Quote:
Originally Posted by Bookpossum
That certainly sounds familiar in terms of Philip, doesn't it.
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Yes it is an interesting quote, there are many parallels with Maugham's own life and that is one of them. It is perhaps important to see the quote in the light of the full paragraph that it is in; his full paragraph in
The Summing Up is:
My sympathies are limited. I can only be myself, and partly by nature, partly by the circumstances of my life, it is a partial self. I am not a social person. I cannot get drunk and feel a great love for my fellow men. Convivial amusement has always somewhat bored me. When people sitting in an ale house or drifting down the river in a boat start singing I am silent. I have never even sung a hymn. I do not much like being touched and I have always to make a slight effort over myself not to draw away when someone links his arm in mine. I can never forget myself. The hysteria of the world repels me and I never feel more aloof than when I am in the midst of a throng surrendered to a violent feeling of mirth or sorrow. Though I have been in love a good many times I have never experienced the bliss of requited love. I know that this is the best thing that life can offer and it is a thing that almost all men, though perhaps only for a short time, have enjoyed. I have most loved people who cared little or nothing for me and when people have loved me I have been embarrassed. It has been a predicament that I have not quite known how to deal with. In order not to hurt their feelings I have often acted a passion that I did not feel. I have tried, with gentleness when possible, and if not, with irritation, to escape from the trammels with which their love bound me. I have been jealous of my independence. I am incapable of complete surrender. And so, never having felt some of the fundamental emotions of normal men, it is impossible that my work should have the intimacy, the bro human touch and the animal serenity which the greater writers alone can give.
(I think I have copied all that correctly)
Some of these things can be seen in Phillip but in my view what Maugham is describing of himself is part of his personality and that not an uncommon one. I think the whole paragraph perhaps frames the love, passion aspects of his personality as being just one part of a much wider personality so did not get the better of him, whereas with Phillip they played a major controlling role in his life (in my view I saw this as due to foolishness?).
Reading that paragraph I wonder how it is that he knows what other men feel; perhaps he understands himself better than he understands other men?
Moving on to my wondering if Maugham suffered from the same foolishness that Phillip seemed to me to suffer from I'll have a run through
The Summing Up over the weekend (it is only around 195 pages) to see if there is anything else in there; it is a long time since I have looked at it, but if I remember correctly the above paragraph is likely the only part of it that gives a private view of himself. The book is in the main about writing, other writers, style, audiences, etc.