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65 Short Stories
Selected 65 Short Stories
937 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1976
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278 people want to read
About the author
W. Somerset Maugham
2,115 books6,065 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 - 24 of 24 reviews
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December 19, 2017***** The Pool
**** Mr. Know-All
**** The Ant and the Grasshopper
November 28, 2018
This is one of my favourite collections of short stories, and finding it on my bookshelves has reminded me that I've never read Maugham's novels, which I mean to remedy soon.
April 19, 2009
Okay, so I haven't actually read all the way through this yet (still). I've kind of given up on it for now, because I'm tired of feeling like I'm just reading the same two or three stories over and over again. A few are quite good; the stories of the spy are enjoyable. But too many of them follow one of two basic formulas: White guy loses his shit among the island natives; or, Pretty lady has like soooo many lovers y'all omg. Early 20th cent. England doesn't like brown people or sex, gotcha. Do I really need to hear this 65 times in a row?
December 3, 2020
Once again I can thank my book club for suggesting something I have long thought about reading but just never have. Maugham has a way with the phrase, dropping it into the story at just the perfect moment. Here is just one that I enjoyed “It’s generally considered among authors a sign of deficient intelligence to play cards.”
March 20, 2023
This was certainly a long road.
Somerset Maugham has a very particular writing style and narrative voice. So the themes in this anthology kept to a short list of topics. Making it pretty hard to read too much at a go. So I started to read a story or two from this book in between reading other books.
SM was a great observer and story-teller. Not a great creative mind, he didn't make anything up whole cloth. He observed the people and the world around himself and then told or re-told stories well.
In "The Portrait of a Gentleman" he observes from reading a man's work that he felt he knew the man from his work. Nothing could be more true about SM. After reading this large tome, I feel like I've gotten to know the man. A quick read of his wikipedia page was exactly what I'd have expected.
Since I was at this so long, I've compiled a list and rating for each of the 65 stories, as follows;
1 - Rain - 4/5. A slow hypocrisy morality play, a missionary tries to convert a fallen woman, she converts him instead and he can't live with it. Women do not fare well in this anthology.
2 - The fall of Edward Barnard - 5/5. Suck a duck, Ayn Rand. Tahiti wins over industry.
3 - Honolulu - 2/5. A forgettable tale of a cook running away with the captain's girl on a sailing ship.
4-The ant and the grasshopper - 5/5. Very short comic tale on the absence of fairness in life. How no joy comes from being a smug ant hoping others suffer for being happy.
5- The pool- 3/5. Decent enough, mildly racist tale of a white man marrying a half-caste woman. It has that annoying trope where the woman respected him more for hitting her.
6-Mackintosh - 3/5. Long and slow, great characters, though paternalistic in the extreme. Solid denouement with a terrible twist in the final lines.
7- The Three Fat Women of Antibes - 4/5. A short, lovely story about 3 friends nearly torn apart by adding a fourth who decide to let it all go and get fat and old together.
8- The Facts of Life - 4/5. Cute and short, a young man loose in Monte Carlo breaks his fathers advice and has the time of his life. Spoiling him?
9- Gigolo and Gigolette - 5/5. Sweet story of a circus act married couple that decides to keep pushing the act instead of sinking into poverty. Love story.
10- The Voice of the Turtle - 4.5/5, a character study of an old pessimist author, a young wit, an ageing prima Dona. Achingly beautiful ending.
11 - The unconquered - 2/5. Ugly story with a tragic ending. German soldier rapes a French girl.
12- The Escape - 3/5. Very quick little tale of a bachelor escaping an unwanted entanglement. Ooooold fashioned gender role humour.
13- Mr Know-All - 3/5. Another super quick snippet of a story. People on a boat, dislike, a window into secret lives. Resolution.
14-The Romantic Young Lady: 2/5, very quick little tale of frivolous young love. Coldly given up for work and status.
15- The Man From Glasgow: 3/5, classic horror story. Page turner, big reveal in the last paragraph.
16. Before the party: 1/5, a stodgy high society British family faces a dire revelation but can’t even swerve from their social obligations
17. The vessel of wrath. 2/5 a colonialism love story where a spinster redeems a rogue.
18. Louise. 3/5, lady fakes frailty to live a selfish life, dies when her daughter marries and makes sure the guilt haunts her.
19. The Promise. 4/5. A classy lady lived a scandalous life, found love with a much younger man. He strayed, her heart broke but she let him go with her head high.
20. The yellow streak. 3/5 two colonials crash their riverboat among the natives and then compete with pride over who can make lightest of the near death experience.
21. The Force of Circumstance. 3/5 Well written characters living as colonial overlords. Love each other and get along great but his secret first wife and three kids come out. Marriage breaks down, not because of the lying but because the wife is such a hateful racist prude.
22. Flotsam and jetsam. 2/5 well written but tedious. Guy with malaria stays at a rubber plantation with married couples who hate each other. Tied by poverty and murder. She goes crazy.
23. The Alien Corn. 4/5. Great character study of a man born to idle wealth who wants to trade it all in and be a pianist, but isn't deemed “a genius artist” so he reunites with his family. Drops from 5 stars by shooting himself in the final paragraph, ending on a death/suicide is very common in these stories.
24. The creative impulse. 5/5 literati snobs realize they live their privilege because the people they mock support them. Great but unprofitable author sells out when push comes to shove. Literature can be both great as well as popular.
25. Virtue. 4/5 lovely middle aged couple, wife falls for a young romantic. Tragedy ensues, if she’d just banged him and let it go, they’d be married and alive today.
26. The closed shop. 4/5 Cute story about a small town allowing quickie divorces that puts the bordellos out of business, then gets them back
27. The Dream. 5/5. Only 3 pages long. A great character sketch of a salacious Russian widower / maybe murderer? A perfect short mystery with no answer only allusions.
28. The colonel’s lady. 4/5. Very smart story of a country gentleman discovering he’s a cuckold when his wife published a book of poetry about it. Realizes it’s fair and lets it lie.
29. Miss King. 4/5. Great setting with a handful of great WWI spy characters. Ends on a tantalizing cliffhanger.
30. The Hairless Mexican. 5/5. Oh joy! Ashenden the spy is a serial. Again, great characters with a quirky story in a living setting.
31. Traitor. 5/5. Again, great and relatable study of good/evil in a charming married couple. A nice guy trying to impress his wife by spying gets an agent killed. Is then killed himself.
32. His Excellency. 4/5. Less entertaining and more sad, but 100% relatable about the romantic mistakes of youth and growing old with your regrets and sensible decisions. Sometimes you’ve just got to have a fling with a plain faced, whiskey voiced acrobat.
