Treat Yourself to the Master (Short Stories - Somerset Maugham)

Member Name: aefra

Product:	Short Stories - Somerset Maugham
Date:	19/03/03 (1388 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: eminently readable

Disadvantages: Apart from Amazon, may need some research to find

Although many of my books find their way to the local hospital via the WRVS, I still possess more than I can count. On shelves within wardrobes and cupboards are those which I don't wish to part with, although rarely reading. But on a short narrow shelf behind me are those which I regard as most precious; and next to my Duncton Wood trilogy are old and battered volumes 1, 2 and 3 of Somerset Maugham's short stories. This review is on Volume 1 because it is included in dooyoo's book category.

W. Somerset Maugham is recognised as the master of short story writing and recommended reading for the aspiring short story writer. He has the ability to introduce his subject, set a scene at the beginning, progress effortlessly through a plot which entertains and enthralls, then bring the reader to a well rounded ending leaving a smile or a few moments thought - and never disappointment.

Maugham travelled widely through his life and takes his reader with him from the lonely rubber plantations of Malaya to the pacific islands. He stops off in Spain and London and joins his characters on cruise ships. His is that other world of our recent history between the wars, of a class structure and way of life which was already declining before World War 11 changed everything forever. Out across a far flung empire ex-patriots lived out their exiled lives unaware that they were already anachronisms and that "home" no longer existed as they remembered it. Living in a timewarp and within self-imposed class divisions, they provided endless material for Maugham's pen.

Our author often acts as narrator, re-telling unexpected stories of people he has been introduced to or watching events unfold from a close distance. His ability to colour the characters within his tales is unsurpassed and they are so vivid that the reader sees their faces, personalities and frequent oddities as does the writer. Although Maugham's humour

has an irony which appeals to me and is often sardonic, his apparent cynicism is broken by a surprising open mindedness at times. His was a society which welcomed as a social "catch" a charming successful man of Jewish descent, yet would not risk the censure from their fellows of proposing him for their club; a society which punished with ostracism an indiscretion which would hardly be noticed today. Yet Maugham himself uses humour as he asks us to share his impatience with such narrowness. In contrast were those adventurers who found that the islands provided them with an affluence and status that they could never dream of in their native country. Should those of opposing background and sensibilites find themselves thrown together, the resulting clash makes for interesting reading. I must warn you that political correctness was far into the future when these stories were written. Yet this is how things were and give me no offence

Somerset Maugham's dislike of missionaries, showing them as harsh, fervent calvanists is passed on with vigour. Extreme godliness without compassion is a scary thing. The additional power which missionaries had over their unfortunate native flocks, as well as white drifters passing through, gives scope for entertainment and sometimes tragedy.

Rain is the first story in Volume 1 and was filmed to acclaim, although I was disappointed in the lack of fidelity to our story. We meet Dr Macphail and his prudish impressionable wife as their ship docks in Samoa. On board are the passionately fervent missionaries Mr Davidson and his wife. The overbearing Davidson's take a willing Mrs Macphail under their wing, leaving her poor husband stuck with them. With their onward-bound schooner quarantined in the harbour and with seasonal rains pouring from the heavens our small party is trapped on Samoa for a while. They find rooms above a squalid store run by a trader and prepare miserably to sit thin
gs out. To the dismay of the righteous Davidsons and Mrs Macphail, the room below them is taken by Sadie Thompson, a fast young american woman who had been berthed in the "second cabin" of their ship. Almost immediately the sound of her gramophone and the laughter from her room as she entertains the local sailors causes deep offence and, after a losing confrontation with the pitiable Miss Thompson, Mr Davidson takes on the role of avenging angel. Once discovering Sadie Thompson's background and her reason for flight from San Francisco, his obsessive persecution, combined with his own repressed passions, leads harshly and inexorably to dramatic conclusion.

I was about to say that that Volume 1 is not my favourite, but as I read again the stories within I found myself once more among old friends. Lawson, who married a native girl with far reaching consequences; Mackintosh whose contempt and hatred for his blindly self-gratified superior fed upon itself to obsession with even further reaching repercussions. There are delightful cameos written with a twinkle in the eye, and longer stories of high drama. Perhaps the one I enjoy reading most is The Vessel of Wrath. Set on one of the islands of Dutch New Guinea, we meet the rascally drifter Ginger Ted whose reputation as a drunk, womaniser and general hellraiser soon spreads. At the same time we are introduced to Miss Jones, a plain,virginal, upright and 40ish spinster, helping her brother the Reverend Jones dispense good works to the natives. Forced into close proximity with the sinful Ginger Ted on a sea trip between islands and then trapped for a night with him on an uninhabited island, Miss Jones is convinced that our villain is seeking to have his way with her. Her prayers that Jesus will save her virtue and her desperate preparations to defend her honour are only one of many instances which make this story the best of situation comedies, continuing through one of the writer&#
39;s longer tales towards a more than satisfying ending.

A synopsis of the 33 short stories in this volume would be impractical, but we are taken on a journey with Somerset Maugham to meet people and places and a period which will be unfamiliar to most of us today. Terence Rattigan and Noel Coward knew some of them and successfully cast them in classic plays, such as Brief Encounter, Separate Tables and The Winslow Boy. Maugham, in going further afield has added the misfits who found escape far away from an unfriendly home country and given us their stories so that we may sympathise, disapprove or chuckle. Yet he does not lack sympathy despite the ironic humour, and for this I like him.


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