Short stories by the Master, mostly set in Samoa.
Read in Samoa Oct 2003 ( )

“Rain”
twisted little tale full of large characters, vibrant scenery and atmosphere, and a page-turning plot.... once it got going, that is. reminded me of Roald Dahl’s adult stories. Twilight Zonish in nature and very dark in the end but cathartic nonetheless. an early piece of feminist lit.

“Mackintosh”
another dark play, this time without the Twilight Zone flavor. Maugham creates some layered characters and plays with our perceptions and preconceptions of such people as he did in “Rain.” but this time, we have a black and white view changing suddenly into one that is greyscale. now that i’ve come to understand that Maugham was homosexual with bi tendencies, it makes sense that many of his tales would hint at this.

“The Pool”
i’m not sure what to think about this one-- i’m getting a distinctly racist undertone (although his use of racial slurs is not obscure) in his writing and cannot quite figure out if it’s his own early twentieth century views coming through of if he’s accurately portraying the times and people he’s writing about. a “white” marries a “half-caste” and trouble ensues there’s a vaguely monsterish feel to this one, with some mythological creatures being implicated obliquely or perhaps merely referenced. on the other hand, i think he’s doing a frank job of depicting the darker side of human relationships and culture.

“The Letter”
this was a vanilla episode of Law & Order but must must have been somewhat shocking back in the day: wife has a lover and kills him because he’s taken up with a chinese woman.

The Magician
i was surprised to learn that the main character is based on Aleister Crowley.
Maugham must have thought him ridiculous because Oliver Haddo, Maugham’s version, is an obese and malignant person.

this story seemed to emerge straight out of Lovecraft- very strange and clunky but a good ripping tale. again, i think that back when it was originally published, it would have seemed more bizarre and menacing. now, having read what i have read and seen what i have seen, it was simply entertaining. nothing profound.

The Moon and Sixpence
slow start- very slow and non-descript; i didn’t care about anything happening for almost 100 pages then BANG things changed.

Maugham really likes to write about the sordid, behind-the-scenes nature of human society. i think he liked to show people what people look like behind the veil of respectability. that we put up a pretense at “civilized behavior” but that, really, the shocking stories we hear are much more common than believed.

i’m also seeing a certain penchant for focusing on unusual players. men and women who stand out or, to put it another way, won’t stand in. that is, they break the mold and operate outside of societal norms. many times, they seem to be Chuang Tzu’s useless tree.

inserting himself into the story as an immediate observer and narrator seems very lazy on the surface but it also serves to give readers a unique perspective on the person in question. instead of having us follow the protagonist around as most modern novels do, we get to see this person glimpsed as an autonomous character as we actually would see them if they were in and out of our lives. like most people we know, we have no idea what happens when they are away from us and only see what it is we see when they are with us or through the stories told to us by others who have crossed paths with them. so far, both The Razor’s Edge and this book have done this.

i was close when i thought the title was about Strickland’s (ie the subject who is based on Gauguin) quest for beauty and truth contrasted with his need for a modicum of money so that he might not starve. apparently, Maugham pulled this from a review of another of his books where the reviewer described the main character as "so busy yearning for the moon that he never saw the sixpence at his feet." someone so focused on their dreams that they lost track of anything practical or worldly.

The Painted Veil
Best story yet as far as prose and viewpoint. We do not get to see things from Walter's POV, only kitty's (his wife) which makes Walter's character all the more tragic and honorable. we also see kitty's transformation from within.

Walter is a near silent prime mover. he stalks through the story driving events without actually being present which makes him seem like a force of nature or some elemental spirit; we never see him in sharp focus, we are only given glimpses of him through the eyes and reactions of other people just like Larry in The Razor’s Edge and Strickland in The Moon and Sixpence.

Maugham’s world is populated with real people but usually people from upper class realms who have little knowledge of struggle and strife other than that of the social status level. The Painted Veil was published in 1925, during a time when women were seen as barely more than chattel (the UK didn’t ratify women’s right to vote until 1928) and they certainly wouldn’t have acted in such a manner as Kitty. the story must have been shocking. but he also made Kitty a real, three-dimensional person not just relegating her to slutdom or harpyhood. he used her as a vehicle to tell a tragic tale of, not just two people, but of our love affair with fame and wealth and ambition. a morality play of sorts about betrayal, loyalty, and misperceptions and self-centeredness.

“The dog it was who died”: a bit of a poem by Oliver Goldsmith used brilliantly by Maugham. it sums up the story nicely. ( )