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Title: The Summing UP by William Somerset Maugham, Charlton Griffin ISBN: 1-929718-06-3 Publisher: Audio Connoisseur Pub. Date: 23 December, 1999 Format: Audio Cassette List Price(USD): $44.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.64 (14 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Vintage Maugham!
Comment: I first read this book on a transcontinental flight and got hooked on Maugham rightaway.Since then I have devoured every word by the master and have scarcely found a dull paragraph____well, the only boring one being the novel "Then and Now"....not a bad batting average for such a prolific writer!In this book Maugham offers us a broad panorama of his artistic development without a trace of frippery or humbug(typical Maugham!) These pages are leavened with mordant observations on the art of writing,life,death,the paintings of El Greco,philosophy,love(unrequited),money and CONCUPISCENCE !The scope of this short book is sweeping____the distillation of a half a century of civilised thinking .Highly recommended & happy reading!
Rating: 5
Summary: Final opinions of an intelligent man
Comment: "The Summing Up" is not an autobiography. It was Maugham's attempt to put his thoughts in order and tell people what he really thought. Just like a "summing up" in a courtroom, it refers to earlier evidence, and repeats itself.
Writers will find the book fascinating, because a lot of Maugham's considered opinions are about his trade: writing. In a time when everyone adores Chekhov, including me,
it is instructive to read anti-Chekhov Maugham. Maugham admits that Chekhov has put every other short-story writer's nose out of joint, so he's jealous. But he very astutely points out Chekhov's major failing: he can't make a plot or a story to
save his life. His stories are impressions, unforgettable slices of life. But Chekhov had no ability at standard story-telling.
Along with much else, there is a fascinating summary and critique of Stendhal's "The Red and the Black," from the perspective of a working writer. I suspect Maugham is right on the money with this one -- Stendhal began with a news clipping, poured his soul into creating his hero, Julien Sorel, and then was forced to go back
to his news clipping to finish his novel. But when Julien Sorel -- the most interesting character in fiction -- suddenly commits murder and goes to the guillotine, it's the most unlikely ending you could imagine. Stendhal let his character run away with him!
This book is entertaining reading for people who write, and people who like to read about writers. It is certainly not a "tell-all" autobiography, like many which are published nowadays, with an eye to high royalties from telling scandalous tales
out of school. By these standards, "The Summing Up" is downright demure. Maugham was not about to tell the world about his sex life, much less reveal his gay orientation. That had to wait until he was dead and gone.
Highly recommended!
Rating: 5
Summary: The artist is the only free man.
Comment: Somerset Maugham sums up his vision on mankind, the English, morals and art (theatre, the novel). It is a penetrating and very modern view. The best book I have read from him.
It shows that he had a very profound scientific and philosophical background.
His stance on determinism, chance and free will was based on his philosophical and scientific readings (Hume and Heisenberg's Principle of Indeterminacy).
The same can be said of his view on mankind, which was highly influenced by Darwin and Schopenhauer: 'The essence of man is his egoism that we all inherit from that remote energy which in the unplumbed past first set the ball rolling'; or 'So long as some are strong and some are weak, the weak will be driven to the wall'.
Having read a lot of philosophy, he was upset by the low standard of the philosophy of his days, which dodged for him fundamental problems, like evil (war).
The author has sometimes been characterized as cynical (e.g. for his best novel 'Of human bondage'). He shows his cynicism again in this book: on the English, 'They are not an amorous race. They are of course sufficiently sexual for the purpose of reproducing their species, but they cannot control the instinctive feeling that the sexual act is disgusting.'
Or his virulent atheism: 'God is not so reasonable. He promises rewards to those who believe in him and threatens with horrible punishment those who do not. For my part I cannot believe in a God who is angry with me because I do not believe in him'.
His analysis of the writer (not one but many men), the novel and theatre is highly modern. It could easily be applied on TV plays today.
This is a sincere, still topical and highly recommendable book.
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Title: Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham ISBN: 0140185976 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: March, 1993 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham ISBN: 1400034205 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 09 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham ISBN: 055321392X Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 June, 1991 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: Collected Short Stories (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) by W. Somerset Maugham ISBN: 0140185895 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: September, 1992 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham ISBN: 0375725024 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 05 December, 2000 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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