The Point of Honor by Somerset Maugham – one of my two favorite authors https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/08/red-by-somerset-maugham.html - this is part of the Collection of Short Stories Ten - 10 out of 10

 

The Point of Honor by Somerset Maugham – one of my two favorite authors https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/08/red-by-somerset-maugham.html - this is part of the Collection of Short Stories Ten

 

10 out of 10

 

 

It is always elating to find an old friend, and somehow, Somerset Maugham feels like someone very close – just like the quote at the end of this note, he offers a Garden of Eden, where the population is much more enticing, the events are compelling, this is great literature and art in general, as Malcolm Bradbury said

 

Then there is another wonderful work, According To Mark https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/02/according-to-mark-by-penelope-lively.html by astounding Penelope Lively, in which she says that the novelist is God, since he has absolute power over her/his creations

They do exactly what the god says, the plan is followed and everything else is inspired by this divinity, another special thing in this same stupendous book was the assertion that as much as wealth, position, we are divided by the number of books each has read, and I can see that daily, at the Downtown Club, where they tell me to ’forget about it’

 

The Point of Honor is the second tale in Ten, that is the second I am taking on, albeit, when you look on the internet, they write about another story, of the same title, and also by Maugham, I wonder if I will encounter it any time soon, or at all…the first on this new (that is old, since I had been here before) escapade was…

Another gem called The Three Fat Women of Antibes, where the ladies from the title are overweight, or horizontally challenged, this was the idea for some time, then it went to condemning the use of such descriptions, up to the point where it got to ‘stop this fat shaming’, which sounds reasonable, up to a point

 

I mean, I am overweight, and it is not as if I am slim and laugh at others – there is also that thing where one feels so much superior, when one is not, the best example is this ridiculus mus of a man, really fat, but acting as if he is an Adonis, the one who claims he was the ‘best president, man, mind’, when he is just a big clown

It is not acceptable to ridicule humans who have a problem, sugar addiction and so on, but it is also counterproductive, stupid, to avoid mentioning the problem, indeed, denying that there is anything wrong with excess fat…it is, and the ones who choose to ignore it, in others and themselves, are looking out for illness

 

Now for The Point of Honor, this has a special, contorted scheme, for the narrator is in Seville, Spain, and he meets this stranger, we hear about the bull fights, the predilection that humans have for violence – there is the argument that at least, these animals have a (slim) chance to fight and somehow gain an extended life

When we compare with the other cattle, chicken, pigs that are tortured and slaughtered, just to offer humans nourishment – Yuval Harari https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/homo-deus-brief-history-of-tomorrow-by.html and others have written about this massacre and its implications, the heinous activity we smart apes engage in

 

The narrator wants to see a museum, but it is closed and the polite (if sinister, as we will see) stranger invites him to his house, which is impressive, has a beautiful garden (Cicero might have said 'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need’) and a splendid wife, if apparently unhappy, bored and distant

With hindsight, she may be the protagonist of the story within the story’, the host tries to explain The Point of Honor, the visitor is somewhat surprised and disgusted by this notion of taking revenge, taken to extremes – if the gossip has it that the wife, sister, or another female relative has been compromised, blood has to be spiled

 

Indeed, in fundamentalist realms, they have what they call ‘honor killing’, brothers, fathers have to murder the sisters, wives that have ‘sinned against Islam’, as they horrendously see it, to fulfil the wish of Allah or whoever, in a beastly, inhumane manner…in Seville, we hear about Soledad and Pepe, and their tragedy

This young woman is married to don Pepe, a man of wealth, who has a surprise one day, after he had seen that his spouse does not love him, they meet with this Pepe, who came back from Cuba, but then the husband hears that the tow, Pepe and Soledad, had been engaged, and this is something he cannot tolerate

 

He feels he had been somehow insulted, because alright, they had broken the engagement, but then it is not acceptable, in that retrograde conception, that they renew the acquaintance, so he demands of his spouse that she does not see him anymore, and hence, she does not go the last, festive ball, to avoid the encounter

However, Pepe is not there either, and the rumor is that the two are elsewhere, and met as lovers, and it does not matter for these crazies if the gossip is inaccurate, they have to act as if something has to be repaired, and therefore, don Pepe, the best shot in town, or close, is telling Pepe that his father is a thief, which is an inacceptable slander

The dishonored son slaps don Pepe, a duel is to be fought, and, spoiler alert, the young man is killed, and we are led to believe that the beauty in the garden is Soledad, sad and longing for the one who is dead now…

 

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.”