The Gentleman in the Parlour (Itineraria Asiatica: Burma) [Paperback]

Somerset W. Maugha (Author)

Book Description

Series: Itineraria Asiatica: Burma | Publication Date: July 10, 2006

Among the many memorable books on travels in Burma before the Second World War, Somerset Maugham's leisurely progress from London via Colombo, then up the Irrawaddy to Mandalay and onwards through the then peaceful Shan States to Thailand and Cambodia ranks among the most enjoyable. He was not only a sharp-eyed observer of human nature but writes about his encounters with a good deal of emphaty quite uncommon among travel writers of the 1920's

Product Details

• Paperback: 276 pages
• Publisher: Orchid Press (July 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9748299589
• ISBN-13: 978-9748299587
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,968,184 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Of A Forgotten Master, May 2, 1999

By 

Paul Saevig, [e-mail] (Santa Ana, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gentleman in the Parlour (Itineraria Asiatica: Burma) (Paperback)

Somerset Maugham was one of the world's most famous and widely-read writers of the early 20th Century. Now that 100 years have passed, he is hardly read at all, except for OF HUMAN BONDAGE and maybe THE MOON AND SIXPENCE. This is a major loss for booklovers, because Maugham wrote with an incomparable dignity, clarity, and insight. In THE GENTLEMAN IN THE PARLOUR, he takes his gifts to the Far East -- into a colonial world that no longer exists on the face of the earth. He experiences a way of life that we will never see again. As a small, stammering homosexual, Maugham was far from the stereotypical conquering Englishman, yet he observed all the perquisites of class and station, traveling in style as one of the first truly rich (from his writing) authors. At all times he wrote frankly and unflinchingly, before "telling it like it is" became a catchphrase. As a self-made writer who labored to achieve and maintain his craft, he also wrote with unerring elegance. His great novels are soemwhat strained, if you will, by the dictates of fiction and his publishers. GENTLEMAN IN THE PARLOUR, however, is a purer Maugham, something closer to a remarkable human personality who should be celebrated with his contemporaries D.H. Lawrence, Joseph Conrad, Henry James, and even James Joyce. Maugham saw inside the human heart as clearly as any of them, but perhaps modern audiences are not as pleased with what he saw.