Podcasts about Maugham

In this special episode (a listener-favourite from our BBN days), Josh newly presents his research on Sir Francis Walsingham. Dubbed "Spymaster to the Queen", popular history broadcasts Walsingham as a cut-throat playmaker and confidant in and around the court of Elizabeth I; this is a piece of the truth, sure, but there is so much more to the man than just a nifty label. Equally powerful in daylight as in the shadows, Walsingham weaponised political rhetoric and manipulated a staggering network of intelligence in the Tudor era. Long before Philby and Fleming, Maugham or Croft, there was Sir Francis Walsingham. Get your Magic Mind here!

Clare Carlisle's biography of George Eliot, The Marriage Question, is one of my favourite modern biographies, so I was really pleased to interview Clare. We talked about George Eliot as a feminist, the imperfections of her “marriage” to George Henry Lewes, what she learned from Spinoza, having sympathy for Casaubon, contradictions in Eliot's narrative method, her use of negatives, psychoanalysis, Middlemarch, and more. We also talked about biographies of philosophers, Kierkegaard, and Somerset Maugham. I was especially pleased by Clare's answer about the reported decline in student attention spans. Overall I thought this was a great discussion. Many thanks to Clare! Full transcript below. Here is an extract from our discussion about Eliot's narrative ideas.Clare: Yes, that's right. The didactic thing, George Eliot is sometimes criticized for this didacticism because what's most effective in the novel is not the narrator coming and telling us we should actually feel sorry for Casaubon and we should sympathize with him. We'd be better people if we sympathize with Casaubon. There's a moralizing lecture about, you should feel sympathy for this unlikable person. What is more effective is the subtle way she portrays this character and, as I say, lets us into his vulnerabilities in some obvious ways, as you say, by pointing things out, but also in some more subtle ways of drawing his character and hinting at, as I say, his vulnerabilities.Henry: Doesn't she know, though, that a lot of readers won't actually be very moved by the subtle things and that she does need to put in a lecture to say, "I should tell you that I am very personally sympathetic to Mr. Casaubon and that if you leave this novel hating him, that's not--"? Isn't that why she does it? Because she knows that a lot of readers will say, "I don't care. He's a baddie."Clare: Yes I don't know, that's a good question.Henry: I'm interested because, in The Natural History of German Life, she goes to all these efforts to say abstract arguments and philosophy and statistics and such, these things don't change the world. Stories change the world. A picture of life from a great artist. Then when she's doing her picture of life from a great artist she constantly butts in with her philosophical abstractions because it's, she can't quite trust that the reader will get it right as it were.Clare: Yes, I suppose that's one way of looking at it. You could say that or maybe does she have enough confidence in her ability to make us feel with these characters. That would be another way of looking at it. Whether her lack of confidence and lack of trust is in the reader or in her own power as an artist is probably an open question.TranscriptHenry: Today I am talking to Clare Carlisle, a philosopher at King's College London and a biographer. I am a big fan of George Eliot's Double Life: The Marriage Question. I've said the title backwards, but I'm sure you'll find the book either way. Clare, welcome.Clare Carlisle: Hi, Henry. Nice to be here.Henry: Is George Eliot a disappointing feminist?Clare: Obviously disappointment is relative to expectations, isn't it? It depends on what we expect of feminism, and in particular, a 19th-century woman. I personally don't find her a disappointing feminist. Other readers have done, and I can understand why that's the case for all sorts of reasons. She took on a male identity in order to be an artist, be a philosopher in a way that she thought was to her advantage, and she's sometimes been criticized for creating heroines who have quite a conventional sort of fulfillment. Not all of them, but Dorothea in Middlemarch, for example, at the end of the novel, we look back on her life as a wife and a mother with some sort of poignancy.Yes, she's been criticized for, in a way, giving her heroines and therefore offering other women a more conventional feminine ideal than the life she managed to create and carve out for herself as obviously a very remarkable thinker and artist. I also think you can read in the novels a really bracing critique of patriarchy, actually, and a very nuanced exploration of power dynamics between men and women, which isn't simplistic. Eliot is aware that women can oppress men, just as men can oppress women. Particularly in Middlemarch, actually, there's an exploration of marital violence that overcomes the more gendered portrayal of it, perhaps in Eliot's own earlier works where, in a couple of her earlier stories, she portrayed abused wives who were victims of their husband's betrayal, violence, and so on.Whereas in Middlemarch, it's interestingly, the women are as controlling, not necessarily in a nasty way, but just that that's the way human beings navigate their relations with each other. It seems to be part of what she's exploring in Middlemarch. No, I don't find her a disappointing feminist. We should be careful about the kind of expectations we, in the 21st century project onto Eliot.Henry: Was George Henry Lewes too controlling?Clare: I think one of the claims of this book is that there was more darkness in that relationship than has been acknowledged by other biographers, let's put it that way. When I set out to write the book, I'd read two or three other biographies of Eliot by this point. One thing that's really striking is this very wonderfully supportive husbands that, in the form of Lewes, George Eliot has, and a very cheerful account of that relationship and how marvelous he was. A real celebration of this relationship where the husband is, in many ways, putting his wife's career before his own, supporting her.Lewes acted as her agent, as her editor informally. He opened her mail for her. He really put himself at the service of her work in ways that are undoubtedly admirable. Actually, when I embarked on writing this book, I just accepted that narrative myself and was interested in this very positive portrayal of the relationship, found it attractive, as other writers have obviously done. Then, as I wrote the book, I was obviously reading more of the primary sources, the letters Eliot was writing and diary entries. I started to just have a bit of a feeling about this relationship, that it was light and dark, it wasn't just light.The ambiguity there was what really interested me, of, how do you draw the line between a husband or a wife who's protective, even sheltering the spouse from things that might upset them and supportive of their career and helpful in practical ways. How do you draw the line between that and someone who's being controlling? I think there were points where Lewes crossed that line. In a way, what's more interesting is, how do you draw that line. How do partners draw that line together? Not only how would we draw the line as spectators on that relationship, obviously only seeing glimpses of the inner life between the two people, but how do the partners themselves both draw those lines and then navigate them?Yes, I do suggest in the book that Lewes could be controlling and in ways that I think Eliot herself felt ambivalent about. I think she partly enjoyed that feeling of being protected. Actually, there was something about the conventional gendered roles of that, that made her feel more feminine and wifely and submissive, In a way, to some extent, I think she bought into that ideal, but also she felt its difficulties and its tensions. I also think for Lewes, this is a man who is himself conditioned by patriarchal norms with the expectation that the husband should be the successful one, the husband should be the provider, the one who's earning the money.He had to navigate a situation. That was the situation when they first got together. When they first got together, he was more successful writer. He was the man of the world who was supporting Eliot, who was more at the beginning of her career to some extent and helping her make connections. He had that role at the beginning. Then, within a few years, it had shifted and suddenly he had this celebrated best-selling novelist on his hands, which was, even though he supported her success, partly for his own financial interests, it wasn't necessarily what he'd bargained for when he got into the relationship.I think we can also see Lewes navigating the difficulties of that role, of being, to some extent, maybe even disempowered in that relationship and possibly reacting to that vulnerability with some controlling behavior. It's maybe something we also see in the Dorothea-Casaubon relationship where they get together. Not that I think that at all Casaubon was modeled on Lewes, not at all, but something of the dynamic there where they get together and the young woman is in awe of this learned man and she's quite subservient to him and looking up to him and wanting him to help her make her way in the world and teach her things.Then it turns out that his insecurity about his own work starts to come through. He reacts, and the marriage brings out his own insecurity about his work. Then he becomes quite controlling of Dorothea, perhaps again as a reaction to his own sense of vulnerability and insecurity. The point of my interpretation is not to portray Lewes as some villain, but rather to see these dynamics and as I say, ambivalences, ambiguities that play themselves out in couples, between couples.Henry: I came away from the book feeling like it was a great study of talent management in a way, and that the both of them were very lucky to find someone who was so well-matched to their particular sorts of talents. There are very few literary marriages where that is the case, or where that is successfully the case. The other one, the closest parallel I came up with was the Woolfs. Leonard is often said he's too controlling, which I find a very unsympathetic reading of a man who looked after a woman who nearly died. I think he was doing what he felt she required. In a way, I agree, Lewes clearly steps over the line several times. In a way, he was doing what she required to become George Eliot, as it were.Clare: Yes, absolutely.Henry: Which is quite remarkable in a way.Clare: Yes. I don't think Mary Ann Evans would have become George Eliot without that partnership with Lewes. I think that's quite clear. That's not because he did the work, but just that there was something about that, the partnership between them, that enabled that creativity…Henry: He knew all the people and he knew the literary society and all the editors, and therefore he knew how to take her into that world without it overwhelming her, giving her crippling headaches, sending her into a depression.Clare: Yes.Henry: In a way, I came away more impressed with them from the traditional, isn't it angelic and blah, blah, blah.Clare: Oh, that's good.Henry: What did George Eliot learn from Spinoza?Clare: I think she learned an awful lot from Spinoza. She translated Spinoza in the 1850s. She translated Spinoza's Ethics, which is Spinoza's philosophical masterpiece. That's really the last major project that Eliot did before she started to write fiction. It has, I think, quite an important place in her career. It's there at that pivotal point, just before she becomes an artist, as she puts it, as a fiction writer. Because she didn't just read The Ethics, but she translated it, she read it very, very closely, and I think was really quite deeply formed by a particular Spinozist ethical vision.Spinoza thinks that human beings are not self-sufficient. He puts that in very metaphysical terms. A more traditional philosophical view is to say that individual things are substances. I'm a substance, you're a substance. What it means to be a substance is to be self-sufficient, independent. For example, I would be a substance, but my feeling of happiness on this sunny morning would be a more accidental feature of my being.Henry: Sure.Clare: Something that depends on my substance, and then these other features come and go. They're passing, they're just modes of substance, like a passing mood or whatever, or some kind of characteristic I might have. That's the more traditional view, whereas Spinoza said that there's only one substance, and that's God or nature, which is just this infinite totality. We're all modes of that one substance. That means that we don't have ontological independence, self-sufficiency. We're more like a wave on the ocean that's passing through. One ethical consequence of that way of thinking is that we are interconnected.We're all interconnected. We're not substances that then become connected and related to other substances, rather we emerge as beings through this, our place in this wider whole. That interconnectedness of all things and the idea that individuals are really constituted by their relations is, I think, a Spinoza's insight that George Eliot drew on very deeply and dramatized in her fiction. I think it's there all through her fiction, but it becomes quite explicit in Middlemarch where she talks about, she has this master metaphor of the web.Henry: The web. Right.Clare: In Middlemarch, where everything is part of a web. You put pressure on a bit of it and something changes in another part of the web. That interconnectedness can be understood on multiple levels. Biologically, the idea that tissues are formed in this organic holistic way, rather than we're not composed of parts, like machines, but we're these organic holes. There's a biological idea of the web, which she explores. Also, the economic system of exchange that holds a community together. Then I suppose, perhaps most interestingly, the more emotional and moral features of the web, the way one person's life is bound up with and shaped by their encounters with all the other lives that it comes into contact with.In a way, it's a way of thinking that really, it questions any idea of self-sufficiency, but it also questions traditional ideas of what it is to be an individual. You could see a counterpart to this way of thinking in a prominent 19th-century view of history, which sees history as made by heroic men, basically. There's this book by Carlyle, Thomas Carlyle, called The Heroic in History, or something like that.Henry: Sure. On heroes and the heroic, yes.Clare: Yes. That's a really great example of this way of thinking about history as made by heroes. Emerson wrote this book called Representative Men. These books were published, I think, in the early 1850s. Representative Men. Again, he identifies these certain men, these heroic figures, which represent history in a way. Then a final example of this is Auguste Comte's Positivist Calendar, which, he's a humanist, secularist thinker who wants to basically recreate culture and replace our calendar with this lunar calendar, which, anyway, it's a different calendar, has 13 months.Each month is named after a great man. There's Shakespeare, and there's Dante, and there's-- I don't know, I can't remember. Anyway, there's this parade of heroic men. Napoleon. Anyway, that's the view of history that Eliot grew up with. She was reading, she was really influenced by Carlisle and Emerson and Comte. In that landscape, she is creating this alternative Spinozist vision of what an exemplar can be like and who gets to be an exemplar. Dorothea was a really interesting exemplar because she's unhistoric. At the very end of Middlemarch, she describes Dorothea's unhistoric life that comes to rest in an unvisited tomb.She's obscure. She's not visible on the world stage. She's forgotten once she dies. She's obscure. She's ordinary. She's a provincial woman, upper middle-class provincial woman, who makes some bad choices. She has high ideals but ends up living a life that from the outside is not really an extraordinary life at all. Also, she is constituted by her relations with others in both directions. Her own life is really shaped by her milieu, by her relationships with the people. Also, at the end of the novel, Eliot leaves us with a vision of the way Dorothea's life has touched other lives and in ways that can't be calculated, can't really be recognized. Yet, she has these effects that are diffused.She uses this word, diffusion or diffuseness. The diffuseness of the effects of Dorothea's life, which seep into the world. Of course, she's a woman. She's not a great hero in this Carlyle or Emerson sense. In all these ways, I think this is a very different way of thinking about individuality, but also history and the way the world is made, that history and the world is made by, in this more Spinozist kind of way, rather than by these heroic representative men who stand on the world stage. That's not Spinoza's, that's Eliot's original thinking. She's taking a Spinozist ontology, a Spinozist metaphysics, but really she's creating her own vision with that, that's, of course, located in that 19th-century context.Henry: How sympathetic should we be to Mr. Casaubon?Clare: I feel very sympathetic to Mr. Casaubon because he is so vulnerable. He's a really very vulnerable person. Of course, in the novel, we are encouraged to look at it from Dorothea's point of view, and so when we look at it from Dorothea's point of view, Casaubon is a bad thing. The best way to think about it is the view of Dorothea's sister Celia, her younger sister, who is a very clear-eyed observer, who knows that Dorothea is making a terrible mistake in marrying this man. She's quite disdainful of Casaubon's, well, his unattractive looks.He's only about 40, but he's portrayed as this dried-up, pale-faced scholar, academic, who is incapable of genuine emotional connection with another person, which is quite tragic, really. The hints are that he's not able to have a sexual relationship. He's so buttoned up and repressed, in a way. When we look at it from Dorothea's perspective, we say, "No, he's terrible, he's bad for you, he's not going to be good for you," which of course is right. I think Eliot herself had a lot of sympathy for Casaubon. There's an anecdote which said that when someone asked who Casaubon was based on, she pointed to herself.I think she saw something of herself in him. On an emotional level, I think he's just a fascinating character, isn't he, in a way, from an aesthetic point of view? The point is not do we like Casaubon or do we not like him? I think we are encouraged to feel sympathy with him, even as, on the one, it's so clever because we're taken along, we're encouraged to feel as Celia feels, where we dislike him, we don't sympathize with him. Then Eliot is also showing us how that view is quite limited, I think, because we do occasionally see the world from Casaubon's point of view and see how fearful Casaubon is.Henry: She's also explicit and didactic about the need to sympathize with him, right? It's often in asides, but at one point, she gives over most of a chapter to saying, "Poor Mr. Casaubon. He didn't think he'd end up like this." Things have actually gone very badly for him as well.Clare: Yes, that's right. The didactic thing, George Eliot is sometimes criticized for this didacticism because what's most effective in the novel is not the narrator coming and telling us we should actually feel sorry for Casaubon and we should sympathize with him. We'd be better people if we sympathize with Casaubon. There's a moralizing lecture about, you should feel sympathy for this unlikable person. What is more effective is the subtle way she portrays this character and, as I say, lets us into his vulnerabilities in some obvious ways, as you say, by pointing things out, but also in some more subtle ways of drawing his character and hinting at, as I say, his vulnerabilities.Henry: Doesn't she know, though, that a lot of readers won't actually be very moved by the subtle things and that she does need to put in a lecture to say, "I should tell you that I am very personally sympathetic to Mr. Casaubon and that if you leave this novel hating him, that's not--"? Isn't that why she does it? Because she knows that a lot of readers will say, "I don't care. He's a baddie."Clare: Yes I don't know, that's a good question.Henry: I'm interested because, in The Natural History of German Life, she goes to all these efforts to say abstract arguments and philosophy and statistics and such, these things don't change the world. Stories change the world. A picture of life from a great artist. Then when she's doing her picture of life from a great artist she constantly butts in with her philosophical abstractions because it's, she can't quite trust that the reader will get it right as it were.Clare: Yes, I suppose that's one way of looking at it. You could say that or maybe does she have enough confidence in her ability to make us feel with these characters. That would be another way of looking at it. Whether her lack of confidence and lack of trust is in the reader or in her own power as an artist is probably an open question.Henry: There's a good book by Debra Gettelman about the way that novelists like Eliot knew what readers expected because they were all reading so many cheap romance novels and circulating library novels. There are a lot of negations and arguments with the reader to say, "I know what you want this story to do and I know how you want this character to turn out, but I'm not going to do that. You must go with me with what I'm doing.Clare: Yes. You mean this new book that's come out called Imagining Otherwise?Henry: That's right, yes.Clare: I've actually not read it yet, I've ordered it, but funnily enough, as you said at the beginning, I'm a philosopher so I'm not trained at all as a reader of literary texts or as a literary scholar by any means, and so I perhaps foolishly embarked on this book on George Eliot thinking, "Oh, next I'm going to write a book about George Eliot." Anyway, I ended up going to a couple of conferences on George Eliot, which was interestingly like stepping into a different world. The academic world of literary studies is really different from the world of academic philosophy, interestingly.It's run by women for a start. You go to a conference and it's very female-dominated. There's all these very eminent senior women or at least at this conference I went to there was these distinguished women who were running the show. Then there were a few men in that mix, which is the inverse of often what it can be like in a philosophy conference, which is still quite a male-dominated discipline. The etiquette is different. Philosophers like to criticize each other's arguments. That's the way we show love is to criticize and take down another philosopher's argument.Whereas the academics at this George Eliot conference were much more into acknowledging what they'd learned from other people's work and referencing. Anyway, it's really interestingly different. Debra Gettelman was at this conference.Henry: Oh, great.Clare: She had a book on Middlemarch. I think it was 2019 because it was the bicentenary of Eliot's birth, that's why there was this big conference. Debra, who I'd never met before or heard of, as I just didn't really know this world, gave this amazing talk on Middlemarch and on these negations in Middlemarch. It really influenced me, it really inspired me. The way she did these close readings of the sentences, this is what literary scholars are trained to do, but I haven't had that training and the close reading of the sentences, which didn't just yield interesting insights into the way George Eliot uses language but yielded this really interesting philosophical work where Eliot is using forms of the sentence to explore ontological questions about negation and possibility and modality.This was just so fascinating and really, it was a small paper in one of those parallel sessions. It wasn't one of the big presentations at the conference, but it was that talk that most inspired me at the conference. It's a lot of the insights that I got from Debra Gettelman I ended up drawing on in my own chapter on Middlemarch. I situated it a bit more in the history of philosophy and thinking about negation as a theme.Henry: This is where you link it to Hegel.Clare: Yes, to Hegel, exactly. I was so pleased to see that the book is out because I think I must have gone up to her after the talk and said, "Oh, it's really amazing." Was like, "Oh, thank you." I was like, "Is it published? Can I cite it?" She said, "No. I'm working on this project." It seemed like she felt like it was going to be a long time in the making. Then a few weeks ago, I saw a review of the book in the TLS. I thought, "Oh, amazing, the book is out. It just sounds brilliant." I can't wait to read that book. Yes, she talks about Eliot alongside, I think, Dickens and another.Henry: And Jane Austen.Clare: Jane Austen, amazing. Yes. I think it's to do with, as you say, writing in response to readerly expectation and forming readerly expectations. Partly thanks to Debra Gettelman, I can see how Eliot does that. It'd be really interesting to learn how she sees Jane Austen and Dickens also doing that.Henry: It's a brilliant book. You're in for a treat.Clare: Yes, I'm sure it is. That doesn't surprise me at all.Henry: Now, you say more than once in your book, that Eliot anticipates some of the insights of psychotherapy.Clare: Psychoanalysis.Henry: Yes. What do you think she would have made of Freud or of our general therapy culture? I think you're right, but she has very different aims and understandings of these things. What would she make of it now?Clare: It seems that Freud was probably influenced by Eliot. That's a historical question. He certainly read and admired Eliot. I suspect, yes, was influenced by some of her insights, which in turn, she's drawing on other stuff. What do you have in mind? Your question suggests that you think she might have disapproved of therapy culture.Henry: I think novelists in general are quite ambivalent about psychoanalysis and therapy. Yes.Clare: For what reason?Henry: If you read someone like Iris Murdoch, who's quite Eliotic in many ways, she would say, "Do these therapists ever actually help anyone?"Clare: Ah.Henry: A lot of her characters are sent on these slightly dizzying journeys. They're often given advice from therapists or priests or philosophers, and obviously, Murdoch Is a philosopher. The advice from the therapists and the philosophers always ends these characters up in appalling situations. It's art and literature. As you were saying before, a more diffusive understanding and a way of integrating yourself with other things rather than looking back into your head and dwelling on it.Clare: Of course. Yes.Henry: I see more continuity between Eliot and that kind of thinking. I wonder if you felt that the talking cure that you identified at the end of Middlemarch is quite sound common sense and no-nonsense. It's not lie on the couch and tell me how you feel, is it?Clare: I don't know. That's one way to look at it, I suppose. Another way to look at it would be to see Eliot and Freud is located in this broadly Socratic tradition of one, the idea that if you understand yourself better, then that is a route to a certain qualified kind of happiness or fulfillment or liberation. The best kind of human life there could be is one where we gain insight into our own natures. We bring to light what is hidden from us, whether those are desires that are hidden away in the shadows and they're actually motivating our behavior, but we don't realize it, and so we are therefore enslaved to them.That's a very old idea that you find in ancient philosophy. Then the question is, by what methods do we bring these things to light? Is it through Socratic questioning? Is it through art? Eliot's art is an art that I think encourages us to see ourselves in the characters. As we come to understand the characters, and in particular to go back to what I said before about Spinozism, to see their embeddedness and their interconnectedness in these wider webs, but also in a sense of that embeddedness in psychic forces that they're not fully aware of. Part of what you could argue is being exposed there, and this would be a Spinozist insight, is the delusion of free will.The idea that we act freely with these autonomous agents who have access to and control over our desires, and we pick the thing that's in our interest and we act on that. That's a view that I think Spinoza is very critical. He famously denies free will. He says we're determined, we just don't understand how we're determined. When we understand better how we're determined, then perhaps paradoxically we actually do become relatively empowered through our understanding. I think there's something of that in Eliot too, and arguably there's something of that in Freud as well. I know you weren't actually so much asking about Freud's theory and practice, and more about a therapy culture.Henry: All of it.Clare: You're also asking about that. As I say, the difference would be the method for accomplishing this process of a kind of enlightenment. Of course, Freud's techniques medicalizes that project basically. It's the patient and the doctor in dialogue, and depends a lot on the skills of the doctor, doesn't it? How successful, and who is also a human being, who is also another human being, who isn't of course outside of the web, but is themselves in it, and ideally has themselves already undergone this process of making themselves more transparent to their own understanding, but of course, is going to be liable to their own blind spots, and so on.Henry: Which of her novels do you love the most? Just on a personal level, it doesn't have to be which one you think is the most impressive or whatever.Clare: I'm trying to think how to answer that question. I was thinking if I had to reread one of them next week, which one would I choose? If I was going on holiday and I wanted a beach read for pure enjoyment, which of the novels would I pick up? Probably Middlemarch. I think it's probably the most enjoyable, the most fun to read of her novels, basically.Henry: Sure.Clare: There'd be other reasons for picking other books. I really think Daniel Deronda is amazing because of what she's trying to do in that book. Its ambition, it doesn't always succeed in giving us the reading experience that is the most enjoyable. In terms of just the staggering philosophical and artistic achievement, what she's attempting to do, and what she does to a large