The Outstation by Somerset Maugham
The Outstation by Somerset Maugham
Somerset Maugham will always exalt my afternoons. His prose is magnificent and his style is exactly what I love. It is perfect in setting, narration, analysis of character…in everything.
And I had the luck to enter this exotique world a long time ago; it must be close to thirty years these days. Borneo, Java, Burma, and the South Seas – the very names sound and feel so outlandish, extraordinary that the imaginary trip leaves you longing and fantasizing about these lands.
And the depth to which Maugham knows his characters is amazing. He reveals some of his secrets in The Summing Up, which I read through in this period. The method that I use for reading is not the best, but it may increase my pleasure. If I love a book, I try to prolong the pleasure by not finishing it and procrastinate with it for as long as possible.
This may balance things out and compensate for the lack of enjoyment that the other books bring, for I start more books at the same time. Now, for instance I have on the reading table Bulgakov The Theatrical Novel, which has interesting passages, but overall is no Maugham- Maugham being with Proust and a few others the peak in my ratings. I am reading at the same time, but not simultaneously Pnin by Nabokov, which is very good. There is Plato, which is rewarding, but not exactly the fun read.
If I would be living in an Outstation, reading will be nec plus ultra, the most exalting pleasure. The jungle would have its attractions, but my bet is reading will be the top of it all.
Mr. Warburton, the man at the center of The Outstation comes across as an obnoxious, pompous ass. But that is only in the beginning, for as we move along with him, we change our opinion.
At least I have ended up liking him. It may be that the alternative, the opposing figure was so much worse. It could also be empathy for a similar character.
If Mr. Warburton is a snob, conservative stickler for rules and formalities…so am I. every working day I go to the sauna and I hate it when people start pouring water over the stove, without asking and I make a fuss, not unlike the station master would do.
The paradox is that even if Mr. Warburton is a bit too pompous, the fact that he keeps all the formalities in the middle of the jungle is for the better.
I listened to an interview with William Golding, who was talking about The Lord of The Flies and the author was saying that the main theme, the most important message of the book is:
“You have to have rules and respect them. If you have no rules, you have nothing”
So the station master does a very clever thing, crucial for a good, healthy mind when he dresses up for his dinners- “especially when he is alone”
Snobbish as he is, he respects the local people, understands when lines are crossed and to the end- what punishment is appropriate and who did the wrong deed and why. Come to think of it, He is a bit like a Local God omniscient and omnipotent.
But he uses his power in a subtle manner, which makes me again think with nostalgia of the great British Empire, which I still have a soft spot for, in spite of the political correctness which requires otherwise…but this is a longer discussion, not for here and now.
The opposite, indeed the adversary of Mr. Warburton is Cooper. He was sent to this outpost after being told all kinds of stories about his future boss. Cooper hates snobbish people, for he has humble origins.
It seems shocking that, for all his hatred of the blue blooded, pretentious aristocrats, he mistreats “niggers” more than any of the nobles would do. Cooper pushes his dislike for the locals too far. He breaks the rules and punishes the prisoners excessively. He retains due wages and becomes hated by his house staff. They all leave him with one exception.
Mr. Warburton, offended and insulted by a man who is supposed to obey his orders and respect his authority, acts with British integrity and honor. Instead of letting the locals take revenge, without a word – he warns Cooper about the inevitability of a payback, but the foolish man laughs in his superior’s face.
Even more, Mr. Warburton sends a letter to head office, asking for Cooper to be transferred, without success.
The end? Well, it is a wonderful story and it will be worth your while to read this and almost any other story by the magnificent Somerset Maugham.
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