33. Mr. Harrington's Washing. 3/5. Ashenden has a Russian mission on the eve of the revolution. A long train ride with an American character, a long lost love with a Russian lady. Not much happens, guy gets shot going for his laundry instead of leaving it behind.
34. Lord Mountdrago. 2/5. Two interesting characters, a psychologist and his patient - a politician. Dull story about dreams, two unlikeable men talking about dreams.
35. Sanatorium. 2.5/5. An Ashenden story but nothing like the others, could easily have stood alone outside the continuity. Love and death in a TB sanatorium. Man TB was rough. The love story was weak.
36. The Social Sense. 2.5; a social maven keeps a stiff upper lip, life of the party though her secret lover died hours ago. Tied to the social scene by cords of behaviour and habit.
37. The Verger. 4/5. Charming story of an elderly butler let go from his church job for being illiterate who uses horse sense to buy a shop and turns it into a franchise.
38. The Taipan 3/5. A rich old white dude struts around full of self importance, has a vision in a graveyard and wants to come home to die in England. More colonial fiction.
39. The Consul. 1/5. British consul in China has a woman client in a bad marriage who won’t take his advice. Chicks be crazy is the moral of the story.
40. A friend in need. 3/5. Nice rich man tells a story about “helping” a friend with a bet about a 5k swim he knew would be fatal. what a mean trick.
41. The Round Dozen. 2/5. Boring characters in a deliberately dull setting. A serial bigamist argues that he’s a good guy by bringing romance into the lives of women who’d live without it. Predictably elopes with the spinster. An interesting ethics argument in a drab set.
42. The Human Element. 3/5. A man who idolizes the IT girl for years discovers she’s been having a longstanding relationship with her chauffeur the whole time. He’s heartbroken, she thinks he’s shallow and classist.
43. Jane. 2/5. Two sisters, one old and frumpy, the other young and social. Both close in age, both widows. The frumpy one marries a lad of 24, becomes a social phenomena.
44. Footprints are n the jungle. 2/5 a dull tale of a murder mystery most predictable. Interesting morality play about how good people can do bad things.
45. The door of opportunity . 4/5 an intelligent, aloof high brow couple are brought down by an act of cowardice. Nobody can forget nor forgive him, he’s unaware of what he did wrong until his wife leaves him.
46. The book bag. 3/5 haunting tale of an incest, a new wife and suicide. Scandal again.
47. French Joe. 2/5. A very quick encounter between a sailing man and an old French invalid.
48. The four Dutchmen. 3/5. Great characters with a predictably tragic ending. 4 big fat Dutch dudes fall apart when a woman in introduced to their circle.
49. The back of beyond. 4/5. A sour old beurocrat leaving his position counsels a cuckolded husband to shelf his pride and forgive his wife. Lots of frank kindness, good philosophy held back by a lot of mysogeny.
50. P&O. 5/5 A recent divorcée meets a robust Irish man on the boat home from Singapore. He sickens of hiccups, a curse from his Malay ex wife. The whole crew feels low, he dies and it’s a relief. They throw a big Xmas bash and celebrate. Sure that it’s not them who died.
51. Episode. 4/5. Really strong story of pure young love with a weird twist and the mandatory tragic suicide that gets tacked onto the end of so many short stories of this period.
52. The Kite. 4/5. A sad story of a mammas boy who marries a shrew like his mum, they split over his wanting to fly a kite. His only joy, his hobby. She trashes the kite, he goes to jail instead of paying alimony.
53. A Woman of fifty. 4/5. A charming tale of young marriage long ago in Florence ending in tragedy, the young woman being the eponymous woman having grown up and chosen calm , pedestrian home life after the grand drama.
54. The lotus eater. 4/5. A life “wasted” as a surf bum in Italy enjoying leisure, losing character, going bankrupt and then failing in a suicide attempt.
55. The wash tub. 3/5. Husband in hiding while his American wife makes a splash in London with her larger than life American tales.
56. A man of conscience. 4/5. A man betrays his friend over a girl so he can settle down and marry her. His friend dies overseas, the girl turns out to be fluff-headed. He kills her in exasperation, serves a short prison term. Nobody blames him too much because he has good manners?
57. Winter cruise. 3/5. A woman on a cruise thinks she’s a great conversational it’s, but is really a terrible bore. The crew sacrifice a young bachelor to shut her up. She maybe knows? But is at least quiet after that. They feel bad, because she's genuinely nice and trying to be social.
58. A marriage of convenience. 4/5. An ugly bachelor navy veteran needs a wife to get the Governor position. Meets a girl, proposes same day. Yes or no, right now. They grow to love one another and become very charming together
59. Mirage. 5/5. A young man parties too hard in university, gets kicked out. Lives like an anchorite for 20 years. Working and saving in China. All this time dreaming of retuning to London to live large. But he’s not young anymore, the things he loved have all changed. So he goes back nearly to China, gets caught up with a girl in a shack. Lives poor, smoking opium. Afraid to land in China in case it, too disappointed him.
60. The Letter. 3/5. A murder case, a lady having an affair commits murder. A letter proving her guilt surfaces, her lawyer and husband buy it out to keep her from the gallows.
61. A Portrait of a Gentleman. 5/5. A book found in an obscure corner of a Japanese bookstore yields poker advice from a singular British gentleman. A book summary of an imaginary book as a short story. Very meta.
62. Raw material. 4:5. Only 2 pages. Very much from SM’s point of view, narrated 1st person about his hunt for characters to sketch. The whole book of short stories has a lot of his narrative voice and it was nice to have it direct from him.
63. Straight Flush. 3/5. Another short and snappy story. This time of 2 old men who retired from poker. One because his friend got shot, the other because of 2 straight flushes.
64. A casual affair. 5/5. A young man has an affair with a married woman, it ends badly and he’s driven to exile. But he lives well for 5 years, then goes home to London and sees her again. Realizing it meant everything to him and little to her. He drinks and smokes himself to death after realizing he gave his life to a shabby woman who never deserved the pedestal he had her on.
65. Neil MacAdam. 5/5. A handsome, virginal Scottish boy scientist goes to the jungle to work scientifically with a man he respects tremendously. His Russian wife tempts him. Tragic ending. The short story is like a murder mystery in reverse, showing how we get there instead of starting with the murder and going backwards.
Somerset Maugham has a very particular writing style and narrative voice. So the themes in this anthology kept to a short list of topics. Making it pretty hard to read too much at a go. So I started to read a story or two from this book in between reading other books.
SM was a great observer and story-teller. Not a great creative mind, he didn't make anything up whole cloth. He observed the people and the world around himself and then told or re-told stories well.