extent achieve in that book, I think is just incredible. As a friend of Eliot, I have a real love for Daniel Deronda because I just think that what an amazing thing she did in writing that book. Then I've got a soft spot for Silas Marner, which is short and sweet.Henry: I think I'd take The Mill on the Floss. That's my favorite.Clare: Oh, would you?Henry: I love that book.Clare: That also did pop into my mind as another contender. Yes, because it's so personal in a way, The Mill on the Floss. It's personal to her, it's also personal to me in that, it's the first book by Eliot I read because I studied it for A-Level. I remember thinking when we were at the beginning of that two-year period when I'd chosen my English literature A-Level and we got the list of texts we were going to read, I remember seeing The Mill on the Floss and thinking, "Oh God, that sounds so boring." The title, something about the title, it just sounded awful. I remember being a bit disappointed that it wasn't a Jane Austen or something more fun.I thought, "Oh, The Mill on the Floss." Then I don't have a very strong memory of the book, but I remember thinking, actually, it was better than I expected. I did think, actually, it wasn't as awful and boring as I thought it would be. It's a personal book to Eliot. I think that exploring the life of a mind of a young woman who has no access to proper education, very limited access to art and culture, she's stuck in this little village near a provincial town full of narrow-minded conservative people. That's Eliot's experience herself. It was a bit my experience, too, as, again, not that I even would have seen it this way at the time, but a girl with intellectual appetites and not finding those appetites very easily satisfied in, again, a provincial, ordinary family and the world and so on.Henry: What sort of reader were you at school?Clare: What sort of reader?Henry: Were you reading lots of Plato, lots of novels?Clare: No. I'm always really surprised when I meet people who say things like they were reading Kierkegaard and Plato when they were 15 or 16. No, not at all. No, I loved reading, so I just read lots and lots of novels. I loved Jane Eyre. That was probably one of the first proper novels, as with many people, that I remember reading that when I was about 12 and partly feeling quite proud of myself for having read this grown-up book, but also really loving the book. I reread that probably several times before I was 25. Jane Austen and just reading.Then also I used to go to the library, just completely gripped by some boredom and restlessness and finding something to read. I read a lot and scanning the shelves and picking things out. That way I read more contemporary fiction. Just things like, I don't know, Julian Barnes or, Armistead Maupin, or just finding stuff on the shelves of the library that looked interesting, or Anita Brookner or Somerset Maugham. I really love Somerset Maugham.Henry: Which ones do you like?Clare: I remember reading, I think I read The Razor's Edge first.Henry: That's a great book.Clare: Yes, and just knowing nothing about it, just picking it off the shelf and thinking, "Oh, this looks interesting." I've always liked a nice short, small paperback. That would always appeal. Then once I found a book I liked, I'd then obviously read other stuff by that writer. I then read, so The Razor's Edge and-- Oh, I can't remember.Henry: The Moon and Sixpence, maybe?Clare: Yes, The Moon and Sixpence, and-Henry: Painted Veils?Clare: -Human Bondage.Henry: Of Human Bondage, right.Clare: Human Bondage, which is, actually, he took the title from Spinoza's Ethics. That's the title. Cluelessly, as a teenager, I was like, "Ooh, this book is interesting." Actually, when I look back, I can see that those writers, like Maugham, for example, he was really interested in philosophy. He was really interested in art and philosophy, and travel, and culture, and religion, all the things I am actually interested in. I wouldn't have known that that was why I loved the book. I just liked the book and found it gripping. It spoke to me, and I wanted to just read more other stuff like that.I was the first person in my family to go to university, so we didn't have a lot of books in the house. We had one bookcase. There were a few decent things in there along with the Jeffrey Archers in there. I read everything on that bookshelf. I read the Jeffrey Archers, I read the True Crime, I read the In Cold Blood, just this somewhat random-- I think there was probably a couple of George Eliots on there. A few classics, I would, again, grip by boredom on a Sunday afternoon, just stare at this shelf and think, "Oh, is there anything?" Maybe I'll end up with a Thomas Hardy or something. It was quite limited. I didn't really know anything about philosophy. I didn't think of doing philosophy at university, for example. I actually decided to do history.I went to Cambridge to do history. Then, after a couple of weeks, just happened to meet someone who was doing philosophy. I was like, "Oh, that's what I want to do." I only recognized it when I saw it. I hadn't really seen it because I went to the local state school, it wasn't full of teachers who knew about philosophy and stuff like that.Henry: You graduated in theology and philosophy, is that right?Clare: Yes. Cambridge, the degrees are in two parts. I did Part 1, theology, and then I did Part 2, philosophy. I graduated in philosophy, but I studied theology in my first year at Cambridge.Henry: What are your favorite Victorian biographies?Clare: You mean biographies of Victorians?Henry: Of Victorians, by Victorians, whatever.Clare: I don't really read many biographies.Henry: Oh, really?Clare: [laughs] The first biography I wrote was a biography of Kierkegaard. I remember thinking, when I started to write the book, "I'd better read some biographies." I always tend to read fiction. I'm not a big reader of history, which is so ironic. I don't know what possessed me to go and study history at university. These are not books I read for pleasure. I suppose I am quite hedonistic in my choice of reading, I like to read for pleasure.Henry: Sure. Of course.Clare: I don't tend to read nonfiction. Obviously, I do sometimes read nonfiction for pleasure, but it's not the thing I'm most drawn to. Anyway. I remember asking my editor, I probably didn't mention that I didn't know very much about biography, but I did ask him to recommend some. I'd already got the book contract. I said, "What do you think is a really good biography that I should read?" He recommended, I think, who is it who wrote The Life of Gibbon? Really famous biography of Gibbon.Henry: I don't know.Clare: That one. I read it. It is really good. My mind is going blank. I read many biographies of George Eliot before I wrote mine.Henry: They're not all wonderful, are they?Clare: I really liked Catherine Hughes's book because it brought her down from her pedestal.Henry: Exactly. Yes.Clare: Talking about hedonism, I would read anything that Catherine Hughes writes just for enjoyment because she's such a good writer. She's a very intellectual woman, but she's also very entertaining. She writes to entertain, which I like and appreciate as a reader. There's a couple of big archival biographies of George Eliot by Gordon Haight and by Rosemary Ashton, for example, which are both just invaluable. One of the great things about that kind of book is that it frees you to write a different kind of biography that can be more interpretive and more selective. Once those kinds of books have been published, there's no point doing another one. You can do something more creative, potentially, or more partial.I really like Catherine Hughes's. She was good at seeing through Eliot sometimes, and making fun of her, even though it's still a very respectful book. There's also this brilliant book about Eliot by Rosemary Bodenheimer called The Real Life of Mary Ann Evans. It's a biographical book, but it's written through the letters. She sees Eliot's life through her letters. Again, it's really good at seeing through Eliot. What Eliot says is not always what she means. She can be quite defensive and boastful. These are things that really come out in her letters. Anyway, that's a brilliant book, which again, really helped me to read Eliot critically. Not unsympathetically, but critically, because I tend to fall in love with thinkers that I'm reading. I'm not instinctively critical. I want to just show how amazing they are, but of course, you also need to be critical. Those books were--Henry: Or realistic.Clare: Yes, realistic and just like, "This is a human being," and having a sense of humor about it as well. That's what's great about Catherine Hughes's book, is that she's got a really good sense of humor. That makes for a fun reading experience.Henry: Why do you think more philosophers don't write biographies? It's an unphilosophical activity, isn't it?Clare: That's a very interesting question. Just a week or so ago, I was talking to Clare Mac Cumhaill I'm not quite sure how you pronounce her name, but anyway, so there's--Henry: Oh, who did the four women in Oxford?Clare: Yes. Exactly.Henry: That was a great book.Clare: Yes. Clare MacCumhaill co-wrote this book with Rachael Wiseman. They're both philosophers. They wrote this group biography of Iris Murdoch, Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, and Mary Midgley. I happened to be having dinner with a group of philosophers and sitting opposite her. Had never met her before. It was just a delight to talk to another philosopher who'd written biography. We both felt that there was a real philosophical potential in biography, that thinking about a shape of a human life, what it is to know another person, the connection between a person's life and their philosophy. Even to put it that way implies that philosophy is something that isn't part of life, that you've got philosophy over here and you've got life over there. Then you think about the connection between them.That, when you think about it, is quite a questionable way of looking at philosophy as if it's somehow separate from life or detachment life. We had a really interesting conversation about this. There's Ray Monk's brilliant biography of Wittgenstein, The Duty of Genius. He's another philosopher who's written biography, and then went on to reflect, interestingly, on the relationship between philosophy and biography.I think on the one hand, I'd want to question the idea that biography and philosophy are two different things or that a person's life and their thought are two separate questions. On the other hand, we've got these two different literary forms. One of them is a narrative form of writing, and one of them- I don't know what the technical term for it would be- but a more systematic writing where with systematic writing, it's not pinned to a location or a time, and the structure of the text is conceptual rather than narrative. It's not ordered according to events and chronology, and things happening, you've just got a more analytic style of writing.Those two styles of writing are very, very different ways of writing. They're two different literary forms. Contemporary academic philosophers tend to write, almost always-- probably are pretty much forced to write in the systematic analytic style because as soon as you would write a narrative, the critique will be, "Well, that's not philosophy. That's history," or "That's biography," or, "That's anecdote." You might get little bits of narrative in some thought experiment, but by definition, the thought experiment is never pinned to a particular time, place, or context. "Let's imagine a man standing on a bridge. There's a fat man tied to the railway line [crosstalk]." Those are like little narratives, but they're not pinned. There is a sequencing, so I suppose they are narratives. Anyway, as you can tell, they're quite abstracted little narratives.That interests me. Why is it that narrative is seen as unphilosophical? Particularly when you think about the history of philosophy, and we think about Plato's dialogues, which tend to have a narrative form, and the philosophical conversation is often situated within a narrative. The Phaedo, for example, at the beginning of the book, Socrates is sitting in prison, and he's about to drink his poisoned hemlock. He's awaiting execution. His friends, students, and disciples are gathered around him. They're talking about death and how Socrates feels about dying. Then, at the end of the book, he dies, and his friends are upset about it.Think about, I know, Descartes' Meditations, where we begin in the philosopher's study, and he's describing--Henry: With the fire.Clare: He's by the fire, but he's also saying, "I've reached a point in my life where I thought, actually, it's time to question some assumptions." He's sitting by the fire, but he's also locating the scene in his own life trajectory. He's reached a certain point in life. Of course, that may be a rhetorical device. Some readers might want to say, "Well, that's mere ornamentation. We extract the arguments from that. That's where the philosophy is." I think it's interesting to think about why philosophers might choose narrative as a form.Spinoza, certainly not in the Ethics, which is about as un-narrative as you can get, but in some of his other, he experimented with an earlier version of the Ethics, which is actually like Descartes' meditation. He begins by saying, "After experience had taught me to question all the values I'd been taught to pursue, I started to wonder whether there was some other genuine good that was eternal," and so on. He then goes on to narrate his experiments with a different kind of life, giving up certain things and pursuing other things.Then you come to George Eliot. I think these are philosophical books.Henry: Yes.Clare: The challenge lies in saying, "Well, how are they philosophical?" Are they philosophical because there are certain ideas in the books that you could pick out and say, "Oh, here, she's critiquing utilitarianism. These are her claims." You can do that with Eliot's books. There are arguments embedded in the books. I wouldn't want to say that that's where their philosophical interest is exhausted by the fact that you can extract non-narrative arguments from them, but rather there's also something philosophical in her exploration of what a human life is like and how choices get made and how those choices, whether they're free or unfree, shape a life, shape other lives. What human happiness can we realistically hope for? What does a good life look like? What does a bad life look like? Why is the virtue of humility important?These are also, I think, philosophical themes that can perhaps only be treated in a long-form, i.e., in a narrative that doesn't just set a particular scene from a person's life, but that follows the trajectory of a life. That was a very long answer to your question.Henry: No, it was a good answer. I like it.Clare: Just to come back to what you said about biography. When I wrote my first biography on Kierkegaard, I really enjoyed working in this medium of narrative for the first time. I like writing. I'd enjoyed writing my earlier books which were in that more analytic conceptual style where the structure was determined by themes and by concepts rather than by any chronology. I happily worked in that way. I had to learn how to do it. I had to learn how to write. How do you write a narrative?To come back to the Metaphysical Animals, the group biography, writing a narrative about one person's life is complicated enough, but writing a narrative of four lives, it's a real-- from a technical point of view-- Even if you only have one life, lives are not linear. If you think about a particular period in your subject's life, people have lots of different things going on at once that have different timeframes. You're going through a certain period in your relationship, you're working on a book, someone close to you dies, you're reading Hegel. All that stuff is going on. The narrative is not going to be, "Well, on Tuesday this happened, and then on Wednesday--" You can't use pure chronology to structure a narrative. It's not just one thing following another.It's not like, "Well, first I'll talk about the relationship," which is an issue that was maybe stretching over a three-month period. Then in this one week, she was reading Hegel and making these notes that were really important. Then, in the background to this is Carlisle's view of history. You've got these different temporal periods that are all bearing on a single narrative. The challenge to create a narrative from all that, that's difficult, as any biographer knows. To do that with four subjects at once is-- Anyway, they did an amazing job in that book.Henry: It never gets boring, that book.Clare: No. I guess the problem with a biography is often you're stuck with this one person through the whole--Henry: I think the problem with a biography of philosophers is that it can get very boring. They kept the interest for four thinkers. I thought that was very impressive, really.Clare: Yes, absolutely. Yes. There's a really nice balance between the philosophy and the-- I like to hear about Philippa Foot's taste in cushions. Maybe some readers would say, "Oh, no, that's frivolous." It's not the view I would take. For me, it's those apparently frivolous details that really help you to connect with a person. They will deliver a sense of the person that nothing else will. There's no substitute for that.In my book about Kierkegaard, it was reviewed by Terry Eagleton in the London Review of Books. It was generally quite a positive review. He was a bit sneering about the fact that it had what he calls "domestic flourishes" in the book. I'd mentioned that Kierkegaard's favorite flower was the lily of the valley. He's like, "Huh." He saw these as frivolities, whereas for me, the fact that Kierkegaard had a favorite flower tells us something about the kind of man he was.Henry: Absolutely.Clare: Actually, his favorite flower had all sorts of symbolism attached to it, Kierkegaard, it had 10 different layers of meaning. It's never straightforward. There's interesting value judgments that get made. There's partly the view that anything biographical is not philosophical. It is in some way frivolous or incidental. That would be perhaps a very austere, purest philosophical on a certain conception of philosophy view.Then you might also have views about what is and isn't interesting, what is and isn't significant. Actually, that's a really interesting question. What is significant about a person's life, and what isn't? Actually, to come back to Eliot, that's a question she is, I think, absolutely preoccupied with, most of all in Middlemarch and in Daniel Deronda. This question about what is trivial and what is significant. Dorothea is frustrated because she feels that her life is trivial. She thinks that Casaubon is preoccupied with really significant questions, the key to all mythologies, and so on.Henry: [chuckles]Clare: There's really a deep irony there because that view of what's significant is really challenged in the novel. Casaubon's project comes to seem really futile, petty, and insignificant. In Daniel Deronda, you've got this amazing question where she shows her heroine, Gwendolyn, who's this selfish 20-year-old girl who's pursuing her own self-interest in a pretty narrow way, about flirting and thinking about her own romantic prospects.Henry: Her income.Clare: She's got this inner world, which is the average preoccupation of a silly 20-year-old girl.Henry: Yes. [laughs]Clare: Then Eliot's narrator asks, "Is there a slenderer, more insignificant thread in human history than this consciousness of a girl who's preoccupied with how to make her own life pleasant?" The question she's asking is-- Well, I think she wants to tell us that slender thread of the girl's consciousness is part of the universe, basically. It's integral. It belongs to a great drama of the struggle between good and evil, which is this mythical, cosmic, religious, archetypal drama that gets played out on the scale of the universe, but also, in this silly girl's consciousness.I think she's got to a point where she was very explicitly thematizing that distinction between the significant and the insignificant and playing with that distinction. It comes back to Dorothea's unhistoric life. It's unhistoric, it's insignificant. Yet, by the end of Middlemarch, by the time we get to that description of Dorothea's unhistoric life, this life has become important to us. We care about Dorothea and how her life turned out. It has this grandeur to it that I think Eliot exposes. It's not the grandeur of historic importance, it's some other human grandeur that I think she wants to find in the silly girls as much as in the great men.Henry: I always find remarks like that quite extraordinary. One of the things I want a biography to tell me is, "How did they come to believe these things?" and, "How did they get the work done?" The flowers that he likes, that's part of that, right? It's like Bertrand Russell going off on his bicycle all the time. That's part of how it all happened. I remember Elizabeth Anscombe in the book about the four philosophers, this question of, "How does she do it all when she's got these six children?" There's this wonderful image of her standing in the doorway to her house smoking. The six children are tumbling around everywhere. The whole place is filthy. I think they don't own a Hoover or she doesn't use it. You just get this wonderful sense of, "This is how she gets it done."Clare: That's how you do it.Henry: Yes. The idea that this is some minor domestic trivial; no, this is very important to understanding Elizabeth Anscombe, right?Clare: Yes, of course.Henry: I want all of this.Clare: Yes. One of the things I really like about her is that she unashamedly brings that domesticity into her philosophical work. She'll use examples like, "I go to buy some potatoes from the grocer's." She'll use that example, whereas that's not the thing that-- Oxford dons don't need to buy any potatoes because they have these quasi-monastic lives where they get cooked for and cleaned for. I like the way she chooses those. Of course, she's not a housewife, but she chooses these housewifely examples to illustrate her philosophy.I don't know enough about Anscombe, but I can imagine that that's a deliberate choice. That's a choice she's making. There's so many different examples she could have thought of. She's choosing that example, which is an example, it shows a woman doing philosophy, basically. Of course, men can buy potatoes too, but in that culture, the buying of the potatoes would be the woman's work.Henry: Yes. She wasn't going to run into AJ Ayre at the grocer's.Clare: Probably not, no.Henry: No. Are you religious in any sense?Clare: I think I am in some sense. Yes, "religious," I think it's a really problematic concept. I've written a bit about this concept of religion and what it might mean. I wrote a book on Spinoza called Spinoza's Religion. Part of what I learned through writing the book was that in order to decide whether or not Spinoza was religious, we have to rethink the very concept of religion, or we have to see that that's what Spinoza was doing.I don't know. Some people are straightforwardly religious and I guess could answer that question, say, "Oh yes, I've always been a Christian," or whatever. My answer is a yes and no answer, where I didn't have a religious upbringing, and I don't have a strong religious affiliation. Sorry, I'm being very evasive.Henry: What do you think of the idea that we're about to live through or we are living through a religious revival? More people going to church, more young people interested in it. Do you see that, or do you think that's a blip?Clare: That's probably a question for the social scientists, isn't it? It just totally depends where you are and what community you're--Henry: Your students, you are not seeing students who are suddenly more religious?Clare: Well, no, but my students are students who've chosen to do philosophy. Some of them are religious and some of them are not. It will be too small a sample to be able to diagnose. I can say that my students are much more likely to be questioning. Many of them are questioning their gender, thinking about how to inhabit gender roles differently.That's something I perceive as a change from 20 years ago, just in the way that my students will dress and present themselves. That's a discernible difference. I can remark on that, but I can't remark on whether they're more religious.Just actually just been teaching a course on philosophy of religion at King's. Some students in the course of having discussions would mention that they were Muslim, Christian, or really into contemplative practices and meditation. Some of the students shared those interests. Others would say, "Oh, well, I'm an atheist, so this is--" There's just a range-Henry: A full range.Clare: -of different religious backgrounds and different interests. There's always been that range. I don't know whether there's an increased interest in religion among those students in particular, but I guess, yes, maybe on a national or global level, statistically-- I don't know. You tell me.Henry: What do you think about all these reports that undergraduates today-- "They have no attention span, they can't read a book, everything is TikTok," do you see this or are you just seeing like, "No, my students are fine actually. This is obviously happening somewhere else"?Clare: Again, it's difficult to say because I see them when they're in their classes, I see them in their seminars, I see them in the lectures. I don't know what their attention spans are like in their--Henry: Some of the other people I've interviewed will say things like, "I'll set reading, and they won't do it, even though it's just not very much reading,"-Clare: Oh, I see. Oh, yes.Henry: -or, "They're on the phone in the--" You know what I mean?Clare: Yes.Henry: The whole experience from 10, 20 years ago, these are just different.Clare: I'm also more distracted by my phone than I was 20 years ago. I didn't have a phone 20 years ago.Henry: Sure.Clare: Having a phone and being on the internet is constantly disrupting my reading and my writing. That's something that I think many of us battle with a bit. I'm sure most of us are addicted to our phones. I wouldn't draw a distinction between myself and my students in that respect. I've been really impressed by my students, pleasantly surprised by the fact they've done their reading because it can be difficult to do reading, I think.Henry: You're not one of these people who says, "Oh students today, it's really very different than it was 20 years ago. You can't get them to do anything. The whole thing is--" Some people are apocalyptic about-- Actually, you're saying no, your students are good?Clare: I like my students. Whether they do the reading or not, I'm not going to sit here and complain about them.Henry: No, sure, sure. I think that's good. What are you working on next?Clare: I've just written a book. It came out of a series of lectures I gave on life writing and philosophy, actually. Connected to what we were talking about earlier. Having written the biographies, I started to reflect a bit more on biography and how it may or may not be a philosophical enterprise, and questions about the shape of a life and what one life can transmit to another life. Something about the devotional labor of the biographer when you're living with this person and you're-- It's devotional, but it's also potentially exploitative because often you're using your subjects, of course, without their consent because they're dead. You're presenting their life to public view and you're selling books, so it's devotional and exploitative. I think that's an interesting pairing.Anyway, so I gave these lectures last year in St Andrews and they're going to be published in September.Henry: Great.Clare: I've finished those really.Henry: That's what's coming.Clare: That's what's coming. Then I've just been writing again about Kierkegaard, actually. I haven't really worked on Kierkegaard for quite a few years. As often happens with these things, I got invited to speak on Kierkegaard and death at a conference in New York in November. My initial thought was like, "Oh, I wish it was Spinoza, I don't want to--" I think I got to the point where I'd worked a lot on Kierkegaard and wanted to do other things. I was a bit like, "Oh, if only I was doing Spinoza, that would be more up my street." I wanted to go to the conference, so I said yes to this invitation. I was really glad I did because I went back and read what Kierkegaard has written about death, which is very interesting because Kierkegaard's this quintessentially death-fixated philosopher, that's his reputation. It's his reputation, he's really about death. His name means churchyard. He's doomy and gloomy. There's the caricature.Then, to actually look at what he says about death and how he approaches the subject, which I'd forgotten or hadn't even read closely in the first place, those particular texts. That turned out to be really interesting, so I'm writing-- It's not a book or anything, it's just an article.Henry: You're not going to do a George Eliot and produce a novel?Clare: No. I'm not a novelist or a writer of fiction. I don't think I have enough imagination to create characters. What I love about biography is that you get given the characters and you get given the plots. Then, of course, it is a creative task to then turn that into a narrative, as I said before. The kinds of biography I like to write are quite creative, they're not just purely about facts. I think facts can be quite boring. Well, they become interesting in the context of questions about meaning interpretations by themselves. Again, probably why I was right to give up on the history degree. For me, facts are not where my heart is.That amount of creativity I think suits me well, but to create a world as you do when you're a novelist and create characters and plots, and so, that doesn't come naturally to me. I guess I like thinking about philosophical questions through real-life stories. It's one way for philosophy to be connected to real life. Philosophy can also be connected to life through fiction, of course, but it's not my own thing. I like to read other people's fiction. I'm not so bothered about reading other biographies.Henry: No. No, no.[laughter]Clare: I'll write the biographies, and I'll read the fiction.Henry: That's probably the best way. Clare Carlisle, author of The Marriage Question, thank you very much.Clare: Oh, thanks, Henry. It's been very fun to talk to you.Henry: Yes. It was a real pleasure. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.commonreader.co.uk/subscribe

