The Painted Veil: W. Somerset Maugham Make-believe and the Real Title of Maugham’s books, especially his novels, are always intriguing. A critic once poohpoohed one of his books saying it had the usual Maugham fare - a mishmash of old themes. His next story collection was titled, Mixture as Before. Title and epigraph of The Painted Veil come from P.B. Shelley’s poem Lift Not the Painted Veil. It is more profitable to read the complete poem – presuming one hasn’t read it yet – after they have finished the book. One can then variously interpret Maugham’s allusion to a painted veil. In the preface, Maugham recounts how he came to write the book. ‘I think that this is the only novel I have written in which I started from a story rather than from a character. It is difficult to explain the relation between character and plot. You cannot very well think of a character in the void; the moment you think of him, you think of him in some situation, doing something.' Idea for the s...

Dictionary defines travel as: to go from one place to another, especially over a long distance. This is travel in space. We travel not only in space, but also in time. Einstein unequivocally equated time with space, making it the fourth dimension of the Space-Time matrix. But time and space have always been used interchangeably in language: Past is behind us while future lies ahead, opportunity passes-us by, and a deadline approaches insidiously. We intuitively speak of life as a journey through the landscape of time , as one is born, grows old, and dies. Unlike travel in space, travel in time is involuntary and inescapable. Other than space and time, humans travel in another dimension in their lives. This is travel in relations with other human beings. Each one of us is veritably a different landscape; Each has a distinctive personality shaped by their unique experiences in lives. Knowing a variety of individuals, interacting with them, and nurturing relations with some, enriches ...

  Chasing A Mirage or A Misguided Quest   Do we have to painstakingly cultivate happiness? Or is it one of the many, naturally occurring state of mind like fear, anger, love, affection, empathy, and anxiety? Literature on none of these, if at all there is some, is as huge as on happiness. Happiness has overwhelmingly occupied the minds of thinkers in every age. A new-born knows what makes it happy: mother’s soft breast brushing against its cheeks and a soft warm cradle for uninterrupted sleep. A toddler knows that candies and presence of parents bring him unbridled happiness. A child learns without being taught that a day spent away from school and at play is the happiest day. Adults intuitively seek happiness in security of a well-paying job, a loving partner, and a secure environment at home and work. Urge to seek happiness is as natural as the desire to quench a parched throat. It is no less strong than life’s craving for air. Happiness evolved to motivate our anc...

Worldly author’s unworldly tale of renunciation   ‘The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to passover Thus the wise say the path to salvation is hard’ Katha-Upanishad This epigraph opens the book Razor’s Edge , twentieth century English novelist, W. Somerset Maugham’s most successful novel. The edge of a razor symbolises the path to enlightenment, which is as painful and narrow.   Maugham was fascinated by the character who renounces worldly pleasures for a spiritual life of deep joys and lasting contentment. This theme recurs in his writings. Fall of Edward Barnard is one such fabulous tale of another American youth. In Of Human Bondage , his most acclaimed novel, protagonist Philip Carey is forever entangled in search of truth that will reveal to him the true nature of the world. In Moon and Six Pence , Charles Strickland, forswears life of a successful stockbroker and comfortable marriage, to follow his passion of painting. Maugham was taken by the idea of renu...