Quote:
Originally Posted by AnotherCat
...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.
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I did not get as far in
The Summing Up over the weekend as I hoped, in the main because when I started skimming through it I found it so interesting that it was worth a proper reread. So far I have got around half way through it.
There are a couple of paragraphs where he relates things that could indicate shyness and introversion but I have a feeling that he may be being hard on himself. For example, one of the strongest points in this direction was that he states he never opened conversations with strangers when travelling by train or ship. Personally I don't think he is too much removed from the norm in that and perhaps better than many.
For example, in my own country (which is often claimed as a friendly one) I find that many strangers will not respond to a simple "Hi" even when within an environment of shared interests. As an example, we have a boat in a marina and it still makes me wonder when walking along the dock that when one passes another marina user unknown to one and greet them that one is frequently ignored totally. Elsewhere it is not uncommon to get into an elevator and if one was to say "Hi" to anyone one would be looked at as if one was some sort of weirdo, and if the other was a woman they may even slink into the furthest corner.
That said I remember the first time I ever visited central USA (Kansas City), long ago, and after an environment such as the above, I was entranced while walking down to my first breakfast in the morning as everyone seemed to want to pass a few words (and most Americans are fair chatterboxes on planes
). Experiences on return visits there and in some other countries have been the same. So it depends where one is; I suspect the UK (which I have not spent much time in to fairly judge) was likely like here, at least in Maugham's time when it was much less open and cosmopolitan.
So while Maugham may have tended to shyness and introversion I would not have thought it was a big deal and no worse than many; perhaps even sensible. Also, at the beginning of the book he states that it is not an autobiography; to me he only mentions such personal characteristics in respect to how they may have influenced his writing.
I think it is a worthwhile read after reading
Of Human Bondage with all its parallels with his life. I see it is available in eBook format; mine is an old pdf which I have had since way back in early PDA reading days when not much in eBook format was around, so is probably one produced out of the wild
(but has come out of copyright here since
).