Collected Short Stories: Volume 1 (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) [Paperback]

W. Somerset Maugham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1992

Selections in this Volume:

AN OFFICIAL POSITION To improve his lot, a prisoner in a French penal colony accepts an odious job...and the consequences.

RED This is a poignant love story of youth, beauty and the fleeting moments of ecstasy that pass away only too soon.

THE ALIEN CORN A young Jewish man devotes himself to the pursuit of music over the violent objections of his aristocratic family. As the family wrestles with its Jewish identity, the son flings himself headlong into the Bohemian world of performing artists.

THE VERGER When a lowly verger is fired because of his illiteracy, it turns out to be his lucky day.

MAYHEW A lawyer decides to make a clean break with his past and moves to Capri.

HOME After a lifetime of living abroad, a penniless old sailor finally comes home.

IN A STRANGE LAND While travelling in Turkey, a vacationer meets an extraordinary English woman.

3 cassettes

Running Time: 4 hours 35 minutes

Unabridged

--This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM, (1874 - 1965), novelist, playwright, short-story writer, and the highest paid author in the world in the 1930’s, nevertheless failed to gain the critical acclaim he so desperately wanted during his lifetime. "I have never pretended to be anything but a story teller. It has amused me to tell stories and I have told a great many. It is a misfortune for me that the telling of a story just for the sake of the story is not an activity that is in favor with the intelligentsia. I endeavor to bear my misfortunes with fortitude," he wrote. Today, he is considered one of the finest short story writers who ever lived.

NARRATOR CHARLTON GRIFFIN is one of the great readers of our time. His classical theatre training combined with his wonderful, incisive interpretations of great literature make him a unique talent. Mr.Griffin's vocal performance is vibrant, soothing, compelling, and hypnotic. He is the recipient of the Audie Award for Classic Fiction. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

From AudioFile

No one who relishes the little ironies of life can fail to appreciate this second audio collection of Maugham's short stories. It takes us on a strange journey to far worlds where we meet unusual people: the executioner in a French penal colony; a lonely Englishman on a South Sea island; a wealthy baron who is happier defying his parents, living the life of a Jewish musician. Charlton Griffin narrates with the ease of an urbane man of the world, but recreates Maugham's strange characters with pleasure and gusto. While his narrative voice is graceful and compelling, his characterizations are acutely individual, even bizarre. Their voices linger in our memory long after the tape is off. Combined with an appropriate musical score and sound effects, this is a thoroughly satisfying package. P.E.F. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (September 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140185895
• ISBN-13: 978-0140185898
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #837,508 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An unmatched short-story writer, February 20, 2001

By 

Guillermo Maynez (Mexico, Distrito Federal Mexico) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Collected Short Stories: Volume 1 (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) (Paperback)

The first of four volumes of the collected short stories of Somerset Maugham is a glimpse of what is to come. A fine, detached, subtle but always unsparing observer of human nature, Maugham tells us stories about human weakness with a humorous, at the same time cynical and compassionate tone. Maugham expects very little from humans, and so, when they do sublime and even heroic things, it is all the more suprising. Perhaps the contemporary word which can best describe his attitude towards his characters is "cool". We humans are a mix of perversion, weakness, solidarity and real goodness. Maugham knows. So he is always willing to forgive his characters, as long as they know that their actions will have irremediable consequences. Hard but touching, Maugham sees the world from afar, from the internal wisdom which lets him know that nothing is too bad and nothing is too good.

The tales I liked the most are "Rain", about the unlikely relationship between a couple of puritan missionaries and a prostitute, "Before the party", about terrible marital secrets revealed right before an important party, and, above all, "The fall of Edward Barnard", simply a masterpiece of storytelling. First time I read it, I decided to become Edward Barnard myself. Go figure.

Maugham's style is anything but experimental. He is not trying to find a voice: he has one and he's pretty much sure about its value. And he's right. The way he uses words is the exact measure of craftmanship: not one word is missing, not one is futile. Precision, concision, wisdom, irony and humanism: the best mix for a reading. After you finish this, you'll go to the other three volumes, little by little, enjoying every story.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A man of few illusions regarding his fellow man (and woman),, October 20, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Collected Short Stories: Volume 1 (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) (Paperback)

W. Somerset Maugham in his always fascinating short stories explores such a variety of relational scenarios with "disinterested curiosity" as to leave this reader breathless with awe. His characters murder, suicide, go mad, con, spy and even (remember he was writing in the early part of the century) commit incest. No situation eludes or escapes him. His genius is to make it all sensible and plausible, even prosaic, a truth we all know. Unrivaled in breadth, depth, brevity, tightness of composition and humor. Not for the faint hearted.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Writer's Writer, December 21, 2002

By 

Strega Nona (Aust.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Collected Short Stories: Volume 1 (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) (Paperback)

I've only just discovered the wonders of W. Somerset Maugham. This was the first of his works that I have ever read, and it was an absolute pleasure. There are other reviewers on these pages who are more knowledgeable and better critics than I, so I am just going to tell you how much I enjoyed this particular compilation. Every story was a treasure. Every single character was so well drawn, that for the first time in a long time I found myself empathising with these people, loving them, hating them, lamenting for them and genuinely caring about what happened to them.

Every story started off in a fairly prosaic, nondescript fashion. But every story had me hooked by at least the first page. Sometimes they unfolded as funny stories, other were tales about how an individual's world had changed catastrophically. I never got bored, and the writing was never predictable, Maugham always had a surprisingly poetical observation to make that would send me into raptures. This is truly a writer of sensitivity and talent. I can honestly say that I have been searching for a writer of this calibre for a long time. If you care anything at all about the amazing stories that ordinary, little people have, then read this book and Maugham's other works. He truly is a master.