Jane by Somerset Maugham, the author of The Point of Honor https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-point-of-honor-by-somerset-maugham.html - 10 out of 10

 

Jane by Somerset Maugham, the author of The Point of Honor https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-point-of-honor-by-somerset-maugham.html

 

10 out of 10

 

The narrator meets Jane Fowler – the Jane from the title – when he visits his friend, Marion Towers, a middle-aged socialite, a woman who looks much younger, she is active, giving parties, exuberant, extrovert, and preoccupied with the upcoming visit of her sister-in-law, connected with her through her late husband

 

Marion Towers is kind to her relative, who is wealthy, but she middle-aged says ‘Jane is her cross’, there is no glamour, shine in this guest, so the host is bored – which means she cannot reach Flow – we can find about that in the classic Flow https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/10/flow-by-mihaly-csikszentmihalyi-this-is.html

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is the co-founder of positive psychology and has identified the conditions for Flow, Being in The Zone, Optimum Experience and they are you are in control, nothing else matters, it an autotelic experience, there are clear goals, you have instant, continuous feedback, time is relative and skills match expectations

 

In a drawing, you have burnout on top of the line, and boredom under it, but you have to be online, not too tense, overwhelmed and you do not want the task to be so easy that you are bored – this seemed to be the case for Mario Tower, who was waiting with chagrin the visit of her sister-in-law, who comes one day early…

Making matters worse, the guest explains that she had written about the day – the reader finds that she looks about twenty years (if memory does not fail) older than the host, however much she likes to speak of their going to school at the same time, it has to do with her clothes, the golden rim spectacles she is using

 

Nevertheless, there is a dramatic change, and I was thinking about it, and thought that Somerset Maugham is trying to make the audience see a few messages, one about the way humans can change, under proper supervision, guidance, then this is about the author, and Jane is the novelist, just like Gustave Flaubert said

‘I am Madame Bovary’ this is what Gustave Flaubert said, or something similar https://realini.blogspot.com/2020/12/bouvard-et-pecuchet-by-gustave-flaubert.html and if some have seen an older man, the writer proposes that he is charming, amusing, enchanting, just like Jane would be, soon…

 

Geoffrey Mandeville is the agent of change, a young man, who is twenty-seven years the junior of Jane, but in love with her, in spite of the age difference, suspected by Marion Towers to be a ‘fortune hunter, gold digger’, who pretends to be infatuated, only to get to the fortune of the much older lady that he wants to…marry

 

He is rather poor, and that is evidence, Marion Towers is furious, perplexed, she cannot believe that they are talking about this, discussing the possible marital vows between those two, true, she had said that the widow should marry, but not to a man who is so preposterously young, and there are other oddities…

Jane Fowler says that she does not love the suitor, and in response to the criticism, she explains that she had had no proposals from other men, young or older, and she had refused the young Geoffrey forty times, and he is still pursuing his goal, and so they will take their certificate in the morning, and they will be man and wife

 

There is a hiatus, and the narrator returns to London (was it the megalopolis, or some other place I wonder) and he is invited to this dinner, where he meets with Marion Towers, they are both guests, and when he asks about Jane, he is told that he has to look at the left of the host, and it is hard to recognize the subdued middle-aged acquaintance

She has suffered a transformation this is like Cinderella https://realini.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-heartbreak-kid-by-scot-armstrong.html and the good fairy, the latter is played by the young husband, who has worked his magic, in convincing his spouse to adopt new clothes, give up the spectacles, and use an eye glass

 

While some time back Jane was the widow that lacked sparkle, she is now as glamorous as one can be, she wears audacious dresses, designed by Geoffrey, who had insisted on this transformation, which had caused people to stop and look after the woman that had attracted no attention before, nobody noticed her

Furthermore, she was rather proud of her long hair, but this creative, inspired young spouse took the initiative and said ‘you need to cut your hair short’, and eventually she did that and she looks fabulous – again, this is what I presume (maybe wrongly) that Somerset Maugham thinks of himself, advancing in age, but dashing nonetheless

 

The most important attraction is the spirit, the humor that makes the guests, hosts laugh, she is considered the most interesting, witty woman and she is invited everywhere, Marion Towers is actually sad to see that ‘she had worked for twenty years, and has not reached the success that came to Jane instantly’

We have yet another surprise, or shock, when we hear that she will divorce Geoffrey, and when he says that she wants it, they think he is so gentle, perfect gentleman to hide the truth, but she is indeed going to marry someone else…

 

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.”