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The Trembling of a Leaf

Little Stories of the South Sea Islands

By William Somerset Maugham

(1)

| Others | 9781409950714

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Book Description

While much of the novel takes place in Europe, its main characters are American, notBritish.

1 Review

Probably worth reading

Narrative – Though these stories cannot be called a masterpiece of the English literature, I still found some pleasure in reading them. Maybe it was precisely the notion of not reading something considered a masterpiece, and of not plunging into the insights of one of the “voices of the century” – o ... (continue)

Narrative – Though these stories cannot be called a masterpiece of the English literature, I still found some pleasure in reading them. Maybe it was precisely the notion of not reading something considered a masterpiece, and of not plunging into the insights of one of the “voices of the century” – on the contrary, to be approaching a work literary canons have put aside and quite forgotten – that drove me into the reading of these stories. I found them especially interesting because they revealed a perspective so different from what I usually live, read or know about.
What I found was a simple, possibly even demure, and honest tone in the writing, which is in tune with the general impression of stillness and tranquillity that I imagine the narrative means to convey. And I liked that, it was comfortable. And the cruelty, the puritan hypocrisy, the selfishness and racial prevarications that shaped this dreamy world only ever pop out briefly, now and then, here and there, like the bubbles some heavy fish might release from the depth of a lagoon, without the smoothness of the surface ever being troubled by the huntings and deaths below – without them even being involved in the drama. Which might mean something important.
Ideology – I had the impression that explicit insights on culture, colonialism and exoticism are shifting continuously, in accord with each character's perspective, so that it is not so simple, in the end, to understand which one is the author's, if is one to be found at all. Occasional claims of a superiority of “the white civilization” above that of the natives are so overt that is difficult to imagine that they can be genuine as well, even for a publication from 1921. One is initially tempted to read the whole narrative as a typical Victorian depiction of life in the Colonies, i.e. as the attempted escape to an alternative exotic world – an interpretation which is soon to be rejected, for traces of corruption soon come to spoil the heaven-like atmosphere.
Characters – Those characters between which conflict arises never communicate and try to understand one another's point of view; though living in strict contact, they seem to be observing each other from a distance, failing to acknowledge that mere observation of the other's external manifestations and value system is not equal comprehension of them (this is fully the case in The Pool, I think). In fact, though they possess an idea of mutual differences and idiosyncrasies, no one ever consider of giving up something in order to compromise. The general impression is that of a series of individuals who – even though perfectly capable of rather radical decisions, such as giving up a secure life and career to start an exotic adventure over seas, or escaping from the dullness of 'civilized life' to the uncontaminated South Sea Island, or overcoming all sorts of mental and physical obstacles between themselves and the object of their desires – are incapable of breaking away from the mental schemes of which they truly are the victims. They remain prisoners of themselves, incapable of understanding, loving or giving.
So it's probably worth reading.

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Eleonora said on Jan 9, 2012 | Add your feedback