In "The Portrait of a Gentleman" he observes from reading a man's work that he felt he knew the man from his work. Nothing could be more true about SM. After reading this large tome, I feel like I've gotten to know the man. A quick read of his wikipedia page was exactly what I'd have expected.
Since I was at this so long, I've compiled a list and rating for each of the 65 stories, as follows;
1 - Rain - 4/5. A slow hypocrisy morality play, a missionary tries to convert a fallen woman, she converts him instead and he can't live with it. Women do not fare well in this anthology.
2 - The fall of Edward Barnard - 5/5. Suck a duck, Ayn Rand. Tahiti wins over industry.
3 - Honolulu - 2/5. A forgettable tale of a cook running away with the captain's girl on a sailing ship.
4-The ant and the grasshopper - 5/5. Very short comic tale on the absence of fairness in life. How no joy comes from being a smug ant hoping others suffer for being happy.
5- The pool- 3/5. Decent enough, mildly racist tale of a white man marrying a half-caste woman. It has that annoying trope where the woman respected him more for hitting her.
6-Mackintosh - 3/5. Long and slow, great characters, though paternalistic in the extreme. Solid denouement with a terrible twist in the final lines.
7- The Three Fat Women of Antibes - 4/5. A short, lovely story about 3 friends nearly torn apart by adding a fourth who decide to let it all go and get fat and old together.
8- The Facts of Life - 4/5. Cute and short, a young man loose in Monte Carlo breaks his fathers advice and has the time of his life. Spoiling him?
9- Gigolo and Gigolette - 5/5. Sweet story of a circus act married couple that decides to keep pushing the act instead of sinking into poverty. Love story.
10- The Voice of the Turtle - 4.5/5, a character study of an old pessimist author, a young wit, an ageing prima Dona. Achingly beautiful ending.
11 - The unconquered - 2/5. Ugly story with a tragic ending. German soldier rapes a French girl.
12- The Escape - 3/5. Very quick little tale of a bachelor escaping an unwanted entanglement. Ooooold fashioned gender role humour.
13- Mr Know-All - 3/5. Another super quick snippet of a story. People on a boat, dislike, a window into secret lives. Resolution.
14-The Romantic Young Lady: 2/5, very quick little tale of frivolous young love. Coldly given up for work and status.
15- The Man From Glasgow: 3/5, classic horror story. Page turner, big reveal in the last paragraph.
16. Before the party: 1/5, a stodgy high society British family faces a dire revelation but can’t even swerve from their social obligations
17. The vessel of wrath. 2/5 a colonialism love story where a spinster redeems a rogue.
18. Louise. 3/5, lady fakes frailty to live a selfish life, dies when her daughter marries and makes sure the guilt haunts her.
19. The Promise. 4/5. A classy lady lived a scandalous life, found love with a much younger man. He strayed, her heart broke but she let him go with her head high.
20. The yellow streak. 3/5 two colonials crash their riverboat among the natives and then compete with pride over who can make lightest of the near death experience.
21. The Force of Circumstance. 3/5 Well written characters living as colonial overlords. Love each other and get along great but his secret first wife and three kids come out. Marriage breaks down, not because of the lying but because the wife is such a hateful racist prude.
22. Flotsam and jetsam. 2/5 well written but tedious. Guy with malaria stays at a rubber plantation with married couples who hate each other. Tied by poverty and murder. She goes crazy.
23. The Alien Corn. 4/5. Great character study of a man born to idle wealth who wants to trade it all in and be a pianist, but isn't deemed “a genius artist” so he reunites with his family. Drops from 5 stars by shooting himself in the final paragraph, ending on a death/suicide is very common in these stories.
24. The creative impulse. 5/5 literati snobs realize they live their privilege because the people they mock support them. Great but unprofitable author sells out when push comes to shove. Literature can be both great as well as popular.
25. Virtue. 4/5 lovely middle aged couple, wife falls for a young romantic. Tragedy ensues, if she’d just banged him and let it go, they’d be married and alive today.
26. The closed shop. 4/5 Cute story about a small town allowing quickie divorces that puts the bordellos out of business, then gets them back
27. The Dream. 5/5. Only 3 pages long. A great character sketch of a salacious Russian widower / maybe murderer? A perfect short mystery with no answer only allusions.
28. The colonel’s lady. 4/5. Very smart story of a country gentleman discovering he’s a cuckold when his wife published a book of poetry about it. Realizes it’s fair and lets it lie.
29. Miss King. 4/5. Great setting with a handful of great WWI spy characters. Ends on a tantalizing cliffhanger.
30. The Hairless Mexican. 5/5. Oh joy! Ashenden the spy is a serial. Again, great characters with a quirky story in a living setting.
31. Traitor. 5/5. Again, great and relatable study of good/evil in a charming married couple. A nice guy trying to impress his wife by spying gets an agent killed. Is then killed himself.
32. His Excellency. 4/5. Less entertaining and more sad, but 100% relatable about the romantic mistakes of youth and growing old with your regrets and sensible decisions. Sometimes you’ve just got to have a fling with a plain faced, whiskey voiced acrobat.
33. Mr. Harrington's Washing. 3/5. Ashenden has a Russian mission on the eve of the revolution. A long train ride with an American character, a long lost love with a Russian lady. Not much happens, guy gets shot going for his laundry instead of leaving it behind.
34. Lord Mountdrago. 2/5. Two interesting characters, a psychologist and his patient - a politician. Dull story about dreams, two unlikeable men talking about dreams.
35. Sanatorium. 2.5/5. An Ashenden story but nothing like the others, could easily have stood alone outside the continuity. Love and death in a TB sanatorium. Man TB was rough. The love story was weak.
36. The Social Sense. 2.5; a social maven keeps a stiff upper lip, life of the party though her secret lover died hours ago. Tied to the social scene by cords of behaviour and habit.
37. The Verger. 4/5. Charming story of an elderly butler let go from his church job for being illiterate who uses horse sense to buy a shop and turns it into a franchise.
38. The Taipan 3/5. A rich old white dude struts around full of self importance, has a vision in a graveyard and wants to come home to die in England. More colonial fiction.
39. The Consul. 1/5. British consul in China has a woman client in a bad marriage who won’t take his advice. Chicks be crazy is the moral of the story.
40. A friend in need. 3/5. Nice rich man tells a story about “helping” a friend with a bet about a 5k swim he knew would be fatal. what a mean trick.
41. The Round Dozen. 2/5. Boring characters in a deliberately dull setting. A serial bigamist argues that he’s a good guy by bringing romance into the lives of women who’d live without it. Predictably elopes with the spinster. An interesting ethics argument in a drab set.
