Before The Party by Somerset Maugham – his master work Of Human Bondage https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/06/of-human-bondage-by-somerset-maugham.html is on The Modern Library’s Best 100 Novels list - 10 out of 10

 

Before The Party by Somerset Maugham – his master work Of Human Bondage https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/06/of-human-bondage-by-somerset-maugham.html is on The Modern Library’s Best 100 Novels list

 

10 out of 10

 

 

It was providence, when a few days back I Stumbled Upon Happiness – Stumbling On Happiness is a psychology classic https://realini.blogspot.com/2013/06/stumbling-on-happiness-by-david-gilbert.html by Harvard Professor Daniel Gilbert, and you find there some of the myths related to what makes you happy

 

Nonetheless, in the case of Somerset Maugham the delight is unchanged – there have been some instances when a second look at a book that had seemed marvelous, made me wonder what on earth did I find in there to make me so ecstatic – White Man Falling is a case in point   https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/01/white-man-falling-by-mike-stocks.html

Perhaps a challenge would be to see what happens to The Loved One, if I finish the second read – I did proceed, but somehow it did not look as enchanting as the first – and indeed, the second time, for I had also seen the film adaptation, with Rod Steiger in one of the leading roles, he was Doctor Loveboy, or Killjoy, or something

 

In Before the Party, just before this party from the title, Mrs. Skinner talks about proper mourning clothes and how strange her daughter has been, she notices the missing photo of the late husband, Harold, who has died eight months ago, from fever, while in Borneo – these belong to The Far Eastern Tales

Some notes, showing what I thought about them ten years ago, are on my old blog – alas, since I no longer remember password, or email attached to it, it has been dead, and I cannot contribute more there, to the chagrin of my audience – ‘I am a river to my people’ is a line that Anthony Quinn has in Lawrence of Arabia

 

Some of what happens belongs to The Far East https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/06/masterson-by-somerset-maugham.html but the party will be in Britain, and the family gets ready, they will have the gardener drive them, Kathleen is the sister, and Millicent is at the center of this horror story – it will get terrible

When she sees the picture of her dead son-in-law is missing, Mrs. Skinner is curious if there is one in her daughter’s room, but then the conversation brings in some revelations, Kathleen mentions she had heard from people that her brother-in-law had not died of fever, as they had been told, but he had committed suicide

 

So, we get to the start of the tale, Millicent is thirty-six, and at that time, nearly one century ad and a half ago, it looked impossible for her to get married again, and so it had been, to some extent, when she was twenty-seven, and single, and Harold came along, and wanted to marry her, when no one else did, which seemed to settle the matter

The reason why the daughter and sister did not mention the real cause of death (spoiler alert, we will be in for another, horrendous surprise, or maybe more) was that she did not want her daughter, Joan, to know about her father – and there is so much to absorb, some time, if ever, about her other parent too, for that matter

 

Harold was forty-four, when he came to England, from the Far East, a tall, heavy man, Millicent was not in love with him, but the idea was that a woman could live well in Borneo, part of the biggest empire the world has ever known, covering a third or so of the land mass, at its height, just about one hundred years ago

So, after they marry, they travel to Borneo, and eventually, the new spouse finds the truth abut her husband, who had been a drunkard, and so bad that the resident there offered two choices, you either solve this – and you need to return with a wife, who will help you lose the addiction – or you will be fired and sent home

 

The widow tells her mother – they all listen to the story, and they will grow increasingly terrified – that they needed not go to all that trouble – Mrs. Skinner had indeed thought this a good catch, and was pleased to see the marital vows exchanged – because Harold had come to marry, it did not matter who, or how

Fortunately, he seemed to be off that awful habit, and stayed sober…that is until two naturalists visited their home, and they had a dinner, late night, in the middle of which, Harold came stumbling, visibly drunk, and then even worse, started the next day with drink, again, and he was off to his addiction at the office

 

So, it is a disaster, and with no way out, until something extraordinary happens, Millicent is pregnant, tells her alcoholic spouse, and the latter, overwhelmed by the news, promises he will not drink again, and the dramatic change in status, he will be a parent now, and soon has a daughter, Joan, will have to have an impact

The daughter is close to him, more attached than to her mother somehow, but then she gets sick, they travel, to the seaside, and the father is left at work for some days, and when they get back, Harold is missing at the station, and he is nowhere at home, until Millicent finds him passed out in bed, with an empty bottle of whisky near him, unshaved for days, bloated, disgusting and loathsome, provoking hatred…there is a parang, a native sword, on the wall, and the next thing the heroine knows is the man is bleeding, the parang is on the bed…

 

 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/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – 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/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

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.”