Jun 21, 2004 05:57 PM
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(Updated Jun 21, 2004 05:57 PM)
Ever felt something in a book that really manages to set your emotions on fire? Ever felt a couple of lines bring tears to your eyes? Ever felt words make you sensuous without referring directly to sex?
What modern writers lack is the capability to portray emotions in that subtle manner which is at once, beautiful and haunting.
A common observation among the present day books is the large volume of erotica that is used to entice the reader. It makes the book compulsive, but in a rather vulgar manner. One of the reasons I never read modern day authors.
Let me get this straight. Half of you wouldn?t know anything about Somerset Maugham. Just for the record, he?s dead now. He?s been dead for years. But what he wrote is still a legacy among the true connoisseurs of literature.
About the book. ?Of Human Bondage? is the tale of Philip Carey, an orphan, who strives for the love that he never quite managed to get from his parents who dies early in his childhood. Philip is teased and tormented for his clubfoot, a deformity he has since birth. The book traces Philip?s growth and his trip to Germany, from where he returns as a teenager. Back in England, he is infatuated with a much older woman. Convinced much later, that she is not the person for him, he leaves for Paris to study art. Tragedies follow him there too.
One suicide and the realization that art is beyond his capability makes him return to England, where he starts studying medicine. During the course of his studies, he falls for a waitress named Mildred, who nearly brings about his ruin. What follows is how he reconstructs his life with all the bits and pieces he still has with him.
Maugham?s genius is not limited to his story telling. He has that manner of writing, which manages to leave a profound influence on the reader. His subtle sensuality is unmatched by anybody I?ve ever read. The classic influence of his style is prominent. That is to say that archaic terms are used in plenty. They, however, only add to the beauty of the book. ?Of Human Bondage? has been a subject of many imitations, none of which have quite managed to capture Maugham?s style. The classic influence of his style is prominent.
That is to say that archaic terms are used in plenty. They, however, only add to the beauty of the book. ?Of Human Bondage? has been a subject of many imitations, none of which have quite managed to capture Maugham?s style.