42. The Human Element. 3/5. A man who idolizes the IT girl for years discovers she’s been having a longstanding relationship with her chauffeur the whole time. He’s heartbroken, she thinks he’s shallow and classist.
43. Jane. 2/5. Two sisters, one old and frumpy, the other young and social. Both close in age, both widows. The frumpy one marries a lad of 24, becomes a social phenomena.
44. Footprints are n the jungle. 2/5 a dull tale of a murder mystery most predictable. Interesting morality play about how good people can do bad things.
45. The door of opportunity . 4/5 an intelligent, aloof high brow couple are brought down by an act of cowardice. Nobody can forget nor forgive him, he’s unaware of what he did wrong until his wife leaves him.
46. The book bag. 3/5 haunting tale of an incest, a new wife and suicide. Scandal again.
47. French Joe. 2/5. A very quick encounter between a sailing man and an old French invalid.
48. The four Dutchmen. 3/5. Great characters with a predictably tragic ending. 4 big fat Dutch dudes fall apart when a woman in introduced to their circle.
49. The back of beyond. 4/5. A sour old beurocrat leaving his position counsels a cuckolded husband to shelf his pride and forgive his wife. Lots of frank kindness, good philosophy held back by a lot of mysogeny.
50. P&O. 5/5 A recent divorcée meets a robust Irish man on the boat home from Singapore. He sickens of hiccups, a curse from his Malay ex wife. The whole crew feels low, he dies and it’s a relief. They throw a big Xmas bash and celebrate. Sure that it’s not them who died.
51. Episode. 4/5. Really strong story of pure young love with a weird twist and the mandatory tragic suicide that gets tacked onto the end of so many short stories of this period.
52. The Kite. 4/5. A sad story of a mammas boy who marries a shrew like his mum, they split over his wanting to fly a kite. His only joy, his hobby. She trashes the kite, he goes to jail instead of paying alimony.
53. A Woman of fifty. 4/5. A charming tale of young marriage long ago in Florence ending in tragedy, the young woman being the eponymous woman having grown up and chosen calm , pedestrian home life after the grand drama.
54. The lotus eater. 4/5. A life “wasted” as a surf bum in Italy enjoying leisure, losing character, going bankrupt and then failing in a suicide attempt.
55. The wash tub. 3/5. Husband in hiding while his American wife makes a splash in London with her larger than life American tales.
56. A man of conscience. 4/5. A man betrays his friend over a girl so he can settle down and marry her. His friend dies overseas, the girl turns out to be fluff-headed. He kills her in exasperation, serves a short prison term. Nobody blames him too much because he has good manners?
57. Winter cruise. 3/5. A woman on a cruise thinks she’s a great conversational it’s, but is really a terrible bore. The crew sacrifice a young bachelor to shut her up. She maybe knows? But is at least quiet after that. They feel bad, because she's genuinely nice and trying to be social.
58. A marriage of convenience. 4/5. An ugly bachelor navy veteran needs a wife to get the Governor position. Meets a girl, proposes same day. Yes or no, right now. They grow to love one another and become very charming together
59. Mirage. 5/5. A young man parties too hard in university, gets kicked out. Lives like an anchorite for 20 years. Working and saving in China. All this time dreaming of retuning to London to live large. But he’s not young anymore, the things he loved have all changed. So he goes back nearly to China, gets caught up with a girl in a shack. Lives poor, smoking opium. Afraid to land in China in case it, too disappointed him.
60. The Letter. 3/5. A murder case, a lady having an affair commits murder. A letter proving her guilt surfaces, her lawyer and husband buy it out to keep her from the gallows.
61. A Portrait of a Gentleman. 5/5. A book found in an obscure corner of a Japanese bookstore yields poker advice from a singular British gentleman. A book summary of an imaginary book as a short story. Very meta.
62. Raw material. 4:5. Only 2 pages. Very much from SM’s point of view, narrated 1st person about his hunt for characters to sketch. The whole book of short stories has a lot of his narrative voice and it was nice to have it direct from him.
63. Straight Flush. 3/5. Another short and snappy story. This time of 2 old men who retired from poker. One because his friend got shot, the other because of 2 straight flushes.
64. A casual affair. 5/5. A young man has an affair with a married woman, it ends badly and he’s driven to exile. But he lives well for 5 years, then goes home to London and sees her again. Realizing it meant everything to him and little to her. He drinks and smokes himself to death after realizing he gave his life to a shabby woman who never deserved the pedestal he had her on.
65. Neil MacAdam. 5/5. A handsome, virginal Scottish boy scientist goes to the jungle to work scientifically with a man he respects tremendously. His Russian wife tempts him. Tragic ending. The short story is like a murder mystery in reverse, showing how we get there instead of starting with the murder and going backwards.
June 19, 2025
The Promise by William Somerset Maugham – author of A Man From Glasgow – my note on this is at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... where I have scores of other takes on Maugham and other favorites of mine
10 out of 10
‘Lady Elizabeth Vermont was so lovely, it brought the tears to one's eyes, when she was young’ though we meet her when she is about to let loose – spoiler alert, this being such a short story, we might as well call it flash story, I will say what happens at the end, which is so near the start actually – and respect The Promise
She has married a much younger man, and thus it looks as if she has to say that she will set him free, if need be, and then he falls in love with a younger woman, and Lady Elizabeth Vermont is ready to respect their arrangement, which made me think of a previous narrative, from the same collection by Somerset Maugham
There is a contrast between The Promise and The Vessel of Wrath, in the latter, we have a determined, strong woman, Miss Jones, who starts by attacking this fellow, Ginger Ted, for his intoxication, which is permanent, and when they are on an island, she is sure he will try to rape, and take her virginity, in his stupor
Nonetheless, he does not take advantage, indeed, he would be outraged when he is told about that fear, and then later, Miss Jones apologizes, and furthermore, encourages this alcoholic to change his ways, he has clean clothes, refuses drinks when invited, and at the end, he becomes engaged with his former foe, who has won.