It's a simple idea with a long history: Woman is told her husband has perished at sea, so she remarries, then the original husband turns up alive and hijinks ensue! An old-timey excuse to show a throuple and a natural premise for comedy, this concept stayed resonant for many years and was remade a number of times – including as a classic screwball 1940 film, that was later itself in 1947 adapted into a hilarious and chaotic radio production starring Lucille Ball as the wife with Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra as the husbands. This week, we hear that radio production in full, and go on a deep dive beginning with a simple title which does not officially have an exclamation mark in it but absolutely should – Too Many Husbands! Referenced media: Black Mirror latest season (2025) Dale Beran - It Came from Something Awful (2019) Search Engine podcast episode, "What's actually on teenagers' phones?" (2025) Social Studies (TV documentary series, 2025) Erin in the Morning (Substack newsletter) A Minecraft Movie (2025) Prince - N.E.W.S. (2003) Origin of "Knock it into a cocked hat" from Wordhistories.net D.H. Lawrence - Samson and Delilah Caught in the Draft (1941) Paris Review on "Brownette" - "A Visit to the Max Factor Museum" by Sadie Stein (2014) "TOO MANY HUSBANDS" TIMELINE (incomplete... could be someone's PhD to work all this out, likely many strands missing) 1565 – Martin Guerre story published 1800s – Someone, somewhere, writes a story probably called “The Fisherman” about a fisherman who goes missing, is presumed dead, comes back and finds his wife has married. 1854 – Thomas Woolner is an English sculptor and poet visiting Australia, and while there he buys a lot of books. He then returns to England on board a ship called the Queen of the South and spends a lot of time reading. In one of those books he reads “The Fisherman”. We don't know what book it is or who wrote it. He later passes it on to his friend Lord Alfred Tennyson. 1864 – "Enoch Arden", poem by Lord Tennyson, based on “The Fisherman” 1911 – Too Many Husbands, play by Anthony E. Wills 1914 – Too Many Husbands, film based on Wills' play 1918 – Too Many Husbands, English film 1919 – Home and Beauty aka Too Many Husbands, play by Maugham 1938 – Too Many Husbands, British film 1940 – Too Many Husbands, American film based on 1919 play 1940 – My Favorite Wife, remake of 1940 film with genderflip 1947 – “Too Many Husbands” radio adaptation with Lucille Ball, Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope 1954 – “Too Many Husbands” episode of Rocky Fortune 1955 – Three for the Show, remake of 1940 film 1962 – Something's Got to Give, aborted Marilyn project, remake of My Favorite Wife 1963 – Move Over, Darling, made instead of above 2020 – “Too Many Husbands”, song by Coriky contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com website: suddenlypod.gay donate: ko-fi.com/suddenlypod

