishing. His style allows you to read on and on without feeling the strain, a rarity in the breed of geniuses that he belonged to. It's a pity he inhabited the modernist world or he would definitely generate even more praise than he does.
Apparently, this one isn't even close to his best work! It loses a star for the fact that it could have been perfect but for small shades of immaturity and sloppiness which can be gleamed clearly because the rest of it is so much better!
January 26, 2021
I'm surprised that so few people have read Maugham's early novel, 'The Hero.' Published only four years after 'Liza of Lambeth', which struck me as wholly un-Maughamesque, 'The Hero' contains the essence of everything Maugham would become. The protagonist, James Parson, returns home wounded after the Boer War. Before leaving with the forces, he became engaged to simple, honest Mary, but now, five years later, he has seen enough of the world to know that he cannot marry her - he does not love her. So much of this sounds like the plot of 'The Razor's Edge,' and the similarities with that novel and others in the Maugham oeuvre are impossible to ignore. And then there is that uniquely Maughamesque quality - wit coupled with deep, intellectual insight - that runs through this novel just as it would elsewhere in Maugham's career. All in all, a fascinating, worthwhile read, and not one purely for the completist.
May 29, 2024
In this story, Somerset Maugham questions the philosophy "the aim of every human life should be the pursuit of happiness" What would you do when faced with the dilemma of living an unhappy life vs making those who love you unhappy... The hero of Hero decides to avoid both of these things and takes a totally unexpected/ different route.
The end of this story doesn't answer any big questions. It is also not preaching any higher order moral values. We are all selfish, it's just the degree of selfishness which differentiates one person from another. Each one of us would judge the characters in this story differently, based on our own moral values. That's the beauty of Somerset Maugham's writing - one can relate to the character even when there is such a huge gap of time... things have evolved so much in the last 100+ years, yet The Hero is still as much relevant, and it will remain relevant in future as well...
The end of this story doesn't answer any big questions. It is also not preaching any higher order moral values. We are all selfish, it's just the degree of selfishness which differentiates one person from another. Each one of us would judge the characters in this story differently, based on our own moral values. That's the beauty of Somerset Maugham's writing - one can relate to the character even when there is such a huge gap of time... things have evolved so much in the last 100+ years, yet The Hero is still as much relevant, and it will remain relevant in future as well...
December 21, 2017
This is an early novel by Somerset Maugham that doesn’t really know what it wants to be. Does it want to be a satire, does it want to be an existential drama or does it actually - as it seems by the lack of description of the characters or settings - actually want to be a play? The protagonist is a young increasingly nihilistic and hedonistic, but terribly dull-witted, ex-soldier, wounded in the war, now living with his parents. He has a much too weak young female character opposite him who doesn’t neither give him a narratively believable balance. Readable nonetheless, for its glimpses of elegance in plotting
August 7, 2017
Really well written story which wrestles with a lot of personal and social issues which you can't help feeling were probably based on the author's personal experience. Considering when the book was written I was a little surprised at how modern it seemed in some respects (although also clearly being rooted in another age) and how it highlights some of the changing attitudes that would come to the fore over the ensuing century. I had expected a slightly fusty 'classic' but was pleasantly surprised and will definitely read some more of his books.
January 23, 2022
The seriousness, depth and emotional intensity in this novel are at a high for Somerset Maugham. Also his blatant outspokenness about the stupidity, injustice and hypocrisy of the current morals of society goes further than usual. One feels that this book has suffered a degree of obscuration, persecution and deliberate silence in an attempt to minimise the damage to authoritarian views and disrespect of the public for the professional guardians of our morality. In that respect it reminds me of the autobiographical writings of Roald Dahl. Not to mention other martyrs.
July 11, 2025
Engaging and Provoking
The Hero is a compelling and skillfully constructed novel.
The carefully crafted twists and turns consistently challenge the reader’s assumptions about the characters and their motivations.
Maugham’s understated yet incisive style builds subtle tension and reveals profound psychological insight.
It is an engaging and thought-provoking work that lingers well beyond its final pages.
Highly recommended for readers who appreciate classic literature with genuine depth and complexity.
The Hero is a compelling and skillfully constructed novel.
The carefully crafted twists and turns consistently challenge the reader’s assumptions about the characters and their motivations.
Maugham’s understated yet incisive style builds subtle tension and reveals profound psychological insight.
It is an engaging and thought-provoking work that lingers well beyond its final pages.
Highly recommended for readers who appreciate classic literature with genuine depth and complexity.
August 4, 2019
This book is so cynical and modern, it's hard to believe it was written in 1901. Writing is a bit awkward, lacking the polish of Maugham's later works, but the story is still very entertaining with some truly hilarious observations.
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