Whereas Lady Elizabeth Vermont decides to get out of the game, for good reason, if the man had lost his affection, there would be not point in trying to hang on…well, unless the circumstances would be different, Miss Jones is on the contrary, on track to transform the drunk, old enemy into her future husband
Evidently, it is not obvious that it will be a ‘marriage made in heaven’, and we have that other scenario in yet another short story by glorious Somerset Maugham, Before The Party – my view on that is on the same blog here https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
Millicent Skinner is the protagonist of this narrative, and Before the Party, she is asked by her family, her sister first, about her late husband, because a priest has heard the man had committed suicide, and ergo they will have the truth – ‘be careful what you wish for’ the old cliché – which is so astounding, and horrifying
Millicent seemed to become an ‘old maid’, one hundred years ago, they had this thing about women, who were not yet seen as the equal of men, and then Harold shows up, from the Far East, and he asks her to marry – later, we find with her that he had two choices from the governor of the province he lived in, you either come back with a wife, or else you lose your job, because of your drunkenness, so he had to act
Nevertheless, once married, the fellow drinks again, has a daughter, and Millicent asks if he wants his child to know about his deplorable habit, so he determines to stay sober, only when they are away for a week and come back, his spouse finds him passed out, with an empty bottle of whisky next to him, in a disgusting state
Hence... she kills him, and I am not saying that Lady Elizabeth Vermont is doing the right thing, because it can be so ugly, or else that Miss Jones thinks she saved Ginger Ted, and he is now as good as any to be her husband (on a cynical, stupid note, she was sure to remain single, given age, location, and other factors) but he will fall back
Marital life can be, it is challenging, and since we are so far into this ‘review’ that we have left everyone behind, in the sense that maybe one or two looked at the first line or two, and then said skip it, so it is a message in a bottle by now, let me tell you about the situation here, in this house, where I am alone with the boys now
It would have been a divorce, a need to go away, just like lady Elizabeth Vermont, only there are practical consideration, like this rather large house, which still has mortgage, if it were sold, the resulting split would be enough for much smaller lodgings, and then what to do with the macaws, screaming birds you need to be careful with…
As it is, within a house near the border of the capital city, one can hope they will not bring in the police to the door, there are water bottles to use, when they get too loud (remember, these are creatures that originally use the tropical jungle to get the message across, huge spaces, right) but in a flat, in the city, no way man
In other words, I am now the prisoner of two fucking chickens, one of them a bit crazy, if I go out in the garden, to get some coat back or something, Balzac is off to such a noise that you can hear it in Bangkok, so there is this possibility, live with another, just because it has some benefits, though not sexual
That was absent for some seven years – at home, with legal partner, otherwise, it is offered for pay, in the town, or at your place, if willing to pay more, as in double – and there are frustrations, such as now, she is on a trip to Balcic, and the whole day I need to take care of the wild animals, and this is not a one off
She went to Amsterdam, for three days, just a few weeks back, and with the message that I wanted them, yes, for Balzac, but for Puccini, I just sent pictures and said this a nice baby, and she went on to the Carrefour parking, met with the breeder, and voila, bought it, savoir faire for you, and now he is my responsibility…
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.”
10 out of 10
‘Lady Elizabeth Vermont was so lovely, it brought the tears to one's eyes, when she was young’ though we meet her when she is about to let loose – spoiler alert, this being such a short story, we might as well call it flash story, I will say what happens at the end, which is so near the start actually – and respect The Promise
She has married a much younger man, and thus it looks as if she has to say that she will set him free, if need be, and then he falls in love with a younger woman, and Lady Elizabeth Vermont is ready to respect their arrangement, which made me think of a previous narrative, from the same collection by Somerset Maugham
There is a contrast between The Promise and The Vessel of Wrath, in the latter, we have a determined, strong woman, Miss Jones, who starts by attacking this fellow, Ginger Ted, for his intoxication, which is permanent, and when they are on an island, she is sure he will try to rape, and take her virginity, in his stupor
Nonetheless, he does not take advantage, indeed, he would be outraged when he is told about that fear, and then later, Miss Jones apologizes, and furthermore, encourages this alcoholic to change his ways, he has clean clothes, refuses drinks when invited, and at the end, he becomes engaged with his former foe, who has won.
Whereas Lady Elizabeth Vermont decides to get out of the game, for good reason, if the man had lost his affection, there would be not point in trying to hang on…well, unless the circumstances would be different, Miss Jones is on the contrary, on track to transform the drunk, old enemy into her future husband
Evidently, it is not obvious that it will be a ‘marriage made in heaven’, and we have that other scenario in yet another short story by glorious Somerset Maugham, Before The Party – my view on that is on the same blog here https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
Millicent Skinner is the protagonist of this narrative, and Before the Party, she is asked by her family, her sister first, about her late husband, because a priest has heard the man had committed suicide, and ergo they will have the truth – ‘be careful what you wish for’ the old cliché – which is so astounding, and horrifying
Millicent seemed to become an ‘old maid’, one hundred years ago, they had this thing about women, who were not yet seen as the equal of men, and then Harold shows up, from the Far East, and he asks her to marry – later, we find with her that he had two choices from the governor of the province he lived in, you either come back with a wife, or else you lose your job, because of your drunkenness, so he had to act
Nevertheless, once married, the fellow drinks again, has a daughter, and Millicent asks if he wants his child to know about his deplorable habit, so he determines to stay sober, only when they are away for a week and come back, his spouse finds him passed out, with an empty bottle of whisky next to him, in a disgusting state
Hence... she kills him, and I am not saying that Lady Elizabeth Vermont is doing the right thing, because it can be so ugly, or else that Miss Jones thinks she saved Ginger Ted, and he is now as good as any to be her husband (on a cynical, stupid note, she was sure to remain single, given age, location, and other factors) but he will fall back
Marital life can be, it is challenging, and since we are so far into this ‘review’ that we have left everyone behind, in the sense that maybe one or two looked at the first line or two, and then said skip it, so it is a message in a bottle by now, let me tell you about the situation here, in this house, where I am alone with the boys now
It would have been a divorce, a need to go away, just like lady Elizabeth Vermont, only there are practical consideration, like this rather large house, which still has mortgage, if it were sold, the resulting split would be enough for much smaller lodgings, and then what to do with the macaws, screaming birds you need to be careful with…
As it is, within a house near the border of the capital city, one can hope they will not bring in the police to the door, there are water bottles to use, when they get too loud (remember, these are creatures that originally use the tropical jungle to get the message across, huge spaces, right) but in a flat, in the city, no way man
In other words, I am now the prisoner of two fucking chickens, one of them a bit crazy, if I go out in the garden, to get some coat back or something, Balzac is off to such a noise that you can hear it in Bangkok, so there is this possibility, live with another, just because it has some benefits, though not sexual
That was absent for some seven years – at home, with legal partner, otherwise, it is offered for pay, in the town, or at your place, if willing to pay more, as in double – and there are frustrations, such as now, she is on a trip to Balcic, and the whole day I need to take care of the wild animals, and this is not a one off
She went to Amsterdam, for three days, just a few weeks back, and with the message that I wanted them, yes, for Balzac, but for Puccini, I just sent pictures and said this a nice baby, and she went on to the Carrefour parking, met with the breeder, and voila, bought it, savoir faire for you, and now he is my responsibility…
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.”