A shot rings out, waking the household. A man stumbles out the front door followed by a dowdy woman with a revolver who shoots him again and again. W. Somerset Maugham, today on The Classic Tales Podcast.   Welcome to The Classic Tales Podcast. Thank you for listening.   If you'd like to ensure the future of The Classic Tales, please visit the website, classictalesaudiobooks.com, and either make a donation, buy an audiobook, or pick up one of our many support options.   And if you can't support us monetarily, leave us a review or share an episode with a friend. It all helps.   Today's story was originally written in 1922, appearing in a collection of stories that came from Maugham's travels in the Malay provinces. The racism in the story can be hard on the modern ear, but reflects the views of the time. Maugham uses racism as a literary device to fuel the tension in the story, to show the prejudices of the British toward the people they are exploiting. It also demonstrates how the native people in the region resent the British. So, if you're feeling a bit uncomfortable, it's by design.   This is one of Maugham's most famous short stories, and the 1940 Bette Davis film is an excellent adaptation.     And now, The Letter, by W. Somerset Maugham.       Follow this link to become a monthly supporter:     Follow this link to subscribe to our YouTube Channel:     Follow this link to subscribe to the Arsène Lupin Podcast:     Follow this link to follow us on Instagram:     Follow this link to follow us on Facebook:       Follow this link to follow us on TikTok:

A shot rings out, waking the household. A man stumbles out the front door followed by a dowdy woman with a revolver who shoots him again and again. W. Somerset Maugham, today on The Classic Tales Podcast.   Welcome to The Classic Tales Podcast. Thank you for listening.   If you'd like to ensure the future of The Classic Tales, please visit the website, classictalesaudiobooks.com, and either make a donation, buy an audiobook, or pick up one of our many support options.   And if you can't support us monetarily, leave us a review or share an episode with a friend. It all helps.   Today's story was originally written in 1922, appearing in a collection of stories that came from Maugham's travels in the Malay provinces. The racism in the story can be hard on the modern ear, but reflects the views of the time. Maugham uses racism as a literary device to fuel the tension in the story, to show the prejudices of the British toward the people they are exploiting. It also demonstrates how the native people in the region resent the British. So, if you're feeling a bit uncomfortable, it's by design.   This is one of Maugham's most famous short stories, and the 1940 Bette Davis film is an excellent adaptation.     And now, The Letter, by W. Somerset Maugham.       Follow this link to become a monthly supporter:     Follow this link to subscribe to our YouTube Channel:     Follow this link to subscribe to the Arsène Lupin Podcast:     Follow this link to follow us on Instagram:     Follow this link to follow us on Facebook:       Follow this link to follow us on TikTok:

Throughout the first World War, acclaimed novelist W. Somerset Maugham worked for British Intelligence in Switzerland. Under cover as a writer, Maugham used his knowledge of travel, languages and culture to great effect, infiltrating high society and common folk alike in his job of greasing the wheels of espionage. A decade later, Maugham fictionalized his experiences in this book, a pseudo-autobiographical account of his time on the continent. Brimming with intrigue and colourful supporting characters, the linked stories of "Ashenden" are skillfully controlled narrative glimpses of war-time spycraft by a figure who's been there and done it. Fast Facts @ 2:00; Summaries @ 28:00; PIPES @ 1:35:00

Daily QuoteTo be beautiful and to be calm, without mental fear, is the ideal of Nature. (John Lubbock)Poem of the DayBeginningBy James WrightBeauty of WordsThe PhilosopherW.S. Maugham

Daily QuoteThe strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack. (Rudyard Kipling)Poem of the Day关山月李白Beauty of WordsThe Philosopher (3)W.S. Maugham

The Founder and Director of the Good Law Project, Jo Maugham KC, on leveraging the law to craft the world you'd like to see. The law is a powerful means to effect positive social change but not everyone has access to it and the law isn't always used for good. In this episode we explore social impact through the lens of public interest litigation, and we cover a wide range of examples and thought-provoking arguments. The Good Law Project is a non-profit organisation but it is not a registered charity since, as Jo explains, the charity regulator can be politicised. Not being a registered charity affords the Good Law Project more freedom to leverage the law to drive social change. Likewise, the Good Law Project is crowd-funded by approximately 34,000 monthly donors and they are not beholden to any single major donor which, in turn, enables the Good Law Project to embrace whatever tone of voice they wish. This episode is thought-provoking and highly informative.   About Jo Maugham KC A tax barrister by trade, Jolyon Maugham KC founded Good Law Project in 2017 without a single big backer and no staff. It has brought a series of landmark cases against a dishonest and increasingly autocratic government and won widespread acclaim in successfully reversing Boris Johnson's unlawful suspension of Parliament. Already the largest legal campaign group in the UK, Good Law Project is shining light into corners the establishment would rather keep dark - from the failures of Brexit to the still-developing PPE scandal, to the tax arrangements of business giants like Uber. With the increasingly important focus on the changing climate, Good Law Project has expanded its work into protecting the environment, both by highlighting those allowing the pollution of our river and seas, and those who are trying to prevent the government change in Net Zero policy, and being silenced as a result. From humble origins to a major legal force, Jolyon has become a key defender against government overreach.   Thank you for downloading this episode of the Do One Better Podcast. Visit our Knowledge Hub at Lidji.org for information on 250+ case studies and interviews with remarkable leaders in philanthropy, sustainability and social entrepreneurship. 

Daily QuoteI have an idea that the only thing which makes it possible to regard this world we live in without disgust is the beauty which now and then men create out of the chaos. The pictures they paint, the music they compose, the books they write, and the lives they lead. Of all these the richest in beauty is the beautiful life. That is the perfect work of art. (W.S. Maugham)Poem of the DaySeven Times Have I Despised My SoulKahlil GibranBeauty of Words泪与笑梁遇春

Cuốn tiểu thuyết kinh điển “Of Human Bondage” (bản dịch tiếng Việt là “Kiếp Người”) Đây là một tác phẩm bán tự truyện của nhà văn người Anh nổi tiếng William Somerset Maugham. Trước đó, mình đã giới thiệu cuốn sách "Mặt trăng và đồng sáu xu" của ông. Ý tưởng viết cuốn tiểu thuyết này được Maugham ấp ủ từ năm 23 tuổi và mãi đến năm 37 tuổi ông mới hoàn thành bản thảo. Ngay khi ra mắt, cuốn sách đã được ca ngợi là “tác phẩm thiên tài”, nhanh chóng trở thành một tác phẩm kinh điển và dịch ra nhiều thứ tiếng. Mời các bạn cùng lắng nghe chia sẻ ngày hôm nay! ------------------------- Nếu bạn muốn mua sách giấy để đọc, có thể ủng hộ Better Version bằng cách mua qua đường link này nhé, cám ơn các bạn! CUỐN SÁCH NÀY, BẢN DỊCH ĐÃ NGƯNG XUẤT BẢN THÌ PHẢI ❤️ Link tổng hợp các cuốn sách trong tất cả video: https://beacons.ai/betterversion.vn/books ❤️ ỦNG HỘ KÊNH TẠI: https://beacons.ai/betterversion.donate

Bombshell: FBI Authorized Deadly Force at Mar-a-Lago Raid. More exposure for the sickness of the Deep State. So utterly unacceptable. Host sounds off. DOJ attempts pathetic spin response, but conveys brittle vulnerability. They know how BAD they are, the bitter clingers never expected any of this to see the light of day. Jackboot Smith attempts another egregious Gag Order on Trump. Sampling the indispensable Julie Kelly. HRC flashback. Plus, the absurd illogic of plastic bag laws at grocery stores. Maugham's Ashenden. With Great Listener Calls.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Daily QuoteCourage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment. (Napoleon Bonaparte)Beauty of WordsMr. Know-All (2)W.S. Maugham

Daily QuoteThe lights and shades, whose well-accorded strife gives all the strength and color of our life. (Alexander Pope)Poem of the Day木兰花令•拟古决绝词纳兰性德Beauty of WordsMr. Know-All (1)W.S. Maugham

Dave & Jess Maugham and their three kids, Bristol, Monavale and Teddy explain what their mission is going to be for the next two years in Mexico, and how we can be a part of it.

fWotD Episode 2456: W. Somerset Maugham Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of the featured Wikipedia article every day.The featured article for Thursday, 25 January 2024 is W. Somerset Maugham.William Somerset Maugham ( MAWM; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German university. He became a medical student in London and qualified as a physician in 1897. He never practised medicine, and became a full-time writer. His first novel, Liza of Lambeth (1897), a study of life in the slums, attracted attention, but it was as a playwright that he first achieved national celebrity. By 1908 he had four plays running at once in the West End of London. He wrote his 32nd and last play in 1933, after which he abandoned the theatre and concentrated on novels and short stories.Maugham's novels after Liza of Lambeth include Of Human Bondage (1915), The Moon and Sixpence (1919), The Painted Veil (1925), Cakes and Ale (1930) and The Razor's Edge (1944). His short stories were published in collections such as The Casuarina Tree (1926) and The Mixture as Before (1940); many of them have been adapted for radio, cinema and television. His great popularity and prodigious sales provoked adverse reactions from highbrow critics, many of whom sought to belittle him as merely competent. More recent assessments generally rank Of Human Bondage – a book with a large autobiographical element – as a masterpiece, and his short stories are widely held in high critical regard. Maugham's plain prose style became known for its lucidity, but his reliance on clichés attracted adverse critical comment.During the First World War Maugham worked for the British Secret Service, later drawing on his experiences for stories published in the 1920s. Although primarily homosexual, he attempted to conform to some extent with the norms of his day. After a three-year affair with Syrie Wellcome which produced their daughter, Liza, they married in 1917. The marriage lasted for twelve years, but before, during and after it, Maugham's principal partner was a younger man, Gerald Haxton. Together they made extended visits to Asia, the South Seas and other destinations; Maugham gathered material for his fiction wherever they went. They lived together in the French Riviera, where Maugham entertained lavishly. After Haxton's death in 1944, Alan Searle became Maugham's secretary-companion for the rest of the author's life. Maugham gave up writing novels shortly after the Second World War, and his last years were marred by senility. He died at the age of 91.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:35 UTC on Thursday, 25 January 2024.For the full current version of the article, see W. Somerset Maugham on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm Emma Standard.

Away from the snow, off to Monte Carlo: Somerset Maugham's "The Facts of Life."

Dave & Jess Maugham (and children) relate some of their experiences in Mexico and Dave speaks about different ways of decision-making.

  Jolyon Maugham has been called 'Public Enemy No. 1" by terrible right wing newspapers, attacked by Rishi Sunak and belittled with smears by the BBC.  And if that wasn't enough to make you love him, he also heads up an organisation that works for justice in our laws and legal system, challenging powerful elites and holding wealthy corporations and careless governments to account on behalf of ordinary people. Come to think of it, the smears on his name may have something to do with that. Jolyon joined us to talk about the most popular of the slurs he's faced and the story behind it, as well as his work with the Good Law Project, a not for profit campaign organisation that uses the law for a better world. Jolyon talks about the unhealthy closeness between the executive and the police, whether newspapers and government officials really care about free speech and how the law can be used to make the world a better place from gender based violence to tax law.  This interview was made possible by the lovely people at Greenbelt festival and you can hear Jolyon's talk at Greenbelt 2023 here for just three British pounds.  You can buy Jolyon Maugham's book, Bringing Down Goliath here and follow him on Twitter here.   You can find more about this episode at beerchristianity.co.uk New to Beer Christianity? Welcome! Beer Christianity is an anti-capitalist, pro-BLM, pro-LGBTQ+, post-post-post-evangelical (and apparently republican) podcast where we drink a bit and talk a lot. Our aim is to be real, to be helpful and entertaining. Follow Beer Christianity on Twitter: @beerxianity and find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube and Stitcher.  If you leave us a voicenote at speakpipe.com/beerchristianity we might air your question on an episode. Beer Christianity also has a newsletter in which Jonty and guest authors comment on the news, theological issues and stuff that matters.  Sign up to the Beer Christianity newsletter on Substack.  There's a connected Show With Music on Spotify called New Old Music. Check it out if you like eclectic music and weird chat. It's not terribly serious.  Jonty's novel, Incredulous Moshoeshoe and the Lightning Bird, is not available in all good bookshops, but if you bought it and left a review that would probably make that more likely.  We don't really want to preach at you, but some people like to know what we believe. It's this: Jesus Christ is the Son of God and came to teach us a better way to be while reconciling us to God and each other in a way we could never do without Him. He also changed water into wine. Nice. 

