It has sometimes seemed to me that if the author can in no way keep himself out of his work it might be better if he put in as much of himself as possible.
- William Somerset Maugham.

 

Of Human Bondage was written in 1915 following a philosophical theme that William Somerset Maugham was developing during his first novel. It is Maugham's semi-autobiographical novel.

Philip Carey, born with a physically deformed foot, is orphaned at a very young age. He is raised in the house of his stoic, rigid, unyielding preacher uncle whom he grows to resent. As an intelligent and educated young adult, he is harshly disappointed by his unsuccessful attempt to become an artist. Floundering, he eventually settles on a medical career, where his compassion and capacity to ease his patients' suffering seem natural, inborn. He meets an ill mannered waitress, Mildred Rogers, and falls in love. They are, from the start, undeniably unsuited - completely incompatible to one another. Their obsessive and irrational, back and forth relationship is based on Maugham's developed philosophy of "human bondage" and the novel's central theme of love and passion.

 

Maugham postulated in his book (he refused to call it an autobiography or a book of recollections) The Summing Up:
"I believed we were wretched puppets at the mercy of a ruthless fate; and that, bound by the inexorable laws of nature, we were doomed to take part in the ceaseless struggle for existence with nothing to look forward to but inevitable defeat. I learnt that men were moved by egoism, that love was only the dirty trick nature played on us to achieve the continuation of the species, and I decided that, whatever aims men set themselves, they were deluded, for it was impossible for them to aim at anything but their own selfish pleasures." (The Summing Up, p.73)

 

Maugham's philosophy questioned the nature of human actions and their underlying motivations: If someone's choice of action is based on his rational will yet he is controlled by his very nature to follow a different action, then his rational will is not free. He is in psychological bondage.

The natural instincts of Maugham's characters are persistently scourged by unrelenting passion.  Fanny Price, for example, the failed artist who needily attaches herself to Philip in Paris, is in a kind of bondage to the passion to paint. Her desire is deep rooted and overwhelming. Disregarding time and again her instructors' humiliating assessments of her lack of skill, she is driven to frantic levels and eventual self destruction.

 

Mildred is described as "anemic", a woman not even generically attractive, a consideration which makes Philip's infatuation of her the more odd. She is stupid and common - her passions are essentially primal; she's more easily drawn to men who are as manipulative and undependable as herself. For a caring, concerned, vulnerable and likable man like Philip, whom she describes often as a "real gentleman", she could barely tolerate. She is, to some degree, also in bondage to her own passions.

 

Philip's personal binds are obvious, beginning with his early comprehension of his physical restrictions - the origins of the barrier to his psychological freedom. Philip looses faith in the religion which proclaims freedom of prerogative; he realizes he hasn't the skill to follow his desire to paint; he obsessively loves Mildred in spite of her loathsome conduct and her inability to love him back; he suffers dire poverty when finding work is impeded by his club foot. Until Philip finds power over his constraining desires, his progression as the novel's protagonist remain stymied.

 

Maugham clearly made his point with Philip and Mildred's relationship, although too often, too repetitively. Philip seemed to fall into the same trap over and over again, without learning from his past bad experiences with this she-devil. Many times I shouted at him and wanted to shake him (gently, of course) from sheer exasperation.

 

Of Human Bondage is a wonderful read, be prepared to holler at Philip but don't miss out on the basic human lessons. Highly recommended.

 

 

 

 

 

UPDATE:  I've just had an email from GR informing me that this review was flagged and deleted. I am sorry to lose the comment thread. However, what was interesting was that GR did read the review as they said that they do regularly check Fiverr for this paid review thing and were even now investigating two people. I reposted the review minus the controversial content. I don't know if it is visible to everyone or only friends, but then again, I don't really care.

 

***

 

This is a fake review. It does not reference the author at all except to say he could write rather brilliantly and I did enjoy the book. But let's get on with the fake review.

For those who do not belong to Feedback group, there is a massive thread devoted to GR's new policy (rolled out Friday, of course) of deleting all reviews that reference the author negatively. They are being deleted without informing people until afterwards apparently. But is it just some reviewers who behave badly (in the eyes of Goodreads, not mine) or are some authors doing even worse?

So I posted this in Feedback and I'm posting it here as a fake review because I want people to be aware of this rather pernicious and low way that a tiny minority of authors are availing themselves of.

This site Fiverr is offering for sale reviews, likes, etc to be posted on Goodreads. Obviously no-one but authors are going to pay for these services which go from $5. Some of the people offering the services say they are Goodreads Librarians.

Short, witty, loosely connected stories following the British writer / spy Ashenden as he is sent around the world on secret missions. None of the stories feature particularly complex feats of espionage or gruesome violence. I just really liked Ashenden (who is a thinly veiled version of Maugham): Shy and easily embarrassed, he nonetheless is a competent gentleman spy with a dry sense of humor that allows him to be detached and see the absurdity in his work. As a writer, he appreciates art and has a sense of romance and adventure. Basically, he is perfectly British and I love him. He breaks off a passionate love affair with a woman because she refuses to let him order anything for breakfast but scrambled eggs.

 

This book was SO good. I read it for my book club and I wasn't sure what to expect. I had never read it before - I'd never even heard of it, even though the movie came out fairly recently (2006) -, so I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. 

What I loved most was Maugham's writing style. The book reads like a classic, but it moves much faster than most classics and the plot is more blatantly scandalous. It's not 50 Shade of Grey scandalous by any means, but it's not so subtle that you have to guess what's going on - the opening chapter is about an adulterous wife getting caught in the act. Maugham's word choice is exquisite and he's really great at getting inside Kitty's head (Kitty is the main character). She really grows as a person throughout the novel and by the end, she's really redeemed herself (in my opinion, anyway). 

The one thing that I wasn't totally crazy about is that I didn't feel like I really got to know Walter, Kitty's husband. The way that the plot was set up, he SHOULD have been a main character and I feel like the reader should have gotten to know him better. But he's more of a peripheral character, he's just kind of there, despite his major role in the plot. I'm positive that this was intentional. One of the major parts of the story line is that Kitty really doesn't know him, despite the fact that they're married, so perhaps to add to that, Maugham didn't want the reader to really know what was going on in Walter's head either. Even so, I wish that he'd been a little more revealing about Walter's feelings, because he had the potential to be a really interesting character - he's very mysterious. Kitty's pretty much the only character that you REALLY get to know, and I think that's kind of unfortunate. 

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves classic literature, especially if that person doesn't have time for the lengthy reads that classics usually are. This moves pretty quickly, so I think that even a teacher would have time to read it - I read it as a senior in college who works takes 18 credits, works 20 hours a week, is in a sorority, AND is in the process of working on 3 research projects haha. So I kind of feel like if I had time for this one, anyone would. Plus, it's just a genuinely amazing story. It has drama, tragedy, scandal - this book's definitely worth a try.

starting off like a James Joyce Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. the span of a lifetime is OHM's scope, and Maugham brings to it the same invert's ear for prose and narration that so strongly marks the high quality work of Evelyn Waugh, Philip Norman, Mishima Yukio, and E.M. Forster.

HUMAN BONDAGE is not an absolute 5/5. to some degree I'm erring on the side of the full score because it is an almost 100 year old work and age does count for something (the mere fact that the work is eminently readable a hundred years later itself is telling). we have become more like W. Somerset Maugham, than W. Somerset Maugham was forced to conform by reality. so kudos to him.

random bloggish note-- I went to a W. Somerset Maugham reading at the Peace Hotel in Shanghai once and the two British presenters became exceedingly nervous. just a random aside.