March 20, 2011
I am not a prolific reader of short stories. I generally cannot read more than 5-7 successive stories at a time. 65 Short Stories has been in my possesion (I happened to find a copy while rummaging my grandfather's cupboard for books)for 3-4 years now and I haven't read more than half of them. But that is not W. Somerset Maugham's fault. I have enjoyed most of the stories I read. W.S.M. has a very engaging style of writing that keeps you engrossed even when the 'story' isn't very good. But then it is rare to find a story that is not very good. I particularly enjoyed 'Rain', 'The Creative Impulse' and the Ashenden stories (which inspired Ian Fleming and his creation James Bond).
September 30, 2011
The Ashenden stories were by the far the best especially Mr. Harington's Washing, probably my favorite of the bunch.
December 29, 2017
What a ride. I knew little of Somerset Maugham besides his cool sounding name when I started reading. When I read a collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald short stories the line I was fed was that Babylon Revisited was his most celebrated one, as if if you read only that you'd get the full flavor of the author. Of course that isn't true. By delving into an author's short stories I feel that you get to know him more deeply than by reading the same number of pages in one novel. In Maugham's case, the celebrated story is the opening one in this collection - Rain - and like everything else which has its expectations built, it is satisfying but lacking. However, the tastefully short introduction of the book (a rarity in itself, usually these go on and on) says that the author itself planned these 65 short stories, in this very order, to be a showcase of his short story artistry. This suggests, and I'm completely guessing, that Maugham put Rain in the beginning much like Hitchcock started to make his trademark cameos earlier in his movies, to get it out of the way so as not to distract the viewer from the art. And what art it is. Of course it's always all up to taste but Maugham's taste, tempo, build-up, compactness and, of course, language, which truly feels as french being channelled through english, never ceased to entrance me. I did not expect, when I began reading, that I would have the patience for over a thousand pages of an almost hundred year old work, but I simply couldn't put it down. Every story seems masterfully put together, with there never being any more or less written in the exposition, development and conclusion, the last one tending to be one page long, to great effect. You could very well call Maugham's style cinematic.\
As for the setting, it varies wildly, starting out with gripping stories depicting vividly dramas of desolate outposts of the late British Empire, but then travelling through all sorts of places in the world that Maugham passed and retelling all the stories he heard, for he, like most smart authors, wrote about what he knew and had been through. And I felt like in a few weeks of reading his stories that I accompanied him on his lifelong travels.
His mastery of narrative writing will live on forever, long after his contemporaries - the modernists - have been forgotten, for he is truly timeless.
As for the setting, it varies wildly, starting out with gripping stories depicting vividly dramas of desolate outposts of the late British Empire, but then travelling through all sorts of places in the world that Maugham passed and retelling all the stories he heard, for he, like most smart authors, wrote about what he knew and had been through. And I felt like in a few weeks of reading his stories that I accompanied him on his lifelong travels.
His mastery of narrative writing will live on forever, long after his contemporaries - the modernists - have been forgotten, for he is truly timeless.
May 8, 2013
W. Somerset Maugham was probably the 20th century's most popular novelist as well as the most successful of Edwardian playwrights. Yet the reader could be forgiven for feeling guilty or overwhelmed by the amount of cliche's sprinkled throughout his prolific portfolio.
Technically brilliant, supremely fine, yet, as George Santayana said, "they are not true; they are simply plausible, like a bit of a dream that one might drop into an afternoon nap." Gore Vidal wonders if that is a necessary condition of narrative fiction, a plausible daydreaming." Either way, supremely effective.
Maugham's craft was not carved without burden; his homosexuality, illegal in just about every country he traveled, and he did travel extensively, a stammer, and having lost his mother at 8 may have inspired his famous quote, "Jesus Christ could cope with all the miseries I have had to contend with in life. But then, Jesus Christ had advantages I don't possess."
Maugham did feel sorry for himself, this bit is obvious. Fortunately for us, his plays were heavily produced and many were made into movies; "Of Human Bondage" (biographer's suggest tragic flaw was homosexuality disguised as club foot or was it the stammer? Gore Vidal ponders...) The Razor's Edge", The Moon and Sixpense". Terrifically famous and fabulous movies boasting top tier talent and beauty starring Bette David, Gene Tierney, Tyrone Power and George Saunders, to name just a few.
Upon viewing you will no doubt feel some degree of self-pity as well as the wish to cringe in several scenes. But no worries. You'll be so entertained, becalmed and enthralled with his words and his way, in fact, a mountain of cliche's shall cascade gently down into your very soul. Rapturous martyrdom will erupt and I guarantee, if you were contemplating the need to develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you'll get over it.
Gore Vidal suggests he's worthy of Jane Austin when he writes:
"Most of us when we do a caddish thing harbour resentment against the person we have done it to, but Roy's heart, always in the right place, never permitted him such pettiness. He could use a man very shabbily without afterward bearing him the slightest ill-will."
Capable of multiple acts of literary genius, divinely inspired, perhaps; a serene read; completely.
The short story "Gigolo and Gigolette" is moving and remarkable on many levels; how cruel people appear that base their lives on the entertainment of others. Then Maugham painfully lays out the previous career of Stella and Cotman, desolate, as marathon dancers...conjuring up images of grueling scenes from They shoot horses, don't they?
Snippet from "Gigolo and Gigolette"
The bar was crowded. Sandy Westcott had had a couple of cocktails and he was
beginning to feel hungry. He looked at his watch. He had been asked to dinner
at half past nine and it was nearly ten. Eva Barrett was always late and he would
be lucky if he got anything to eat by ten–thirty. He turned to the barman to
order another cocktail and caught sight of a man who at that moment came up
to the bar.
‘Hullo, Cotman,’ he said. ‘Have a drink?’
‘I don’t mind if I do, sir.’
Cotman was a nice–looking fellow, of thirty perhaps, short, but with so good
a figure that he did not look it, very smartly dressed in a double–breasted
dinner jacket, a little too much waisted, and a butterfly tie a good deal too large.
He had a thick mat of black, wavy hair, very sleek and shiny, brushed straight
back from his forehead, and large flashing eyes. He spoke with great
refinement, but with a Cockney accent.
‘How’s Stella?’ asked Sandy.
‘Oh, she’s all right. Likes to have a lay–down before the show, you know.
Steadies the old nerves, she says.’
‘I wouldn’t do that stunt of hers for a thousand pounds.’
‘I don’t suppose you would. No one can do it but her, not from that height, I
mean, and only five foot of water.’
