Literary Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham

[sun surfer]

Cover of unknown origin and year


This is the MR Literary Club selection for August 2016. Whether you've already read it or would like to, feel free to start or join in the conversation at any time, and guests are always welcome! So, what are your thoughts on it?

[Bookworm_Girl]

Everybody must be diligently reading or distracted by the Olympics. I've read about 30%. Philip has just arrived in Paris. I like the directness of the writing style. I definitely plan to read other works by Maugham in the future.

I have more sympathy for Philip than I would expect because sometimes he can be overly cruel and not very likable but then you get a glimpse of humanity and you want to cheer him on. It'll be interesting to see where the growth of his character goes. Will he becoming increasingly bitter or mature emotionally?

[Bookpossum]

I am not as far as that yet - maybe a quarter of the way. I agree with you about Philip - he is so very flawed and believable as a child and a very young man. I feel that Maugham was drawing a portrait of his own youthful attitudes and behaviour, and did not try to improve or romanticise himself at all.

I love the way Maugham brings his characters to life, especially the self-centredness of the Vicar: the fire was lit if he had a cold, but not if his wife had one for instance. And this:

... after tea they played backgammon. Mrs Carey arranged that her husband should win, because he did not like losing.

Another comment which made me smile, concerned a particularly inefficient teacher:

In due course they were moved up, having learned little but a cheerful effrontery in the distortion of truth, which was possibly of greater service to them in after life than an ability to read Latin at sight.

[AnotherCat]

I'm also about 30% through with him in Paris and just started art school. Am quite enjoying it and wondering why I had never read any of Maugham's work before, so maybe The Moon and Sixpence sometime soon (which I think also includes an abandonment of a current career to become an artist??).

I am another that likes the way Maugham brings the characters to life and the directness and clarity of the prose.

Its short chapters also makes it easy to pick up and read in short sessions and that suits me.

I was pleasantly reminded, by his use, of one of those words that to me looks and sounds just like its meaning - squiffy . Will keep it in mind for use on some suitable occasion; not for referring to me in that, you understand .

[sun surfer]

I'm at 13% and really liking it. I wasn't expecting the humour and for a long book it's carrying on at a brisk pace so far.

[fantasyfan]

The Olympics have cut into my reading time and this is a very fine novel that will go at its own pace.

I have read Somerset Maugham but mainly his short stories which I really enjoy. I have a PB of his survey of the "Ten Greatest Novels ever written." It makes for very interesting reading indeed and his insights are always enjoyable--if arguable.

He was fascinated wirh Hollywood and Television and presented and adapted his work in both areas. Some of his comments are memorable. For instance:

"It is dangerous to let the public behind the scenes. They are easily disillusioned and then they are angry with you, for it was the illusion they loved."

"At a dinner party one should eat wisely but not too well, and talk well but not too wisely."

"In Hollywood, the women are all peaches. It makes one long for an apple occasionally."

He had a streak of cruelty as the following anecdote illustrates:

Once when being taken to a set, the director said to him, "There is Spencer Tracy. He's a wonderful actor and is playing both parts in Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde without the benefit of changing his make-up!"

Maugham replied, "Oh really, which one is he playing now?"

Tracy overheard the remark and never spoke to Maugham again.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Thanks, fantasyfan. Great anecdotes!

[bfisher]

I'm about 50 % through. I started reading at a cracking pace, but then got sidetracked by some other things. I find that the US elections this year is a terrible distraction to reading; the Olympics was actually a welcome distraction from that.

I am with Bookpossum; the Vicar's household was delightful.

I find the modernity of the book very interesting.

[sun surfer]

Great stuff, fantasyfan. I'm interested to find what his idea of the ten best novels ever was.

[Bookpossum]

I have just finished. I loved the way Philip finally realised the way he needed to live his life:

Always his course had been swayed by what he thought he should do and never by what he wanted with his whole soul to do. He put all that aside now with a gesture of impatience. He had lived always in the future, and the present always, always had slipped through his fingers. ... It might be that to surrender to happiness was to accept defeat, but it was a defeat better than many victories.

I found Of Human Bondage profound, touching and so true that it hurt to read it. It is a wonderful book about learning how to live life, and how to pick yourself up and keep going when all seems hopeless.

Thanks so much for nominating it, sun surfer.

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

I have just finished. I loved the way Philip finally realised the way he needed to live his life:



I found Of Human Bondage profound, touching and so true that it hurt to read it. It is a wonderful book about learning how to live life, and how to pick yourself up and keep going when all seems hopeless.

Thanks so much for nominating it, sun surfer.

Well-said, Bookpossum. I finished it yesterday. An excellent read, and a great choice.

[bfisher]

Still sorting out my reactions to Of Human Bondage. Some initial reactions:

The modernity of this book is surprising for a 1915 publication date. I doubt that public sensibilities had become much dulled at that point by the slaughter of the Great War, yet the novel is relatively candid in discussing interracial love, sexuality, seduction, prostitution and STDs.

Another interesting aspect of the book for me was the very sympathetic portrayal of women, generally more sinned against than sinning. Many of them are manipulated by Philip, the ostensible hero of the novel, for the gratification of his desires, and cast aside by him when he gets what he wants: Aunt Louisa, Emily Wilkinson, and Norah Nesbit. Others are strong and supportive like Betty and Sally Athelny, or independent women like Ruth Chalice and Mrs. Otter, and, in her own way, Fanny Price. The closest approach to a villainous character is Mildred Rogers, and she is a mere passive sponge, whose downfall is partially due to her own passions for and trust in Emil Miller and Griffiths. Her only active act of malice is the trashing of Philip’s rooms when she leaves; Philip’s financial ruin was due mainly to his attempts to buy her love.

