Similar to most of the ordinary Hong Kongers, I got acquaintance to Maugham, together with Maupassant, from the extract of 《驀然回首》by 白先勇, when I was in secondary school. However, not being interested in novel then, especially the English ones, I have not had a glance on Maugham's work. It would rather be lucky to me. As if I had done so, my time would have just been wasted, since no youngsters would click on it. The tone of Maugham's books seem flat and boring.
I guessed 董橋's articles ignited my interest in Maugham. I first picked up Of Human Bondage some two years ago when my spare time re-emerged after the completion of first year LLB exam. Viewed as a semi-autobiological novel, it unravels the dark side of humanity. Though I was rather discontent to the happy ending, the entanglement of lust and human frailty throughout did amuse me.
According to 白先勇, he learnt the style of "disinterest analysis" from Maugham. I cannot agree more. The judgment could be exemplified from Maugham's short stories. Like, The Lotus Eater, the main character, Thomas Wilson, who quited his job at 30's and moved to Capri, with nothing to work on, just "hea" around. This normally-treat-as-parasite, lived a life we ordinary people just dream of but not dare to, was coolly dismantled by Maugham without any overt sentiment shown.
The Moon and Sixpence is another good example. Based on the life of artist Paul Gauguin, Maugham again, applying his skill acquired from medical training in writing the novel, acted as a surgeon, anatomizing the main character Charles Strickland. The callousness of Strickland was optimized by Maugham's cold-bloodiness. The genius's nonchalance to proletariat's banality recalled a friend of mine. However, the most beautiful thing is, we should be reminded the concept of value, say a LV bag worths the moon to you, but less than sixpence to me. So, stick to yourself and don't bother others.
Maugham is surely one of my favourite writers. Through his English snobbish strokes, the idiosyncrasy of all the trivial minnows shines. Self-claimed as a writer "in the very first row of the second-raters", to me, his works bring so much more fun than those first-raters.
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