‘It’s the most sick–making thing I’ve ever seen.’
Cotman gave a little laugh. He took this as a compliment. Stella was his wife.
Of course she did the trick and took the risk, but it was he who had thought of
the flames, and it was the flames that had taken the public fancy and made the
turn the huge success it was. Stella dived into a tank from the top of a ladder
sixty feet high, and as he said, there were only five feet of water in the tank.
151Just before she dived they poured enough petrol on to cover the surface and he
set it alight; the flames soared up and she dived straight into them.
‘Paco Espinel tells me it’s the biggest draw the Casino has ever had,’ said
Sandy.
‘I know. He told me they’d served as many dinners in July as they generally do
in August. And that’s you, he says to me.’
‘Well, I hope you’re making a packet.’
‘Well, I can’t exactly say that. You see, we’ve got our contract and naturally we
didn’t know it was going to be a riot, but Mr Espinel’s talking of booking us for
next month, and I don’t mind telling you he’s not going to get us on the same
terms or anything like it. Why, had a letter from an agent only this morning
saying they wanted us to go to Deauville.’
‘Here are my people,’ said Sandy.
He nodded to Cotman and left him. Eva Barrett sailed in with the rest of her
guests. She had gathered them together downstairs. It was a party of eight.
‘I knew we should find you here, Sandy,’ she said. ‘I’m not late, am I?’
‘Only half an hour.’
‘Ask them what cocktails they want and then we’ll dine.’
While they were standing at the bar, emptying now, for nearly everyone had
gone down to the terrace for dinner, Paco Espinel passed through and stopped
to shake hands with Eva Barrett. Paco Espinel was a young man who had run
through his money and now made his living by arranging the turns with which
the Casino sought to attract visitors. It was his duty to be civil to the rich and
great. Mrs Chaloner Barrett was an American widow of vast wealth; she not
only entertained expensively, but also gambled. And after all, the dinners and
suppers and the two cabaret shows that accompanied them were only provided
to induce people to lose their money at the tables.
‘Got a good table for me, Paco?’ said Eva Barrett.
‘The best.’ His eyes, fine, dark Argentine eyes, expressed his admiration of
Mrs Barrett’s opulent, ageing charms. This also was business. ‘You’ve seen
Stella?’
‘Of course. Three times. It’s the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen.’
‘Sandy comes every night.’
‘I want to be in at the death. She’s bound to kill herself one of these nights
and I don’t want to miss that if I can help it.’
Paco laughed.
Technically brilliant, supremely fine, yet, as George Santayana said, "they are not true; they are simply plausible, like a bit of a dream that one might drop into an afternoon nap." Gore Vidal wonders if that is a necessary condition of narrative fiction, a plausible daydreaming." Either way, supremely effective.
Maugham's craft was not carved without burden; his homosexuality, illegal in just about every country he traveled, and he did travel extensively, a stammer, and having lost his mother at 8 may have inspired his famous quote, "Jesus Christ could cope with all the miseries I have had to contend with in life. But then, Jesus Christ had advantages I don't possess."
Maugham did feel sorry for himself, this bit is obvious. Fortunately for us, his plays were heavily produced and many were made into movies; "Of Human Bondage" (biographer's suggest tragic flaw was homosexuality disguised as club foot or was it the stammer? Gore Vidal ponders...) The Razor's Edge", The Moon and Sixpense". Terrifically famous and fabulous movies boasting top tier talent and beauty starring Bette David, Gene Tierney, Tyrone Power and George Saunders, to name just a few.
Upon viewing you will no doubt feel some degree of self-pity as well as the wish to cringe in several scenes. But no worries. You'll be so entertained, becalmed and enthralled with his words and his way, in fact, a mountain of cliche's shall cascade gently down into your very soul. Rapturous martyrdom will erupt and I guarantee, if you were contemplating the need to develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you'll get over it.
Gore Vidal suggests he's worthy of Jane Austin when he writes:
"Most of us when we do a caddish thing harbour resentment against the person we have done it to, but Roy's heart, always in the right place, never permitted him such pettiness. He could use a man very shabbily without afterward bearing him the slightest ill-will."
Capable of multiple acts of literary genius, divinely inspired, perhaps; a serene read; completely.
The short story "Gigolo and Gigolette" is moving and remarkable on many levels; how cruel people appear that base their lives on the entertainment of others. Then Maugham painfully lays out the previous career of Stella and Cotman, desolate, as marathon dancers...conjuring up images of grueling scenes from They shoot horses, don't they?
Snippet from "Gigolo and Gigolette"
The bar was crowded. Sandy Westcott had had a couple of cocktails and he was
beginning to feel hungry. He looked at his watch. He had been asked to dinner
at half past nine and it was nearly ten. Eva Barrett was always late and he would
be lucky if he got anything to eat by ten–thirty. He turned to the barman to
order another cocktail and caught sight of a man who at that moment came up
to the bar.
‘Hullo, Cotman,’ he said. ‘Have a drink?’
‘I don’t mind if I do, sir.’
Cotman was a nice–looking fellow, of thirty perhaps, short, but with so good
a figure that he did not look it, very smartly dressed in a double–breasted
dinner jacket, a little too much waisted, and a butterfly tie a good deal too large.
He had a thick mat of black, wavy hair, very sleek and shiny, brushed straight
back from his forehead, and large flashing eyes. He spoke with great
refinement, but with a Cockney accent.
‘How’s Stella?’ asked Sandy.
‘Oh, she’s all right. Likes to have a lay–down before the show, you know.
Steadies the old nerves, she says.’
‘I wouldn’t do that stunt of hers for a thousand pounds.’
‘I don’t suppose you would. No one can do it but her, not from that height, I
mean, and only five foot of water.’
‘It’s the most sick–making thing I’ve ever seen.’
Cotman gave a little laugh. He took this as a compliment. Stella was his wife.
Of course she did the trick and took the risk, but it was he who had thought of
the flames, and it was the flames that had taken the public fancy and made the
turn the huge success it was. Stella dived into a tank from the top of a ladder
sixty feet high, and as he said, there were only five feet of water in the tank.
151Just before she dived they poured enough petrol on to cover the surface and he
set it alight; the flames soared up and she dived straight into them.
‘Paco Espinel tells me it’s the biggest draw the Casino has ever had,’ said
Sandy.
‘I know. He told me they’d served as many dinners in July as they generally do
in August. And that’s you, he says to me.’
‘Well, I hope you’re making a packet.’