How many of us would have the courage to blow up our careers and get back onto the path we dreamed of in law school? Jolyon Maugham KC, founder and executive director of the Good Law Project, did just that.  Good Law Project (https://goodlawproject.org) is a publicly-funded not-for-profit organisation, based in the UK, that uses the law to campaign “for a better world”.  Jo speaks with host Becky Annison about his transition from successful tax lawyer to outspoken public interest advocate. They talk about the ethical obligations of lawyers in choosing their clients, Jo's motivations in writing his new book Bringing Down Goliath, and how the Good Law Project chooses its cases to achieve maximum impact. Find out more at tr.com/TheHearing

Tan Twan Eng, in some ways, has the perfect bibliography. He has written three books, all novels. All three have been on the short or long list for the Man Booker Prize. That should tell you how talented he is….and this is the first book he has published in more than a decade. The House of Doors is a lyrical and lovely read about the travels of William Somerset Maugham in Malaysia. Don't know Maugham's work? Doesn't matter. Don't know much about Malaysia? Doesn't matter. Tan Twan Eng's books transcend the familiar-getting to the humanity of every conflict, every story. This book transports readers….and its more than worth the price of the ticket. Books mentioned in this week's podcast: The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng This is Happiness by Niall Williams The Letter by William Somerset Maugham Of Human Bondage by William Somerset Maugham The Casuarina Tree by William Somerset Maugham Time for a Tiger by Anthony Burgess Tiger Moon by Antonia Michaelis Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The English novelist, playwright, and short story writer Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) lived a life as eventful as his prodigious literary output. In this episode, Jacke takes a look at Maugham's travels and travails, following Maugham across numerous continents as he sought material for his writing - and a safe resting place for himself and his various male companions. Then Jacke is joined by novelist Tan Twan Eng (The Gift of Rain, The Garden of Evening Mists) to discuss his new novel The House of Doors, which is based in part on Maugham's experiences on the Malay Peninsula. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at www.thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chapter 1 What's Of Human Bondage"Of Human Bondage" is a semi-autobiographical novel written by British author W. Somerset Maugham. It was published in 1915 and tells the story of Philip Carey, a young orphan with a clubfoot, who struggles to find his place in the world. The novel explores themes such as love, art, religion, and the human condition. It is considered one of Maugham's most important works and a classic of English literature.Chapter 2 Why is Of Human Bondage Worth ReadOf Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham is worth reading for several reasons:1. Profound exploration of human nature: The novel delves deep into the complexities and contradictions of human character and emotions. It provides a detailed examination of the protagonist's journey, and how he navigates through life, love, and personal growth.2. Rich character development: Maugham's vivid characterizations make the novel highly engaging. The protagonist, Philip Carey, undergoes significant growth and transformation throughout the story, compelling readers to empathize with his struggles, successes, and failures.3. Realistic portrayal of life: Of Human Bondage presents a realistic depiction of the challenges individuals face in life. It tackles themes such as unrequited love, sexual desire, existential questions, and social expectations, making it relatable and thought-provoking for readers across generations.4. Beautifully written prose: Maugham's exquisite writing style and evocative prose make the novel a pleasure to read. His descriptive language and storytelling abilities create a vivid and immersive world, bringing the characters and settings to life.5. Timeless themes: The novel explores timeless themes such as self-discovery, personal freedom, and the struggle between passion and reason. These themes continue to resonate with readers, making the book relevant and enduring.Overall, Of Human Bondage is a classic work of literature that offers profound insights into the human condition, with compelling characters and a beautifully crafted narrative. It is a book that can be enjoyed by readers of various backgrounds and interests.Chapter 3 Of Human Bondage SummaryOf Human Bondage by William Somerset Maugham is a semi-autobiographical novel that follows the life of Philip Carey, a young English orphan. The novel explores themes of love, artistic pursuits, and the search for meaning and happiness in life.The story begins with young Philip being sent to live with his strict and unsympathetic uncle and aunt in Blackstable, a small town in England. Philip is born with a club foot, which becomes a source of insecurity and self-consciousness throughout his life.As he grows up, Philip becomes interested in art and desires to become a painter. However, his uncle believes that art is a frivolous pursuit and insists that Philip become a clergyman. Philip reluctantly agrees and enrolls in a theological college, though he quickly realizes that he lacks the passion and faith required for the profession.After leaving college, Philip moves to London to study art. It is here that he meets Mildred Rogers, a waitress with whom he becomes infatuated. Despite Mildred's manipulative and selfish nature, Philip becomes deeply attached to her and is willing to sacrifice his own happiness for her.Over the course of the novel, Philip's relationship with Mildred becomes increasingly toxic and destructive. He endures years of emotional abuse and humiliation as Mildred repeatedly rejects him and takes up with other men. Through this tumultuous relationship, Philip learns about the complexities of love and the limitations of his own desires.Throughout the novel, Philip also experiences a series of...

Der weitgereiste William Somerset Maugham, der auch als Drmatiker reüssierte, gehört zu den erfolgreichsten Vertretern des konservativen british empire Stils. Seine Romane, darunter "Lisa of Lambeth", "Des Menschen Hörigkeit" und der an Gauguin angelehnte "Silbermond und Kupfermünze" hinterfragen durchaus die britische Gesellschaftsordnung und mehr noch ihren Mangel an Lebenslust.

In PX103, our interview subject is Tim Jackson, a +40 year veteran of local government in Victoria and South Australia. Tim recently retired for a second time from the paid workforce after completing his four year role as the State Government appointed Administrator at the District of Council of Coober Pedy in South Australia in February. This was the first time an Administrator had been appointed to a South Australian Council in almost forty years. 

Prior to his first retirement, Tim was CEO of the City of Playford in South Australia for eighteen years. Playford was and is South Australia's fastest growing local government area. At the time of his departure, it was the eleventh fastest growing local government area in Australia. Prior to his time in South Australia, he was employed in Victoria by the City of Prahran which became the City of Stonnington after the reorganisation of local government in Victoria in the early 1990s.

Tim principal interest throughout his career has been about empowering citizens and employees. Tim has simultaneously performed many voluntary non executive roles in the for purpose sector. In Podcast Extra / Culture Corner, Tim recommends Utopia the TV series (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia_(Australian_TV_series) and the biography of Sir Edmund Hillary, ‘Edmund Hillary – A Biography: The extraordinary life of the beekeeper who climbed Everest' by Michael Gill. Details on Hillary are found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Hillary Jess recommends ‘Madoff - The Monster of Wall Street' on Netflix. Pete recommends the short stories of W. Somerset Maugham including ‘Far Eastern Tales' on Audible. Details of Maugham can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham. Audio production by Jack Bavage. Podcast released 24 March 2023. PlanningxChange is proud to be a member of the Urban Broadcast Collective.

In PX103, our interview subject is Tim Jackson, a +40 year veteran of local government in Victoria and South Australia. Tim recently retired for a second time from the paid workforce after completing his four year role as the State Government appointed Administrator at the District of Council of Coober Pedy in South Australia in February. This was the first time an Administrator had been appointed to a South Australian Council in almost forty years. 

Prior to his first retirement, Tim was CEO of the City of Playford in South Australia for eighteen years. Playford was and is South Australia's fastest growing local government area. At the time of his departure, it was the eleventh fastest growing local government area in Australia. Prior to his time in South Australia, he was employed in Victoria by the City of Prahran which became the City of Stonnington after the reorganisation of local government in Victoria in the early 1990s.

Tim principal interest throughout his career has been about empowering citizens and employees. Tim has simultaneously performed many voluntary non executive roles in the for purpose sector. In Podcast Extra / Culture Corner, Tim recommends Utopia the TV series (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia_(Australian_TV_series) and the biography of Sir Edmund Hillary, ‘Edmund Hillary – A Biography: The extraordinary life of the beekeeper who climbed Everest' by Michael Gill. Details on Hillary are found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Hillary Jess recommends ‘Madoff - The Monster of Wall Street' on Netflix. Pete recommends the short stories of W. Somerset Maugham including ‘Far Eastern Tales' on Audible. Details of Maugham can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham. Audio production by Jack Bavage. Podcast released 24 March 2023.

In PX103, our interview subject is Tim Jackson, a +40 year veteran of local government. Tim recently retired for a second time from the paid workforce after completing his four year role as the State Government appointed Administrator at the District of Council of Coober Pedy in South Australia in February. This was the first time an Administrator had been appointed to a South Australian Council in almost forty years. Prior to his first retirement, Tim was CEO of the City of Playford in South Australia for eighteen years. Playford was and is South Australia's fastest growing local government area. At the time of his departure, it was the eleventh fastest growing local government area in Australia. Prior to his time in South Australia, he was employed in Victoria by the City of Prahran which became the City of Stonnington after the reorganisation of local government in Victoria in the early 1990s. Tim principal interest throughout his career has been about empowering citizens and employees. Tim has simultaneously performed many voluntary non executive roles in the for purpose sector. In Podcast Extra / Culture Corner, Tim recommends Utopia the TV series (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia_(Australian_TV_series) and the biography of Sir Edmund Hillary, ‘Edmund Hillary – A Biography: The extraordinary life of the beekeeper who climbed Everest' by Michael Gill. Details on Hillary are found at  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Hillary Jess recommends ‘Madoff - The Monster of Wall Street' on Netflix. Pete recommends the short stories of W. Somerset Maugham including ‘Far Eastern Tales' on Audible. Details of Maugham can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham. Audio production by Jack Bavage. Podcast released 24 March 2023. 

Daily Quote I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. (Martin Luther King, Jr.) Poem of the Day My Song Rabindranath Tagore Beauty of Words The Social Sense W.S. Maugham

Sách ngoài mục đích giải trí, còn là phương tiện để con người trải nghiệm, nhìn ngắm một thế giới khác. Tiếp nối chủ đề “Sách dạy ta điều gì? “, anh Lê Hồng Lâm sẽ giới thiệu đến các bạn hai tác giả miền Nam trước 1975: Thu Giang Nguyễn Duy Cần và Nguyễn Hiến Lê.Nguyễn Duy Cần, còn có bút danh là Thu Giang. Độc giả mến mộ ông thường quen với cái tên rất dài Thu Giang Nguyễn Duy Cần. Ông là tác giả của những cuốn sách: Thuật xử thế của người xưa, Cái dũng của thánh nhân, Thuật yêu đương và Một nghệ thuật sống.Nguyễn Hiến Lê là một nhà văn, dịch giả, nhà nghiên cứu, nhà báo...; nhưng có lẽ chính xác nhất là học giả. Trong hơn 30 năm cầm bút chuyên nghiệp, Nguyễn Hiến Lê đã xuất bản hơn 120 đầu sách gồm: Chiến tranh và hòa bình của L. Tolstoi; Kiếp người của S. Maugham; Bộ Lịch sử Văn minh thế giới của Will Duran; Sử ký Tư Mã Thiên, Đại cương Triết học Trung Quốc; Kinh Dịch,…Mong rằng, thông qua 2 tập về chủ đề sách, thính giả sẽ có nhiều lựa chọn hơn để tìm và đọc.

Daily Quote Do you love life? Then do not squander time; for that's the stuff life is made of. (Benjamin Franklin) Poem of the Day A Minor Bird Robert Frost Beauty of Words On Reading W.S. Maugham

We talk about two short stories, one from W. Somerset Maugham and one from Scott Fitzgerald.

Vanessa Seward "Le guide de la gentlewoman" (JC Lattès 2022) Somerset Maugham « Mme la colonelle » ( Pavillons Poche. Robert Laffont  2010) Écriture, fragilité du pouvoir, tragédie de l'existence, haine des conventions sont quelques-uns des thèmes qui baignent ces nouvelles, et que Maugham décline dans un style à la fois incisif et empreint d'une grande tendresse. L'Angleterre, bien sûr, l'Europe, mais surtout les voyages et les colonies ont la part belle dans ce recueil, et sont évoqués au travers de portraits au scalpel de ceux qui ont fait le choix des îles. On découvre au fil de ces histoires la morale immoraliste de l'auteur, pour qui les mariages légitimes sont souvent boiteux, tandis que les couples socialement mal assemblés sont parfaitement heureux. Ainsi cette nouvelle "Jane" où une veuve vieillissante épouse, au grand dam de son milieu, un jeune homme de vingt-sept ans son cadet et qui se transforme grâce à son "look" lui brisera le coeur quand elle décidera de divorcer. Anticonformisme radical, insolence et légèreté. Il est question dans ce recueil de : "Mme la Colonelle", "Jane", "La force des choses", "Le savoir vivre", "l'élan créateur". Choix musicaux: Bertrand Burgalat "Paola" et Bryan Ferry  “You go to my head”  

Nothing got past the beady-eyes of the censors, who decided a book about literary celebrity was indecent. The vigilantes who policed the bookshops were equally sharp, initiating a prosecution when ‘Cakes and Ale' was on sale openly. It's subtitle was ‘The Skeleton in the Cupboard' hinting that it is about a dirty shameful secret. It's a great tease isn't it – what is the skeleton and who's keeping the cupboard under lock and key?Apparently, Hugh Walpole recognised himself immediately in Alroy Kear. He sat up all night reading it, in tears, with one sock on.In August 1931, C. O'Keeffe a Cork bookseller, was summonsed for ‘exposing a prohibited book for sale'. Join me on Patreon for show notes and unexpurgated guest interviews: https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod I have stickers… https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dave and Jess share about how God is leading them to the mission field in Mexico and challenge us to consider what is our mission field.

Also available on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/c/SpeakingofShakespeare.[See SEGMENTS below] Thomas Dabbs speaks with Shoichiro Kawai of the University of Tokyo about his role as a director, playwright, translator, and scholar. Professor Kawai directs The Kawai Project, a multi-volume series that has staged productions of 'Much Ado about Nothing,'  'The Comedy of Errors,' and other Shakespearean plays and adaptations. Kawai has also adapted Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot' for the Japanese stage and has produced a Beckett-esque drama drawing from Shakespeare and echoing Beckett entitled 'Waiting for Will.' LINKS:Kawai Project (in Japanese): https://www.kawaiproject.comSEGMENTS:00:00:00 - Intro00:02:08 - The Holy Trinity of being a Shakespearean00:02:40 - Kawai Project: Waiting for Will and Samuel Beckett, Jean Jean Theatre00:11:45 - Kawai Project: Translating ‘Waiting for Godot' and ‘Waiting for Will'00:14:13 - Kawai Project: Much Ado about Nothing': Immersive theatre00:15:05 - Kawai Project: Comedy of Errors' and ‘As You Like It'00:17:35 - Translating and writing plays in Japanese00:18:45 - Kawai's and translation theory: ‘To Be or Not To Be'00:35:20 - Shakespeare: ‘Master of the Theatre of Life' 00:40:30 - Cultural adaptation: Bunraku and (mostly) Kyōgen00:49:20 - Critical theory vs doing and mimicry00:52:16 - Coming work: Maugham, Poe, The Tempest, Henry IV00:56:40 - The need for more Shakespearean drama00:59:30 - Other Shakespearean activities in Japan, King Lear (again)01:01:03 - Young Kawai and turning to theatre and Shakespeare01:13:10 - Closing remarks, Hamlet is Fat

Associate Pastor Dave Maugham continues his series in Joshua with Part 4 - crossing the river.

