Appearance and Reality by William Somerset Maugham – one of my favorite writers, author of The Luncheon https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/07/the-luncheon-by-william-somerset.html and more marvelous stories - 10 out of 10
Appearance and Reality by William Somerset Maugham – one of
my favorite writers, author of The Luncheon https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/07/the-luncheon-by-william-somerset.html
and more marvelous stories
10 out of 10
In a magical way, Somerset Maugham combines accessible,
enjoyable plots with pronouncements on major issues, such as the ‘three French
writers who in his opinion combined the qualities that are the mainsprings of
the French character…’ this already there, in the opening sentence, presumably,
we hear a personage
However, it could well be what Maugham thinks about this,
the Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/03/lucky-jim-by-kingsley-amis-author-of.html
explains that ‘writers does not invent, he edicts his experiences, but they represent
the material for his creations’, something like that, I hope
As for the three writers, ‘They are Rabelais, with his
gauloiserie, which may be described as the ribaldry that likes to call a spade
something more than a bloody shovel; La Fontaine, with his bons sens, which is
just horse sense; and finally, Corneille, with his panache’ and let me also
mention According to Mark by Penelope Lively
She explains how the ‘novelist decides what happens, how it
relates it, and we have to accept this’, he or she is a god – and consequently,
I have become a polytheist, I do not venerate many gods, but there are Maugham,
Proust, Kingsley Amis and a few more - https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/02/according-to-mark-by-penelope-lively.html
Somerset Maugham writes ‘the story I am about to tell
brought out so distinctly the three master qualities of the French that it had
a high educational value’, and then we find that there is a deep, philosophical
aspect to this, for ‘Lisette was a philosopher…she exercised thought in dealing
with the problems of existence…’
‘Her feeling for reality was so strong and her sympathy for
appearance so genuine that she might almost claim to have established that reconciliation
of irreconcilables at which the philosophers have for so many centuries been
aiming…’ hence, we have in just a few pages, a plot, characters that have deep
insight into existential problems
Lisette is French, young, and she works as a mannequin – at
that time, probably more than a century ago, this was a profession reserved for
women, when her lover insists that she must stop working, to let the man
provide, she muses over the idea of a male dressing and undressing to show off
clothes, something ordinary today
The twinkle in her eyes attracts the attention of Monsieur
Raymond Le Sueur, a powerful, if much older man, who pulls strings to get
intimate with the young female, speaking about the interest he has in her
future, offering support, and she sees the possibilities, the fact that the influential
fellow could offer a bright future
At least in practical, material terms, and indeed, once they
start an affair, she has a nice flat, which she decorates with gusto, and
talent, she can enjoy the physical sides of living in Paris, and it seems a
good – I am tempted to say ‘working relationship, and I will try to explain,
now that visitors to this note have probably left
I use the services of what we call today ‘sex workers’ –
just did, some three hours ago – and I have a good opinion, in fact, I say that
these persons I pay and meet are just meeting more ‘clients’, due to
circumstance, while others will just take on one, the single male, who is the
consort, just for the money, no love involved
The example of Orange Jesus comes handy, as always, for he
represents evil, in almost pure form, he looks as if he will be the most
powerful man in the world, again, against the reality that he is loathsome,
monstrous, he is the kind of partner one takes because of the power, the money
he has, that is my view, there is no other feeling there
Raymond Le Suer is a senator, and one day, he returns to
Lisette unannounced, and he finds in the apartment a young man, wearing his bathrobe,
and the older man is furious, and demands explanations from his mistress, who
says that he told her he is not coming today, or words to that effect, not
destined to appease the angry amant
However, she is so Emotionally intelligent – and surely
otherwise, not just emotionally – that she has the skill to present the
situation in such a way that the senator is slowly seeing sense, he wants the
visitor to depart, and this one does, throwing the silk robe on the head of the
cuckold, but there will be no war, on the contrary
Lisette says that she loves both of them – menage a trois is
a French expression that has entered the universal dictionaries – the senator
is wise – incidentally, he came back so early, because he is about to become
the minister of the interior – and he will not take revenge, he mentioned he
could revoke a license
Lisette’s father has a permit, which the new minister of the
interior can revoke, but he is made to see sense, his position will gain
gravitas, if he has a lover that is married, ergo, Lisette would marry her
young man, and will still be the mistress of the powerful, sage politician, who
will be the key figure in the ceremony
As instructed at the start, we have the panache, common
sense, they somehow reverse roles, the minister is now ‘the lover’, the
perpetrator, the married, respectable Lisette cheats on her husband with Le
Suer…
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.”
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