Beyond the Letters

My acquaintance with Somerset Maugham began long long ago and I can proudly say that his books are for me the proof of the fact that sometimes what teachers make us read is not only useful but also fascinating. I’ve met quotes from his novels in English textbooks of all kinds and his adapted stories were among my first proper English reads. In the university we read his novels and analyzed them from the point of view of stylistics, lexicology, grammar and literary studies. One should become sick and tired of any texts seen so often but strangely enough, I’ve come to really love his stories and now I see Mr. Maugham as an old friend who can always cheer me up. So after a series of experiment with Booker prize nominees and some extremely postmodern things it was good to pick up  The Razor’s Edge . and remember my student years. The novel is a nice piece of writing all soaked with  the interbellum mood , one of the later works of Maugham (and therefore a bit uncharacteristic ...

Victorian era is generally considered to be the best period for Great Britain when due to the numerous dominions the country turned into one of the the most influential empires of the world, but there is one more “Belle epoque” for the British - the interbellum period. These are two short decades between the two World Wars when the victory of the Triple Entente during the first one persuaded the people that the Empire was undefeatable and the thoughts of the other Great War didn’t yet cross anyone’s mind. This period of easy-going attitudes and the utmost of British aristocracy, when hedonism was the synonym of good manners and the estates were glittering with luxury, this time is the subject of “Brideshead Revisited”. This novel is a flow of nostalgy for the past which makes it so incredibly beautiful.   The narrator, Captain Charles Ryder, and his battalion in the last year of war is ordered to the old English estate of Brideshead. The mansion known to him since his yout...