‘Well, I can’t exactly say that. You see, we’ve got our contract and naturally we
didn’t know it was going to be a riot, but Mr Espinel’s talking of booking us for
next month, and I don’t mind telling you he’s not going to get us on the same
terms or anything like it. Why, had a letter from an agent only this morning
saying they wanted us to go to Deauville.’
‘Here are my people,’ said Sandy.
He nodded to Cotman and left him. Eva Barrett sailed in with the rest of her
guests. She had gathered them together downstairs. It was a party of eight.
‘I knew we should find you here, Sandy,’ she said. ‘I’m not late, am I?’
‘Only half an hour.’
‘Ask them what cocktails they want and then we’ll dine.’
While they were standing at the bar, emptying now, for nearly everyone had
gone down to the terrace for dinner, Paco Espinel passed through and stopped
to shake hands with Eva Barrett. Paco Espinel was a young man who had run
through his money and now made his living by arranging the turns with which
the Casino sought to attract visitors. It was his duty to be civil to the rich and
great. Mrs Chaloner Barrett was an American widow of vast wealth; she not
only entertained expensively, but also gambled. And after all, the dinners and
suppers and the two cabaret shows that accompanied them were only provided
to induce people to lose their money at the tables.
‘Got a good table for me, Paco?’ said Eva Barrett.
‘The best.’ His eyes, fine, dark Argentine eyes, expressed his admiration of
Mrs Barrett’s opulent, ageing charms. This also was business. ‘You’ve seen
Stella?’
‘Of course. Three times. It’s the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen.’
‘Sandy comes every night.’
‘I want to be in at the death. She’s bound to kill herself one of these nights
and I don’t want to miss that if I can help it.’
Paco laughed.
January 17, 2022
The work of a lifetime. Maugham was a celebrated short story writer, though arguably more famous for his novels; this is a collection of sixty-five of his stories, from early in his career to near the end of his life, incorporating those from his time in the far east, as well as several of the Ashenden episodes. The only slight problem with reading one right after the other is that the stories have a tendency to merge into one of only a few themes - you almost get the impression that Maugham had one big story to tell, and spent his life delighting in the telling of it.
July 5, 2020
I've given up on this collection.
There's some good stuff here. I enjoyed his spy stories (I started reading Maugham after watching Hitchock's Secret Agent which is based on Maugham's work).
However I can't get passed the frequent racism. I can tell myself it was the time he lived in, but it doesn't help, there's too much of it! Enough.
There's some good stuff here. I enjoyed his spy stories (I started reading Maugham after watching Hitchock's Secret Agent which is based on Maugham's work).
However I can't get passed the frequent racism. I can tell myself it was the time he lived in, but it doesn't help, there's too much of it! Enough.
August 22, 2020
I am always surprised why Maugham isn't mentioned more often as a master of short story. His stories are a perfect example of modern short story and his insight into human condition is as profound as of any writer. Every story in this collection is superb but the ones that stuck with me most are:
Rain
The Kite
The Unconquered
Mr. Know-all
The Alien Corn
The Romantic Young Lady
Rain
The Kite
The Unconquered
Mr. Know-all
The Alien Corn
The Romantic Young Lady
September 29, 2018
I didn't actually finish this, but read about 12 stories (most of them at least 30 pages). I may come back some day, but for now I think I'll move onto Maugham's novels.
October 24, 2019
A character I read about this time was Countess Elizbeth Vermont.
May 3, 2011
A bit more subtle than Updike's but all of what i read so far seem to imply life woes are based on infidelity.
- "creative impulse" made me think long after i finished. 5 stars +++
- The famous Rain story is such a boring read, till the very end. 99% of the writing seem to have one purpose, the last half page (from personal exp., i kind of sensed for such an ending. Didnt someone says "if you want to lose your faith, make friend with a priest"....but good priests are everywhere too)
- moving on to "creative impulse" and then that's it for this collection. Unless someone is kind enough to tell me of any other must-reads.
- "creative impulse" made me think long after i finished. 5 stars +++
- The famous Rain story is such a boring read, till the very end. 99% of the writing seem to have one purpose, the last half page (from personal exp., i kind of sensed for such an ending. Didnt someone says "if you want to lose your faith, make friend with a priest"....but good priests are everywhere too)
- moving on to "creative impulse" and then that's it for this collection. Unless someone is kind enough to tell me of any other must-reads.
September 24, 2011
Although of a time, the stories are timeless in projecting human folly in a somewhat removed but paternal way. Tired of the modern predilection for authorial contempt for one's characters, cf: Ann Beattie, TC Boyle.
A bit of a slog if you try reading straight through. Although I am reading them in the order Maugham placed them, (by setting, pretty much) perhaps jumping around might deter Class fatigue. BTW: I am actually enjoying the non-PC frankness of this book, like eating a meal derived from an old Fanny Farmer cookbook.
A bit of a slog if you try reading straight through. Although I am reading them in the order Maugham placed them, (by setting, pretty much) perhaps jumping around might deter Class fatigue. BTW: I am actually enjoying the non-PC frankness of this book, like eating a meal derived from an old Fanny Farmer cookbook.
March 6, 2010
-an amazing, delightful time travel into the first of the last century where customs, words, word usage, mores, need translation into modern perspective in order to understand.
-takes a real commitment to complete.
-usually one is significantly into the body of each story before he can predict where the story is going; warning1 do not become complacent in the end as he is a master of plot twists and surprise.
-takes a real commitment to complete.
-usually one is significantly into the body of each story before he can predict where the story is going; warning1 do not become complacent in the end as he is a master of plot twists and surprise.
March 13, 2013
I never read Maugham before but I found most of his stories charming. They are very British, often set either in the South Seas or at a resort area, and focus on class issues common to the 1890s-1910s. All of them wrap up rather nicely, which I prefer to the more modern stories that tend to end ambiguously. My favorites were those in the middle featuring an English spy named Ashenden but all were quite entertaining in their own way.
November 6, 2010
I ought to put four stars really because I left out the stories I didn't enjoy, mainly the ones based on Maugham's experience as a spy. But the rest I would give six stars to if I could, so that evens it out. Wonderfully readable, deliciously funny. If I had to pick a favourite it would be "The Creative Impulse".
Read
April 26, 2013rrwr
June 21, 2016
Seemed more like sketches than real stories
July 24, 2016
Some wonderful stories.
Read
June 10, 2018Only two authors I’ve ever read made me put down their book and laugh out loud: Mark Twain and W. Somerset Maugham. This collection by a master story teller was very enjoyable and I highly recommend it. Stories contained many different subjects, foibles and situations including humor, spy stories and just human interest descriptions. The only caveat is to remember they were written when the world was a very different place. What we think of in the modern world as racism or jingoism was commonplace in 1930-1940.
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