I could wait until I research and nail down specific titles
and such to respond to questions posed regarding my last
post. But I know I will think long and hard and want to get
it right and the moment will pass and I will never say
anything further on O'Hara and Maugham. So with all good
intentions to later do it right, let me say a bit more off
the top of my head.
On O'Hara, APPOINTMENT IN SAMARA is a fine novel. Some of his
later novels are failures and some others are worth reading,
including the better known such as A RAGE TO LIVE. Later,
less well known novels, such as THE LOCKWOOD CONCERN, are
superior to the better known, best sellers. I may have
screwed up the exact title of "Lockwood" but it is close
enough for you to find it.
As someone else mentioned, seek out his short stories. The
man was a master of the form. He could tell a story through
dialog better than anyone. The plotline develops through the
dialog but in a buried form. It's there on another level.
Plus there are stories that I would have to search for to
name by title that stick in my memory. One involves a guy who
ran a popular barber shop, patronized by the best people in
town, but he is undone through stubborn but understandable
decisions. It is all so very real and believable and a
natural outgrowth of the characters. And somewhere he wrote a
story that I have searched to rediscover thirty years after
reading it but can't seem to find. A man has a series of dogs
to whom he is devoted. Collies I believe they were. When one
dies, he obtains another but the pain of losing his old pet
is a terrible transition. He reaches a point where he
realizes that it is possible that a new pet may outlive him.
He does not want a dog to have to suffer as he has suffered
and so does not acquire a new collie despite his loneliness.
The story is more than that but the pet angle has stayed with
me for all this time. It's a bit of business that touches me
more as the years go by.
So for O'Hara, I say seek out SAMARA and damn near any
collection of short stories. ASSEMBLY (1961) is a
representative collection.
Maugham will not be to everyone's taste. I say again that his
THE SUMMING UP is a great book on writing. His ASHENDEN is
included in many best lists such as that of Ellery Queen. As
for his novels, I remember with fondness the novel he based
on the last years of Thomas Hardy. I think it was CAKES AND
ALE. There are some Maugham mannerisms that I find very
off-putting and certainly not all of his tremendous output is
worth reading. Yet, he was a wonderful storyteller and some
of his lesser known works give me great pleasure.
I love writers who take me by the hand and tell me a story.
The feeling is often like running into an interesting old guy
at a bar who over a drink spins me a yarn. Check out a
collection of Maugham's titled COSMOPOLITANS. These are short
shorts named for the magazine that published them but the
title has meaning beyond that. This is not great literature
but to me it's great entertainment in stories of 1000 to 2000
words. Read "The Man With the Scar" and after the opening
paragraph it is impossible not to read to the
end...interested, amused, and surprised. These are slight
stories but I know a master has held me by the hand and
entertained me.
Richard Moore
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