With this book Maugham skilfully dramatizes a philosophical treatise on the clash of Eastern spirituality and Western culture into one man's relentless journey towards enlightenment and the repercussions of such an action on the loves and lives of others. Hidden beneath the exquisite prose, a lesson in self-determination and self-development slowly unravels and reveals itself amidst a beautifully balanced cast of players and the customs, prejudices, and decadence of the day. Although by no means the first to anticipate the growing influence of Eastern Culture on Europe and America, Maugham-who drifts through the story as a unassuming narrator-produces a work that proved perceptive to the point of prophetic and predated the Beats who were to popularize the phenomenon by over a decade.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review:
"[Maugham is] a great artist . . . a genius." -Theodore Dreiser
"[Maugham's] excessively rare gift of story-telling . . . is almost the equal of imagination itself." -"The Sunday Times" (London)
"It is very difficult for a writer of my generation, if he is honest, to pretend indifference to the work of Somerset Maugham. . . . He was always so entirely "there."" -Gore Vidal
"Maugham remains the consummate craftsman. . . . [His writing is] so compact, so economical, so closely motivated, so skillfully written, that it rivets attention from the first page to last." -"Saturday Review of Literature"
Book Description:
An ambitious novel by the formidable talent, Somerset Maugham
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherThinking Ink Media
- Publication date2011
- ISBN 10 1907590102
- ISBN 13 9781907590108
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages262
-
Rating