The Painted Veil

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Coming to Hong Kong, Kitty had found it hard to reconcile herself to her husband's lowly position as bacteriologist and within three months of marriage she had known she had made a mistake. It had been her mother's fault. However, in this second issue (Fig 2), Maugham cleverly adapted these location names and henceforth referred to them as ‘Tching-Yen’, ‘Pleasant Valley’, ‘The Mount’ and ‘Lushan’ respectively. All references to ‘Canton’ (Guangzhou) have also been removed due to its proximity to Hong Kong. Even though Maugham had changed the names to avoid allegations, he later admitted in 1934 that he was indeed inspired by the events witnessed during his voyage to China, which directly led to the creation of this book and raises the question of whether this kind of censorship was necessary at all. And eventually, her character grew and her soul was transformed as she found a higher calling in nursing children and admiration for her well-respected if unlovable husband. Pregnant, she told him she didn’t know if it was his or her lover’s but it mattered not, because the husband got written out at this point in a touching deathbed scene. Maugham offers musings on religion without sounding excessively preachy, and offers a considered view on what makes life worth living. It is a joy to read and to watch as Kitty comes of age, learning from the people she encounters and ultimately sees past the veil of her life to some underlying truth. There are also comments here on the nature of westerners "doing good" in cultures considered lesser.

The Painted Veil is a 1925 novel by British author W. Somerset Maugham. The title is a reference to Percy Bysshe Shelley's 1824 sonnet, which begins "Lift not the painted veil which those who live / Call Life". Townsend, ovviamente, si tiene stretto il suo matrimonio e non è affatto disposto a mettere tutto in discussione per dare seguito ‘legale’ alla sua scappatella con Kitty. Maugham's story of an unfaithful woman who follows her husband into a cholera epidemic and ultimately earns redemption was inspired by a story in Dante’s The Divine Comedy. The Purgatorio section of the Comedy contains the lines "Pray, when you are returned to the world, and rested from the long journey, remember me, who am Pia. Siena made me, Maremma unmade me: this he knows who after betrothal espoused me with his ring." A tutor told Maugham that these lines were spoken by Pia, a women from Siena whose husband suspected her of adultery but was afraid to kill her because of her powerful family. He took her down to his castle in the Maremma and hoped that the noxious vapors there would end her life, but when she did not fall ill he threw her out of the window. Walter and Kitty barely spoke as they travelled by chair through the inscrutable Chinese hinterland. How frighteningly yellow were the faces that surrounded them! But such a relief to be met by a white man on their arrival! Even if he was bald and ugly.

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Kitty’s lover Charles Townsend turns out to be a serial adulterer who has no intention of leaving his wife (who had the money (dinero, spanish) and also Charles did not want to lose his position in society, so Kitty, with nowhere else to go, follows her husband to remote China. Stripped of the British society of her youth and the small but effective society she fought so hard to attain in Hong Kong, she is compelled by her awakening conscience to reassess her life and learn how to love. Ce se întîmplă cînd vălul vieții, frumos zugrăvit, este îndepărtat printr-un gest decis? Adevărul din spatele lui te poate strivi sau te poate salva. Maugham alege a doua consecință. His fame as a short story writer began with The Trembling of a Leaf, subtitled Little Stories of the South Sea Islands, in 1921, after which he published more than ten collections. His other works include travel books such as On a Chinese Screen, and Don Fernando, essays, criticism, and the autobiographical The Summing Up and A Writer's Notebook.

Redemption: Thankfully, both Kitty and Walter were able to let go of their past mistakes. Walter truly forgave Kitty. Even without knowing whether he was the biological father of Kitty’s baby or not, Walter agreed to raise the child together. That’s true love. On the other hand, Kitty also took care of Walter until he passed away. She didn’t have to, but Kitty did it because she loved her man. L’intera trama prende spunto da un altro celebre riferimento letterario: da quella Pia de’ Tolomei che Dante incontra nel Purgatorio. Questi i versi del poeta fiorentino:In Great Britain, where this First English Edition was printed, the main character’s surname was already a point of contention during Nash’s publication in 1924. Several readers had threatened to sue for libel since they shared the last name ‘Lane’ with the protagonists. After settling the lawsuit, Maugham had decided to change the characters’ names to ‘Forr’ during the run of the English serialisation, before finally settling on the name ‘Fane’ in the later First English publication in book form, which was printed in two runs of 4,000 copies each. Although this isn't my usual type of story, I enjoyed it immensely. There were plenty of twists and turns along the way that I didn't see coming. Early on, I thought I had it all worked out in my head, but I was sooo wrong. This story did not pan out the way I had envisioned, but it was strangely fitting for this couple. Kitty was vain, loved to laugh and play, and found her new husband boring and sometimes disgusting. It wasn't long before she started an affair, fell head over heels in love and believed that she has found the real meaning of love.