Summary We're back with Season 4, Episode 1- The Freshmen! Cory and Laine talk about Maugham's book Of Human Bondage, our favorite Mandalorian Pedro Pascal, and take a nostalgic look back at our own high school experiences in the 90's. Thank you for listening to our discussion of Season 4, Episode 1: The Freshmen Listen … Continue reading Episode 64: The Freshmen →

Associate Pastor Dave Maugham continues in his series in the book of Joshua.  This week we are 'panning for gold' in Chapter 2 and we are reminded that God can use anyone to fulfil His plans and purposes.

Dave continues his series in Joshua and speaks on the importance of being an encourager.

In this episode, Anthony is joined by Michael Eisenberg, author and venture capitalist to discuss why democracy is necessary and needs to be protected, and his new book ‘The Tree of Life and Prosperity: 21st Century Business Principles from the Book of Genesis' which reveals the lessons for successful business, economics, and negotiation that are hidden in the Torah.Jo Maugham is a British barrister and founder of the Good Law Project and talks with Anthony about his work bringing a number of Brexit legal challenges to court, the recent Sarah Everard verdict - and the future of police and the justice system.Finally, Maria Tatar, world renowned folklorist, author and Harvard scholar joins Anthony to talk about her book ‘The Heroine With 1001 Faces,' which explores how heroines have flown beneath the radar - and how we distinguish between empathy and curiosity.  Follow our guests on Twitter:https://twitter.com/mikeeisenberg https://twitter.com/JolyonMaugham https://twitter.com/mariamtatar Follow us:https://twitter.com/moochfm  https://twitter.com/scaramucci  Sign up for our newsletter at:www.mooch.fm Created & produced by Podcast Partners:www.podcastpartners.com 

Pastor Dave begins his series in the book of Joshua with Part 1 - Possessing the promised land.

After leading a series of successful challenges to the Brexit process, Jolyon Maugham QC was thrust into the limelight and depicted by right-wing Brexiteers as an out of touch, elitist, Remainer. But for the first 17 years of his life, Jolyon was unaware of the existence of his biological Eton-educated father and was brought up on ‘nuisance payments' of £5 a week. He is now the Director of the Good Law Project, a not-for-profit campaign organisation that uses the law to protect the interests of the public - regardless of the way they voted in the 2016 referendum.

Dave gave an online message on Sunday reminding us that worship is so important, no matter what is going on around us. God is our 'constant' and the one we continue to trust.

Barrister Jolyon Maugham has become the scourge of government by using the law to challenge ministers' decisions. His crowd funded Good Law Project initially raised issues around Brexit, and has since succeeded in exposing the sleaze and cronyism surrounding PPE contracts. He talks to Adrian about how his life and career have been transformed since he first came to prominence helping wealthy people avoid paying tax.Before that, Byline Times Executive Editor Peter Jukes reflect on a rarity for the Boris Johnson government - a Cabinet Minister losing their post, in this instance Matt Hancock.Presented by Adrian Goldberg. Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White.Funded by subscriptions to Byline Times. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Barrister Jolyon Maugham has become the scourge of government by using the law to challenge ministers' decisions. His crowd funded Good Law Project initially raised issues around Brexit, and has since succeeded in exposing the sleaze and cronyism surrounding PPE contracts. He talks to Adrian about how his life and career have been transformed since he first came to prominence helping wealthy people avoid paying tax. Before that, Byline Times Executive Editor Peter Jukes reflect on a rarity for the Boris Johnson government - a Cabinet Minister losing their post, in this instance Matt Hancock. Presented by Adrian Goldberg. Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White. Funded by subscriptions to Byline Times.

Dave continues in the series on Esther with Chapter 8. Esther intercedes on behalf of her people, willing to lose her life on behalf of others and a new decree is written allowing the Jews to protect themselves against the enemy.  A joyous celebration!

Bentornati su Bookatini - il podcast per chi è ghiotto di libri. Nella puntata 13, parliamo dei libri che abbiamo letto di recente. Come al solito trovate tutti i riferimenti al libri citati anche nella carrellata delle copertine della pagina instagram bookatini_podcast. Ecco i libri di cui abbiamo parlato:Io canto e la montagna balla, di Irene Solà, Blackie editoreLa trilogia di Adamsberg, di Fred Vargas, Einaudi editoreLe divoratrici, di Lara Williams, Blackie editoreKlara e il sole, di Kazuo Ishiguro, Einaudi editoreQuel che resta del giorno, di Kazuo Ishiguro, Einaudi editoreNon lasciarmi, di Kazuo Ishiguro, Einaudi editoreMacchine come noi, di Yurij Castelfranchi, La terza editoreMacchine come me, di Ian McEwan, Einaudi editoreÄkta människor - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2180271/Il velo dipinto, di Somerset Maugham, Adelphi editoreSchiavo d'amore, di Somerset Maugham, Adelphi editoreDue vite, di Emanuele Trevi, Neri Pozza editoreL'anno del pensiero magico, di Joan Didion, Il saggiatore editoreAl giardino ancora non l'ho detto, di Pia Pera, Ponte alle grazie editoreVi ricordiamo che se volete potete contattarci, scrivere commenti, suggerimenti, domande e condividete con noi le vostre letture contattandoci nella pagina Instagram Bookatini_podcast o scrivendoci alla mail bookatini@gmail.com

Dave continues his series in Esther with Chapter 7.

Matthew has shown Ian Bill Murray in Stripes. And Bill Murray in Ghostbusters. And now, Bill Murray in ... an adaptation of a 1944 novel by W. Somerset Maugham. It's finally time for Ian to learn his Dad's complicated relationship with The Razor's Edge.

This week Sally Penni MBE is Talking Law with QC Jolyon Maugham. Jolyon is an Honorary Professor at Durham Law School as well as founder of the Good Law Project, which brought a number of legal challenges to the Brexit process to court.   In this episode Jolyon shares highlights from his hugely varied career, as well as how the Good Law Project came about and some of its successes so far. Presented by Sally Penni MBE, barrister at law at Kenworthy’s Chambers Manchester and founder and chair of Women in the Law UK. Follow Sally on Twitter @SallyPenni1  Find us on LinkedIn or at WomenInTheLawUK.com

Youth pastor, Dave Maugham, shares an ANZAC day message centred around Cain and Abel.

Welcome aboard an early 20th Century trans-pacific ocean liner where one is likely to be stuck for weeks with any number of unusual characters. Of course, we are likely to put a great deal of stock in first impressions when it often pays to wait to get to know someone.Never a darling of the critics, W. Someset Maugham (the W is for William) was a prolific author and playwright. He was best known for his short stories many of which were fictional global travelogues. Because so many of his works were turned into early motion pictures, Maugham was the world’s best paid writer in the 1930s.

Jolyon Maugham QC is the founder and director of the Good Law Project, which has earned fame via its work challenging government process and accountability, in particular on Brexit and the pandemic response. This week we interview Jolyon Maugham QC, the founder and director of the Good Law Project, which has earned fame via its work challenging government process and accountability, in particular on Brexit and the proroguing of Parliament case, and now on the government's response to the pandemic. We interview him about his career and the mission of the Good Law Project. Topics discussed: Becoming a barrister The working of the Good Law Project Government scrutiny and accountability This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

Join us virtually for the kind of philosophical conversation Shankara would have enjoyed, the kind captured in the best of the Upanishads, as we explore with Sadhguru the ideas that have intrigued the yogis of India for millennia, and which have seeped into Western culture in bits and pieces through the curiosity of authors such as Emerson, Thoreau, Maugham and Hesse, and from a stream of famous Indian teachers who traveled to the West to share these ideas. We will start our conversation with Mark Twain, because in Hannibal, MO, during Sadhguru's recent motorcycle tour of America, he said that when he was growing up “Moby Dick and Huck Finn kind of lived in my head for some time. Nobody else really occupied my mind much.” So we will discuss the ancient two-way literary and intellectual highway between India and the West, and then see how much more transcendental the conversation gets after that. MLF ORGANIZER George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maugham, Daisy 2 by For Reading Out Loud

Written in the late Victorian Age, tonight’s story begins like a Victorian morality story, but Somerset Maugham will present his own view of his characters and their destinies.

Perché ci affascinano le vite dei pittori in letteratura? Sarà il concetto di fuga dalla realtà, la vita bohémienne, la sregolatezza? Di sicuro non la fama post-mortem. Nell'episodio di oggi incontriamo un paio di pittori in fuga, una pittrice che nel Quattrocento si spaccia per uomo, i paesaggi di Piero della Francesca, i mondi geometrici di Escher, icone e case coi tetti di legno, grazie alle penne di Cronin, Maugham, Evdokimov, Chagall, Ali Smith, Rosetta Borchia e Olivia Nesci, Douglas Hofstadter. E c'è anche una morale: sbrighiamoci ad aprire quel famoso chiosco di piadine a Cuba, altrimenti finiremo a mangiare fette di cocomero nella campagna romana come nel film di Gianni Di Gregorio.

Poem of the Day Autumn Evening Robinson Jeffers Beauty of Words Mayhew W.S. Maugham

Il mare da sempre ispira gesta eroiche, avventure, viaggi reali e metaforici. E i capolavori della letteratura ispirati dal mare sono infiniti, come l'infinito che evoca. In questo episodio ce n'è per tutti i mari (e oceani): dal Mediterraneo all'Oceano Atlantico, dal mare dei Sargassi ai mari della Cina. E i personaggi che ci accompagnano sono immensi: il Glauco di Morselli, il comandante Achab di Melville, il pescatore Santiago di Hemingway, il Seymour di Salinger, il dottor Saunders di Maugham, solo per citarne alcuni. E voi, siete pronti per salpare? Se, come me soffrite il mal di mare, non preoccupatevi: in chiusura di episodio vi verrà proposta una dignitosa alternativa. Si può esplorare l'infinito anche da terra. L'importante è non fare come i pesci-banana.

Join me as I read the second chapter of one of Maugham's greatest works, wherein we begin to see a wee bit of personality emerge in our protagonist, young Philip Carey. https://anchor.fm/karla3507/message --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/karla3507/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/karla3507/support

W. Somerset Maugham's 1925 novel concerning an unfaithful wife whose husband takes her to China during a cholera epidemic was adapted into a 2006 movie starring Edward Norton and Naomi Watts. We contrast the surprisingly edgy and page-turner style of the book with its dreamy romantic representation in the movie. The book presents some themes about sexuality and feminism ignored by the movie while the movie is more cognizant of colonialism and the current events of the day. A fun episode if you're familiar with either the book or the movie, or both, or neither!Thoughts? Comments? Potshots? Contact the show at:https://www.discreetguide.com/Follow or like us on podomatic.com (it raises our visibility :)https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/deardiscreetguideSupport us on Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/discreetguideFollow the host on Twitter:@DiscreetGuideThe host on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferkcrittenden/

W. Somerset Maugham's 1925 novel concerning an unfaithful wife whose husband takes her to China during a cholera epidemic was adapted into a 2006 movie starring Edward Norton and Naomi Watts. We contrast the surprisingly edgy and page-turner style of the book with its dreamy romantic representation in the movie. The book presents some themes about sexuality and feminism ignored by the movie while the movie is more cognizant of colonialism and the current events of the day. A fun episode if you're familiar with either the book or the movie, or both, or neither! Thoughts? Comments? Potshots? Contact the show at: https://www.discreetguide.com/ Follow or like us on podomatic.com (it raises our visibility :) https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/deardiscreetguide Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/discreetguide Follow the host on Twitter: @DiscreetGuide The host on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferkcrittenden/

W. Somerset Maugham's 1925 novel concerning an unfaithful wife whose husband takes her to China during a cholera epidemic was adapted into a 2006 movie starring Edward Norton and Naomi Watts. We contrast the surprisingly edgy and page-turner style of the book with its dreamy romantic representation in the movie. The book presents some themes about sexuality and feminism ignored by the movie while the movie is more cognizant of colonialism and the current events of the day. A fun episode if you're familiar with either the book or the movie, or both, or neither!Thoughts? Comments? Potshots? Contact the show at:https://www.discreetguide.com/Follow or like us on podomatic.com (it raises our visibility :)https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/deardiscreetguideSupport us on Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/discreetguideFollow the host on Twitter:@DiscreetGuideThe host on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferkcrittenden/

“We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person.” Somerset Maugham This quote is packed with emotion as soon as we stop and consider how this phenomenon has played out in our own lives. I don’t agree that “It is a happy chance...to continue to love a changed person.” I think it’s a freaking miracle if we are able to continue loving while both parties are in constant transition. Somerset Maugham has managed to describe that feeling of, “I don’t know, things just feel different.” He has defined why we might wake up next to a partner of several years and feel as though we have been sleeping next to a complete stranger. Now that Maugham has identified this dynamic, we have a better chance at “choosing love.” Choosing love is one of those simple concepts which is almost impossible to execute on a consistent basis. Choosing love is not a choice, it is an extremely difficult ability to develop. It takes years of self-awareness to develop it to the point where we can do it every now and then. The bible says, “Perfect Love casteth out all fear.” While I believe that to be true, in my opinion, that concept is being stated in the reverse order of development. By removing fear, perfect love is possible. Fear is a primary function of our existence while perfect love or unconditional love is an advanced function which maybe nine people have ever been able to pull off. You might feel as though I’m being awfully negative here but our real situation is usually one of conditional love fueled by fears of loss and disappointment. Until we remove our fears, perfect love will evade us, in my opinion. Yes, we do love and maybe even love often but for the most part, it is inconsistent, partly because of what Maugham is describing. Armed with this perspective we can turn inward and try to observe how and where we are changing. Are we removing fears or adding fears? Hopefully we can use that information to choose to love another who is also changing. The piece of music I’ve chosen for this quote is the Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde. If you want to go “full send” and listen to the entire opera I recommend the recording with Ramon Vinay and Martha Mödl. I find Mödl’s singing to be particularly super-human. The doomed characters of Tristan and Isolde are unable to align their love during the entire drama and it is only at the end that they are united—in death. My hope is to attain perfect love without having to die first. Yet, if we were to take it one step further, in order to love perfectly it might require a sort of dying . The Hellenic concept of Agape Love comes to us through Christianity in 1st Corinthians Chapter 13. Make no mistake though, this is a Greek ideal that was drafted into Christianity. If you don’t want to take my word for it, you are welcome to read F.E. Peters’s excellent history, The Harvest of Hellenism. Part of the love chapter says, “When I became an adult, I put childish things behind me.” What does that mean in the context of love? I think it means childish and fearful emotions such as jealousy, envy, and insecurity need to be put behind us in order for us to have a chance at perfect love. The child must die so the adult can live. By performing some philosophical gymnastics we can now look to the Liebestod as the death of the child and the unification of Tristan and Isolde as a union of fully integrated adult individuals. Yes? No? The piece of art is Tristan and Isolde by Rogelio de Egusquiza. Rogelio collaborated with Wagner and dedicated the majority of his career to painting subjects from Wagner’s operas. That’s it for today. I’m sending you all love, albeit love which is conditioned by whether or not you subscribe, but still love to you all and I’ll see you tomorrow with another Infusion of High Culture.

An Illusion 一种错觉 BY William S. Maugham 威廉. S. 毛姆 It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it; 认为青春是快乐的，这是一种错觉，是那些失去了青春的人的一种错觉。 but the young know they are wretched, for they are full of the truthless ideals which have been instilled into them, 年轻人知道，自己是不幸的，他们脑子里充斥了被灌输的不切实际的想法， and each time they come in contact with the real they are bruised and wounded. 每次与现实接触时，都会碰的头破血流。 It looks as if they were victims of a conspiracy; 似乎，他们是某种阴谋的牺牲者： for the books they read, ideal by the necessity of selection, and the conversation of their elders, who look back upon the past through a rosy haze of forgetfulness, prepare them for an unreal life. 那些他们所读过的精挑细选的书，那些长辈们谈起的因遗忘而蒙上玫瑰色薄雾的往事，都为年轻人提供了一种不真实的生活。 They must discover for themselves that all they have read and all they have been told are li...