This novel is often described as semi-autobiographical. There are some parallels to Maugham’s life: being orphaned and raised by an emotionally cold uncle, and his medical training. However, there are huge variances, like Phillip’s years spent trying to become an artist in Paris, and Maugham’s sexuality, although that might be suggested by his schoolboy attachment to Rose, although there was nothing sexual in that. The greatest variance is the character of Mildred, who does not seem to have a parallel in Maugham’s life. One suspects that he got much of his material from his milieu. For example, much of the depiction of Cronshaw could describe Ernest Dowson’s life, and Dowson’s obsession with Adelaide Foltinowicz, the juvenile daughter of a Polish restaurant owner, may have suggested Philip’s obsession with Mildred.

[bfisher]

All in all, a very satisfying read. I was much less happy with this when I first read it 50 years ago. My take on the book now:

The modernity of this book is surprising for a 1915 publication date. I doubt that public sensibilities had become much dulled at that point by the slaughter of the Great War, yet the novel is relatively candid in discussing interracial love, sexuality, seduction, prostitution and STDs. At the same time, there is an echo of an earlier tradition here; is not Philip’s story a pilgrim’s progress?

Another interesting aspect of the book for me was the very sympathetic portrayal of women, generally as more sinned against than sinning. Many of the female characters are manipulated by Philip, the ostensible hero of the novel, for the gratification of his desires, and cast aside by him when he gets what he wants: Aunt Louisa, Emily Wilkinson, and Norah Nesbit. Some are strong and supportive like Betty and Sally Athelny, or independent women like Ruth Chalice and Mrs. Otter (and Norah Nesbit), and in her own way Fanny Price. The closest approach to a villainous female character is Mildred Rogers, and she is a mostly a passive sponge, whose downfall is partially due to her own passions for and trust in Emil Miller and Griffiths. Her only active act of malice is the trashing of Philip’s rooms when she leaves; Philip’s financial ruin was due mainly to his attempts to buy her love.

This novel is often described as semi-autobiographical. There are some parallels to Maugham’s life: being orphaned and raised by an emotionally cold uncle, and his medical training. There are variances, like Phillip’s years spent trying to become an artist in Paris, and any significant expression of Maugham’s sexuality, aside from the schoolboy infatuation which was not described in any sexual terms. Given how soon this was published after Oscar Wilde’s fall from grace, it would probably have been commercial suicide to do otherwise. Philip’s obsession with the character of Mildred does not seem to have a parallel in Maugham’s life. One suspects that he used elements of his own life which fit his themes and got the rest wherever he could. For example, much of the depiction of Cronshaw could have been got from Ernest Dowson’s life, and Dowson’s obsession with Adelaide Foltinowicz, the juvenile daughter of a Polish restaurant owner may have suggested Philip’s obsession with Mildred.

Maugham’s title was supposedly drawn from Spinoza’s “Of Human Bondage,Or The Strength Of The Emotions”. The core idea of the book, frequently expressed explicitly in the dialogue, is that humans are often moved by emotion against what reason would dictate. It is noteworthy how often words are used like slave, chain, rope, ties and bound. One sees this especially in Philip’s thoughts at the peak of his passion for Mildred:
"He loved the woman so that he knew he had never loved before. He did not mind her faults of person or of character, he thought he loved them too: at all events they meant nothing to him. It did not seem himself that was concerned; he felt that he had been seized by some strange force that moved him against his will, contrary to his interests; and because he had a passion for freedom he hated the chains which bound him."

It is not only Philip’s reason-less passion for Mildred that illustrates this idea. Fanny Price is so bound by her unreasoning drive for artistic success that she ends in self-destruction. Was the author’s device of Fanny’s hanging by a rope an extension of his bondage theme, or merely the reuse of the suicide by hanging of Ernest Dowson’s mother? There is a horrible foreshadowing when Mrs. Otter says to Philip “Did Fanny Price help you? … I put you there because I know she can do it if she likes.She’s a disagreeable, ill-natured girl, and she can’t draw herself at all, but she knows the ropes.” That is, Fanny knows the bounds. Of course, Fanny's tragedy is that she did not know the bounds at all.

Cronshaw’s alcoholism kills him. He is fully aware of where it will end, but is unable to resist, although in his case the compulsion may be more physical than emotional.

One hears the antithesis of William Blake’s
"In every cry of every Man,
In every Infants cry of fear,
In every voice: in every ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear"
For Philip, instead of Blake’s cold realism destroying the creative possibilities of emotion, it seems to be unreasoning emotion which leads to destruction.

There is another sense of bondage expressed in this novel. It is the sense of being bound to do what is right, and what is proper behavior. From being self-centered and manipulative at the beginning of the novel, somehow Philip comes to learn the necessity of being honorable, of doing the right thing.

Ultimately, Philip, having come through the fire and the forge, makes his own synthesis. While reason draws him towards following his dream of traveling, his experience as a locum to Dr. South and with the love and happiness of Athelny family teaches him that it is possible to find happiness through both reason and emotion.

[Bookpossum]

Great post bfisher.

One of the things I found so compelling about the book was Philip's obsessive love of Mildred, which I see as a consequence of his loss of his mother and his lonely childhood. His aunt loved him, but his uncle would have overruled any sort of loving relationship. And because he thought his love for Mildred was normal, it took him a long time to recognise the possibility of a normal loving relationship with Sally. When one thinks the agonies of a grand passion are what love is about, it is hard to recognise that quiet happiness and mutual respect are the real thing.

I think Maugham's psychology is spot on in his depiction of Philip, all the way through the book. I would like to bet that he had experienced something similar in terms of relationships as a young man, given his apparently bleak upbringing.

[fantasyfan]

Brilliant post, Bfisher!