In this, the fourth part of his series, Bridges Youth leader Dave Maugham takes a look at Judges Chapter 16. Dave leads Bridges Youth alongside his wife Jess.

William Somerset Maugham W. Somerset Maugham was born in 1873 in Paris and died in Nice in 1965, was despite his brith and death places, English. He was a fantastically successful writer, being the highest paid author of the 1930s. His parents died when Maugham was only 10 and he was brought up by his uncle, a clergyman, and sent to King’s School, Canterbury. Many men in his family were lawyers, including his elder brother who was a viscount, but Maugham didn’t want that.  He hated his school in Canterbury and finally his uncle let him to go to study German literature at the University at Heidelberg, after which he went to St Thomas’s hospital in London where he trained as a doctor, and qualified as one in 1897. He specialised in obstetrics and used his work experience to inspire his first novel, Liza of Lambeth. After that he worked as a novelist and playwright and travelled through Spain and Italy. Maugham, like many of the writers we read out, was gay. He was married to a woman but this was unhappy and after it broke down he lived in France with his male partner. His writing made him famous by the outbreak of the First World War. During the First World War he worked for the Red Cross and the Ambulance Corps before being recruited by MI6. He had missions in Switzerland and Russia for British Intelligence but when the war was finished he went back to his globe-trotting lifestyle until 1928 when he bought a villa in the South of France and stayed there until his death.  The Taipan A Tai-Pan is a Cantonese word for a leader of a Western Trading Company that operated in China in the 19th Century. The Taipan who is the main character of the story is not a very sympathetic chap and I didn’t feel myself warming to him much. The story is set in the days of the British Empire among a colony of ex-pats who spend their time drinking, playing bridge, having affairs and racing horses. As well as being contemptuous of the people they are among. The Taipan is self-satisfied, sociopathic, adulterous, alcoholic, snobbish and racist and ultimately riddled with anxiety. In a short story, we see the fall of a man from the pinnacle of arrogance to become a trembling wreck. It is a nice moral tale of the mighty being humbled by their own faults.  He gets what he deserves. My New Book I’ve got a Cthulhu LitRPG horror novel coming out! If you don’t know that that is go look it up at Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084WW6LSK) That’s book 2 in the series mind you. Darkworlds Paris. Book one is imaginatively named Darkworlds London. Book 3 was going to be Darkworlds Salem but I need to get my hero across the Atlantic on The Queen Mary in 1927, so book 3 will have to be Darkworlds Atlantic! If you like a bit of Lovecraft horror science fiction cyberpunk Call of Cthulhu then it’s for you! Support Us! Ways to support Tony to keep doing the show:   Share and rate it! (https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/classic-ghost-stories-923395)     Buy Tony a coffee (http://bit.ly/2QKgHkY)  to help with the long nights editing! Become a   Patreon (http://bit.ly/barcudpatreon)  to get additional stuff and allow the show to go on in the long term.  Website   Classic Ghost Stories Podcast (http://bit.ly/ClassicGhostStoriesPodcast)   Music Beginning music ‘_Some Come Back’_ is by the marvellous   Heartwood Institute (https://theheartwoodinstitute.bandcamp.com/album/witch-phase-four) . The end music is by 'MYUU Bad Encounter' Support this podcast

主播 小果汁 (https://fom.fm/hosts/ijoy) 李邦斯 (https://fom.fm/guests/libangsi) 为什么选择《面纱》这本书 毛姆主张“小说家的目的不是教育，而是娱乐”，当然这里的娱乐是指在精神上获得愉悦，他的小说创作观是寓教于乐。他认为“小说应津津有味的读，如果它不给以乐趣，对读者而言，它就毫无价值。”因而他创作的故事可读性很强，在不知不觉中常常达到引人入胜的阅读效果，最后读者或多或少会得到启迪。 一个男性作家写的女性心理成长史，中间有一次疫情 女性心理成长：男孩是通过成人礼成为男人的，而女孩是通过男人成为女人的 疫情是面“照妖镜”： 每天接触真实的生死会让人紧张兴奋，这种生理反应和爱情来了是一样的，所以很多援助过灾区的人之后会在一起 一个大事件来了的时候，会打破兴趣壁垒，让他们重新向一个更大的群体认同（客座他乡的英国人，面对同样困难的助人者） 威廉·萨默塞特·毛姆：英国现代小说家、剧作家 他是学医出身，这一专业背景对他日后的文学创作产生了深远影响： 冷静客观的创作风格； 对人性的深刻洞察。 在他所处的那个时代（主要是指20世纪20至30年代），他是非常成功的作家，深受读者喜爱。 主要作品：《人性的枷锁》《月亮和六便士》《面纱》《秘密情报》《寻欢作乐》《巴黎的异乡人》《刀锋》。 毛姆的创作继承了英国文学的现实主义传统，在当时现代主义盛行的潮流下，依旧注重小说的故事性。 小说三要素：人物形象、故事情节、典型环境（自然环境和社会环境） 《面纱》的故事 在序言里毛姆明确表示《面纱》是他唯一一部由故事情节而不是人物形象为契机发展而成的小说。 皮娅的故事是《面纱》的雏形，但毛姆注入了现代性的观念。 但丁《神曲》“请记住我，我就是那个皮娅，锡耶纳养育了我，而马雷马却把我毁掉，那个以前曾取出他的宝石戒指并给我 带上的人”。 毛姆当时的房东的女儿是这样向他解释的：皮娅是锡耶纳的贵妇，她丈夫怀疑她红杏出墙，把她关进马雷马的一处有毒瘴的废宅中。她迟迟未死，最后她丈夫把她从窗口扔下去。 故事梗概：漂亮、轻佻又头脑空虚的英国女子凯蒂， 为了避免自己变成一位老姑娘匆忙中嫁给一个拘谨、不善言谈的细菌学家瓦尔特，婚后的生活单调乏味，由于和丈夫之间的性格差异，凯蒂很快就和已婚男子、殖民官员查尔斯.查理偷情，发现奸情的瓦尔特虽然没有当面发作，但为了惩罚妻子，他把妻子带到了一个偏远的遭受霍乱肆虐的小城——湄潭府，在那里瓦尔特投入地工作，帮助减轻瘟疫的痛苦，但自己最终也死于瘟疫。凯蒂在封闭的小城也经历了人性的回归，她后悔偷情，在瓦尔特弥留之际乞求得到原谅。在瓦尔特死后，凯蒂回到英国，最终和孤老的父亲去往另外一个海外殖民地生活， 她最终认识到：“假如她沿着眼前这条越来越清晰的小路前行—不是诙谐的老韦丁顿说的那条不归路， 而是修道院里的嬷嬷们无怨无悔地行于其上的路——或许所有她做过的错事蠢事，所有她经过的磨难，并不完全是毫无意义的—那将是一条通往安宁的路”。 用结构主义文学批评解构《面纱》 用结构主义文学批评进入故事层，我们可以将小说的故事压缩，从而得到一个普遍的叙事公式：冲突—→对抗—→淘汰。 维持这一套叙事公式运行的动机是A≠B，即凯蒂及其社会阶层的价值观念≠凯蒂内心的价值观念。 如果A战胜了B，在小说中就会体现为凯蒂在沃尔特死后毫无悔意，这就成为一个悲剧。（向好的希望之后无可挽回的恶化） 如果B战胜了A，那就是小说的结尾，凯蒂因此成长，有了爱与责任，得到了人性的提升。 将叙事公式带入小说进行扩充我们可以得到几个重要的故事片段： 骄傲的凯蒂即将成为剩女（已无夫婿可选）。这是一个下降调。 与沃尔特结婚。这是一个上升调。 与查理偷情被发现，沃尔特将其带到有瘟疫的湄潭府。这是一个下降调。故事的调性迅速恶化。 凯蒂逐渐了解沃尔特，看到了他身上崇高的、善的一面。这是一个上升调。 沃尔特感染瘟疫死去。这是一个下降调。 凯蒂回到英国，得到成长。这是一个上升调。 上声调在小说中处于主导地位并最终取胜，最终女性意识觉醒的凯蒂真正掌握了自己人生的方向。这是小说现代性意义的表现之一。 从Kitty谈女性成长 原生家庭 强势的母亲，没有话语权的父亲 吝啬与控制感非常相关，作者在这里刻画的 Kitty 母亲是一个典型的肛欲期人格 母亲的势力和肤浅让她从小认同了对父亲的瞧不起（陌生人） 最后的和解（不再用性来作为自我评价的指标时） 投射与内摄 爱是什么，好的丈夫是什么，这个部分内化得非常模糊，似乎是满足我要求的就是爱（对方的需求，不存在的） 她的美貌容易成为别人对好妻子的投射对象，而她却不知道自己要什么 “食爱少女”的空虚 Charlie 不渣死，Walter 很难有机会。Kitty 的成长需要一个“好客体”的彻底破灭，这个意义上 Charlie 完成了他的使命 成长 男孩是通过成人礼成为男人的，而女孩是通过男人成为女人的 Walter 的成人礼是从科研走向临床 Kitty 的成人礼是 Charlie 给的，性的通道也是心的通道 但当 Walter 成人以后，他所有不假思索做的伟大的事情，都催化了 Kitty 意义感的重生 修女对亲密关系的评述，爱情观 别人依靠信赖的感觉，价值观 不假思索选择的潜移默化（比如照料生病的 Walter），人生观 Walter的“助攻”与互文手法 恋爱中犯了不比出轨小的错误 恋尸癖（喜欢想象中的那个你而无法接受你的改变），Kitty 对他来说只是一厢情愿的喜欢，他同样没有去想对方的需求 他们俩实际都非常害怕失去爱和连接（我恨我曾经允许自己爱过你） 在爱情中失去自我，努力成为不是自己的样子 陷入负性循环 Kitty 的举动是在一遍一遍大声说看见我，Walter 的举动是害怕付出后的受挫而主动走远 Kitty 出轨被发现以后他进入了一个相对原始的防御中 否认（不能当场揭穿） 吞没（你再说我就掐死你） 占有（你必须跟我去疫区） 同归于尽（不打疫苗，吃生菜色拉，我对你的终极惩罚是我的离开） 走出自虐式的惩罚 Kitty 鲜活的生活态度 自己骗不了自己的下意识反应 评价 互文的关系（什么是互文？在叙事上呈现为看似各说一件事，实则是互相呼应，互相阐发，互相补充，说的是一件事） 凯蒂对中国（中国人）、对瓦尔特以及对自我的看法形成了互文，都是一个揭开面纱的过程。 超我非常强大，压抑也会比较深 防御机制非常强大（掩盖、隔离自己脆弱的情绪：羞耻、痛苦、无助） 毛姆笔下的中国（想象与无意识立场） 肮脏丑陋的中国，恬静美好的中国都是中国。西方视野下的东方就是这么矛盾。 满洲格格的出现，增添神秘色彩，本质上是为了博眼球，方便他卖书（大误）。 评价 本质上毛姆笔下的中国只是一种想象，作为小说的叙事背景只不过是一种文化猎奇。 同样的叙事背景也可以替换到世界上其他地方，并不影响故事的核心进程。 Walter之死与小说的现代性意义 伦理的反叛 从偷情-惩罚的伦理模式来看，毛姆让偷情者活下来，却让惩罚者死去。打破读者的阅读期待视野，一方面制造了叙事高潮，但另一方面巨大的落差，也让读者不得不思考沃尔特的惩罚（将妻子带入瘟疫横行的陌生环境）是有罪的。 拒绝家暴 毛姆让弥留之际的沃尔特最后说出“死的是狗”，以这样一种讽刺的方式表达了对沃尔特的这种惩罚行为的不赞成。这是小说现代性意义的表现的另一方面。 链接 联系我们 (mailto:hi@fom.fm) hi@fom.fm 订阅方式 (https://fom.fm/subscribe) Special Guest: 李邦斯.

Today at Bridges, Dave Maugham - who leads Bridges' youth group with his wife Jess - continued a series he is leading us through in the book of Judges - examining lessons from the life of Samson.

This minute is not going to go how you think it will. It starts in the O.R. and ends with Henry’s fishing habits, but really this is a minute about torturing your college roommates. Today we discuss important things like how do you lock a tent? If you say Maugham enough times, will he appear in your bathroom mirror? Does Margaret have a shot in the 1952 Hide-and-Seek Championship? Paint a Moorish symbol on your door, wear a blue bathrobe with army boots, slip into your muscle tank scrubs, whatever it is that makes you comfortable, and watch as Hawkeye and Trapper find out Duke has a new paramour.

Quote by W. somerset Maugham. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/all-moves/support

Jolyon Maugham QC ... Was the prorogation of Parliament illegal? And is the Supreme Court set to find against the Boris Johnson administration? As the British executive faces off against the two other pillars of the liberal democratic system - Parliament and the Courts - hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams talk to one of the barristers at the centre of the case. Quite sensationally he says the government has failed to offer a defence in Court that its motives for prorogation were sound. He names two members of the government, which, it is said, according to a high level source, refused to sign pre-prepared affidavits from the government legal service. Maugham is confident that the Supreme Court will now find against the government. We apologise for the quality of some of the sound recording on this episode which was due to a technical fault.  

With the legality of prorogation being tested in the crucible of the Supreme Court, we welcome Good Law Project director and Remain legal vanguard JOLYON MAUGHAM QC to the studio to discuss exactly what’s at stake. If the Government wins this one, could future administrations simply suspend Parliament whenever it likes, as if in some authoritarian Hokey-Cokey?Plus, the maddening detail of what would be required to implement Johnson’s imaginary deal. What does the Lib Dems going broke for revoke mean for future dealings between the Remain parties? Is Jo Swinson out-Hulking the other party leaders? Does Corbyn’s reiteration of Labour’s neutrality in any future referendum actually mean anything? And Ian finally gets to discuss modern politics as explained by the character arc of the Incredible Hulk.Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison with Naomi Smith and Ian Dunt. Audio production by Mike Kemp for Soho Radio. Remainiacs is a Podmasters production.Get every new episode of Remainiacs a whole day early when you back us on the Patreon crowdfunding platform. You’ll also get our monthly Ask Remainiacs special episode plus smart merchandise, an exclusive weekly column by our panel, and discounts on #RemainiacsLive tickets too. #OwnTheRemoanremainiacs.comGet your free download of our theme tune ‘Demon Is A Monster’ by Cornershop. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What's happening with Brexit, and what should we make of Scotland's Court of Session ruling the prorogation of parliament unlawful? Jolyon Maugham QC joins for a special edition of the Prospect podcast to explain everything going on in the courts in relation to Brexit, what he expects will happen in a no-deal Brexit and whether Boris Johnson's prorogation was unlawful. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

¿Sigues llorando por esa novela que te rompió el corazón con su final? ¿Quieres seguir cortándote las venas con galletas de animalitos? ¡No esperes más! Te compartimos esta charla sobre novelas con finales tristes y te invitamos a discutir con nosotros si ¿las obras con final triste son las más cercanas a la realidad? ¿Una obra vale sólo por su final? ¿Vale la pena recorrer el camino de una obra aunque ya se conozca su desenlace?Con: Diana López, César Ramos y Miguel Moncada. Producción: Jaqueline Tavera. Edición: Álvaro Ortiz.

Two acrimonious marriages, secret pregnancies, and a later-in-life career as a celebrity interior designer. This week, Caroline and Adrienne delve into the life of the scandalous Syrie Maugham, one of the early female interior designers and the sort-of wife of famous author, W. Somerset Maugham.===============================================================Visit Scandal Sheets on Facebook and Instagram (@scandalsheetspod) and our website, www.scandalsheetspod.com. Enjoyed the show? Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review us at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, iHeartRadio.... and pretty much wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you for your support!We now have a Patreon! We would appreciate your support in defraying the costs of producing "Scandal Sheets". You will be handsomely rewarded. For one time gifts, we also have a Paypal linked to scandalsheetspod@gmail.com===============================================================Theme Music:Blind Love Dub by Jeris (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/VJ_Memes/55416 Ft: Kara Square (mindmapthat)

Two acrimonious marriages, secret pregnancies, and a later-in-life career as a celebrity interior designer. This week, Caroline and Adrienne delve into the life of the scandalous Syrie Maugham, one of the early female interior designers and the sort-of wife of famous author, W. Somerset Maugham.===============================================================Visit Scandal Sheets on Facebook and Instagram (@scandalsheetspod) and our website, www.scandalsheetspod.com. Enjoyed the show? Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review us at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, iHeartRadio.... and pretty much wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you for your support!We now have a Patreon! We would appreciate your support in defraying the costs of producing "Scandal Sheets". You will be handsomely rewarded. For one time gifts, we also have a Paypal linked to scandalsheetspod@gmail.com===============================================================Theme Music:Blind Love Dub by Jeris (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/VJ_Memes/55416 Ft: Kara Square (mindmapthat)

durée : 01:30:00 - Les Nuits de France Culture - par : Philippe Garbit, Christine GOEME, Albane Penaranda - "Humour conjugal" d'après Somerset Maugham, une comédie en trois actes diffusée sur la Chaîne Nationale en 1953. - invités : Somerset MAUGHAM - Somerset Maugham : - réalisé par : Viginie Mourthé

A class that spiraled outwards from a consideration of Chaucer's Pardoner's Tale to Maugham's parable of the appointment in Samara to parables in general, including the strange parable of the talents in Matthew.  The ontology of things in the world and death as not a thing in the world (in Chaucer, in Maugham).  How treasure or gold is like death -- a catalyst, a vector, something not itself (a marker for a return to Aristotle tomorrow).

Klassikern handlar om en av världens mest framgångsrika och mest cyniska författare, Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) som älskade teater, lyx och elaka skämt.

Barrister and author of the widespread blog, waitingfortax.com, joins us to discuss the cases he's brought against the government over Article 50, Uber and his concerns over the abuses of landlords providing unliveable accommodation to vulnerable people in the UK.  Jolyon launched the crowd funded ‘People’s Challenge’ which raised over £300,000 to challenge the Government’s position that Article 50 could be triggered by Royal Prerogative. And he crowdfunded £70,000 to launch the Dublin Case to establish whether we can revoke our Article 50 notification. Thanks to The Economist for sponsoring this week's episode. Make sure you visit economist.com/roast to claim to get your hands on a free copy.  Keep up to date with Jolyon's work @JolyonMaugham and the goodlawproject.org  Talk to us @JolyonRubs @heydonprowse @NewsRoastPod As always, if you've not already please take the time to rate, review and share the podcast with someone you think might like it.

Jo Maugham QC is a campaigning barrister, an expert on tax law and the founder of the Good Law Project, a new organization that seeks to use the law to deliver a more progressive society. Jo has recently launched a case to force the government to publish their impact assessments on Brexit. In this interview Jo talks about that case, and gives us his view on how we can #exitfrombrexit.

A 60-minute full episode in which we discuss the devil in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” and what Star Trek’s Nomad character has in common with Modernist Literature. Kaisha talks about the classic book she’s been meaning to read for years, I talk about my dangerous technique of pickling parts of my manuscript, and we begin to question Maugham’s choices in his anthology, Teller of Tales. P.S. The strange banging noise you will hear during the Powwow is Kelsey knocking over her coffee…TWICE! You can see full show notes at www.readwriterepeatpod.com.

Jo Maugham QC joins Jonny McFarlane to bring some light to the heated debate around the Supreme Court tax judgment. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

EPISODE #126-- This episode is a long time coming, but here we are. Caitlin Cutt/Lemaire of "White Wine, True Crime" joins James for a childhood favorite: Death Becomes Her. They talk about everything: Life, Death, Paris, and not this movie. It is also nine months old and exists in a world where Donald Trump is not the corrupt, impeachable mess that he exists as. Ugh. Anyways, follow James on Twitter @kislingwists and follow Caitlin @bossymatilda. You should also listen to her podcast White Wine, True Crime, which is available, um, everywhere. Please like, subscribe, and review. Tell a friend. War and enemy.

Is Fifty Shades Darker a better movie in 4k? Mark minces no words on this week's DigiGods! DigiGods Podcast, 05/09/17 (MP3) — 33.36 MB right click to save Subscribe to the DigiGods Podcast In this episode, the Gods discuss: 36 Hours (DVD-R) The 4400: The Complete Series (DVD) Air Warriors Season 1 (DVD) Alena (DVD) American Experience - Ruby Ridge (DVD) Animal Kingdom - The Complete First Season (Blu-ray) Apprentice (DVD) Beaches (2017) (DVD) Blanche (Blu-ray) Bob Hope Salutes the Troops (DVD) The Chef's Wife (DVD) Divorce: The Complete First Season (Blu-ray) The Eagle Huntress (Blu-ray) Fifty Shades Darker (4k UHD Blu-ray) Frontline: Battle for Iraq (DVD) Frontline: Divided States of America (DVD) Frontline: Trump's Road to the White House (DVD) Gary Numan: Android in La La Land (DVD) Gatchaman II Complete Collection (DVD) Goto, Isle of Love (Blu-ray) The Greasy Strangler (DVD) The Great British Baking Show: Season 1, 2 and 3 (DVD) I Am Not Your Negro (Blu-ray) John Lewis: Get in the Way (DVD) John Williams & Steven Spielberg: The Ultimate Collection (DVD) Kiju Yoshida: Love + Anarchism (Blu-ray) Mifune: The Last Samurai (DVD) Mobile Suit Gundam 08th MS Team (Blu-ray) Mobile Suit Gundam F91 (Blu-ray) Nature: Yosemite (Blu-ray) NOVA: School of the Future (DVD) NOVA: Search for the Super Battery (DVD) NOVA: Super Tunnel (DVD) NOVA: The Origami Revolution (DVD) NOVA: Treasures of the Earth (DVD) Ocean Waves (Blu-ray/DVD) Ophélia (Blu-ray) Orange is the New Black: Season 4 (Blu-ray) Plants Behaving Badly (DVD) Pokemon: Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel (DVD) Rake Series 1 (DVD) The Red Turtle (Blu-ray) The Reinhold Niebuhr Story (DVD) Ride the High Country (Blu-ray) The Rounders (Blu-ray) The Ruins of Lifta (DVD) Sailor Moon R: The Movie (Blu-ray/DVD) Saving Banksy (DVD) Secrets of the Dead: Leonardo, The Man who Saved Science (DVD) Secrets of the Dead: Nero's Sunken City (DVD) Secrets of the Dead: Van Gogh's Ear (DVD) Serial Mom Collector's Edition (Blu-ray) Shark Week: Shark ’n’ Awe Collection (DVD) Spencer's Mountain (Blu-ray) The Talk: Race in America (DVD) Theatre of Mr. & Mrs. Kabal (Blu-ray) Turn a Gundam Blu-ray Collection 1 (Blu-ray) Turn a Gundam Blu-ray Collection 2 (Blu-ray) Undefeated Bahamut Chronicles Complete Collection (Blu-ray) Walerian Borowczyk -Short Films Collection (Blu-ray) Wild Weather (DVD) The World's Most Beautiful Swindlers (Blu-ray) Please also visit CineGods.com. 

Hi, everyone, and welcome to episode 1 of my podcast Leading A Double Life. I’m Kwei Quartey, a physician and author of the Inspector Darko Dawson novels. On my podcast, stories of what it’s like to be a medical doctor and a writer. This episode, Doctor-Writer, Incorporated. We’re going to look at a well-established but curious bond between writing and being a physician, and I’ll tell you a little bit about how it happened to me. We have records of doctor-writers as far back as the 5th century BC. Even St. Luke, one of the four Gospel authors, is said to have been a physician. John Keats, the English romantic poet who lived from 1795 to 1821, trained at Guy’s Hospital London. He had an aptitude for medicine, but he was ambivalent about it and feared he would never become the poet he wanted to be if he continued his medical training in earnest. He did continue up to getting his license, but ultimately, Keats chose poetry over surgery. On the other hand, Anton Chekhov, the great Russian playwright and short story writer born in 1860, practiced medicine throughout his medical career. Chekhov said, “Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress. When I get fed up with one, I spend the night with the other.” Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of possibly the world’s most famous fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes, began writing before he went into medicine and is said to have written his books while waiting for patients to show up. Apparently, they seldom did, and Doyle’s medical practice was never successful. Another physician writer was W Somerset Maugham, who trained and qualified as a physician, but never practiced. On successfully selling his first novel, Maugham abandoned his medical career. Two Harvard-trained physicians, Robin Cook and Michael Crichton, were phenomenally successful writers. Cook, an ophthalmologist, continued his practice while writing bestselling medical thrillers like Coma and Outbreak. On the other hand, Crichton, who died in 2008, dumped medicine on graduating. He never even got a license to practice. One of his quotes is, “Books aren't written - they're rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn't quite done it.” Crichton could not have been more spot-on. Khaled Hosseini, a contemporary of mine who sold a gazillion copies of The Kite Runner and other tour de force novels, practiced medicine in the same medical group as me, but for obvious reasons he left after The Kite Runner became so successful. I’d like to mention also Janet Asimov, who was a psychiatrist and wrote science-fiction and non-fiction; and Abraham Verghese, a professor at the Stanford School of Medicine and the author of the highly acclaimed Cutting For Stone. Dr. Verghese, an inspiring teacher, said, “I wanted the reader to see how entering medicine was a passionate quest, a romantic pursuit, a spiritual calling, a privileged yet hazardous undertaking.” So, we see from these examples there’s no set pattern as to whether these authors became doctors first, or the other way around. In my case, I wanted to be a writer from the early age of eight or nine. I typed or hand-wrote novellas, stapling the pages together between jacket covers I designed myself. My inspiration came from hundreds of books at home, both fiction and nonfiction. Most of all, I loved mysteries. My late Ghanaian father and my black American mother were both lecturers at the University of Ghana, where I grew up with my three brothers. My interest in medicine came years later in my early teens. My family and I were still living in Ghana at the time, and I was set on a science-intensive path that would take me to medical school. But circumstances became complicated at the beginning of my 2nd year. Not only did my father die of pancreatic cancer, but social and economic conditions in Ghana under the then military rule were abysmal. There was political unrest and frequent school and university closures. My mother came to the difficult decision to return home to New York and we, her sons, went with her. Now I faced the daunting task of getting into a new medical school. Through a combination of luck, doggedness, and hard work, I got into Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, DC. After graduating with my MD degree, I was tired of snow on the east coast, so I moved to southern California for my residency in Internal Medicine. During my training at the USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, I didn’t do any creative writing. Residency is an exhausting grind of long call hours and rounds with not enough sleep in between. After completing the training, I went through a strange period in which I felt anticlimactic about being a doctor. Hard to believe, but I was actually looking around for what other careers I could get into. I was sitting at a desk in the ICU of one of the hospitals in Los Angeles one morning and a nurse who knew me well asked me why I looked so despondent. I told her about the funk I was in, and she asked me: “Well, what else, besides medicine, do you want to do?” I said I’d always wanted to be a writer, to which she responded, “What’s stopping you?” Her observation, in the form of a question, was keen. Nothing was stopping me. So, with my love of writing rekindled, I began a creative writing course at UCLA extension, after which I continued several years in a writing group run by Marjorie Miller, who was a previous editor at Macmillan. I completed three novels during that time and attempted a few more that I didn’t finish. I self-published one of them, called Kamila, long before self-publishing became an okay thing to do in the publishing world. But it would be years before I would create my Inspector Darko Dawson series set in Ghana. The prototype character was quite different from the one in existence now. My original idea for him was taken from a French documentary I saw while vacationing in Paris in which a countryside detective in Cote d’Ivoire used the threat of witchcraft to make his suspects and witnesses talk. But for my novels, the rural setting seemed to be limiting, and although I’d observed rural life in Ghana, it was always from the outside in. I never lived it. Eventually then, Darko became an urban police detective who is often sent to remote parts of the country to solve crimes. I should say that when as I began the series, I had some catching up to do because I hadn’t been back to Ghana in some fifteen years, and the country had modernized significantly since I’d last been there, not to mention becoming a stable democracy. So to come full circle, why do doctors write, and in particular, fiction? What compels us to do it? Some people theorize that it’s a way to escape the burden we carry healing others—or trying to—and therefore it has a therapeutic value. Maybe so, but I have another theory that medical practice is the ultimate existential battle to alleviate what ails us. There’s a roadblock, though. Ironically, it’s the doctor himself or herself. A physician is human too—not infallible by any means, and capable of mistakes, sometimes big ones. The fight against illness and disease comes with wins and losses, and some of the time, doctors feel defeated, and it can be frightening discomfiting. But when we write fiction, we are absolutely in control. We determine the plot, characters, and the outcome. It’s a reassuring counterbalance to the unpredictable nature of medicine. So we write, and find ourselves restored with strength to work another day.

Läbinisti autobiograafiline Rangelt isiklik sisaldab Maughami nauditavaid mälestusi elust oma villas Prantsusmaa Vahemere rannikul Cap Ferrat's vahetult enne Teise maailmasõja puhkemist, isiklikke muljeid viieteistkümnest esimesest sõjakuust Euroopas, kahekordsest põgenemisest itaallaste rünnaku eest jpm. Maugham mõtiskleb Prantsusmaa hävingu põhjuste üle II Maailmasõjas, öeldes just siin välja oma kuulsa ja palju tsiteeritud mõtte: Kui mõni rahvus hindab midagi oma vabadusest kõrgemalt siis ta kaotab oma vabaduse; ja iroonia peitub selles, et kui see on kas mugavus või raha mida ta kõrgemalt hindab siis kaotab ta ka selle. (William Somerset Maugham. Rangelt isiklik.)

The name Michael Arlen will mean nothing to most readers but Arlen was once the cream of the jazz age novelists, the envy of Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Maugham, the owner of speedboats and a villa on the Mediterranean. Then he fell completely into obscurity. By the time his son was born, the golden days were past tense, with the father coasting on his stardust. This is the story of that. Sage butter. >>> Download the mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes >>> From recent débuts to classics, fiction to non-fiction, memoirs, philosophy, science, history and journalism, Burning Books separates the smoking from the singeworthy, looking at the pleasures (and pains) of reading, the craft of writing, the ideas that are at the heart of great novels as well as novels that try to be great, but don’t quite make it. https://litopia.com/shows/burn/

The name Michael Arlen will mean nothing to most readers but Arlen was once the cream of the jazz age novelists, the envy of Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Maugham, the owner of speedboats and a villa on the Mediterranean. Then he fell completely into obscurity. By the time his son was born, the golden days were past tense, with the father coasting on his stardust. This is the story of that. Sage butter. >>> Download the mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes >>> From recent débuts to classics, fiction to non-fiction, memoirs, philosophy, science, history and journalism, Burning Books separates the smoking from the singeworthy, looking at the pleasures (and pains) of reading, the craft of writing, the ideas that are at the heart of great novels as well as novels that try to be great, but don’t quite make it. http://litopia.com/shows/burn/

Terence Stamp chooses The Razor's Edge as his favourite work. Based on Somerset Maugham's novel, the Oscar nominated film stars Gene Tierney and Tyrone Power as an American World War One pilot searching for meaning in life. Presented by John Wilson. The interview is followed by selected highlights from the BBC archive: Somerset Maugham reflecting on his success; Kingsley Amis on Maugham and Selina Hastings on the secret life of Somerset Maugham. Full archive details are available on the Front Row website

Klassikern handlar om en av världens mest framgångsrika och mest cyniska författare, Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) som älskade teater, lyx och elaka skämt.