W.S.Maugham "In a Strange Land"

Interpretation

Author

W. Somerset Maugham (born Jan. 25, 1874, Paris, Francedied Dec. 16, 1965, Nice) was an English novelist, playwright, and short-story writer. He abandoned a short career in medicine when his first novel, “Liza of Lambeth” (1897), had some success. His plays, mainly Edwardian social comedies, brought him financial security. His reputation rests primarily on the novels “Of Human Bondage” (1915), “The Moon and Sixpence” (1919), “Cakes and Ale” (1930), and “The Razor's Edge” (1944), all of which were adapted for film and some for television. His short stories often portray the confusion of Europeans in alien surroundings. His works, regarded less highly today than formerly, are characterized by a clear, unadorned style, cosmopolitan settings, and a shrewd understanding of human nature.

Title

Direct meaning: In a Strange Land means to be in a foreign land/country which is unfamiliar and odd to you.

Indirect Meaning: Strange Land as a place where even your compatriots behave in a different and peculiar way as though they are of a different nationality and have an unusual thinking, but at the same time a new place of living do not affect them (an Englishwoman married an Italian, moved to Turkey where they bought a hotel, and after her husband’s death adopted his illegitimate sons without thinking of it as of something bad and wrong; but at the same time she managed to live in a new country without its having touched her).

Themes

True love has no borders (an English woman married an Italian, moved to Turkey where she later adopted his two illegitimate sons), misunderstanding between compatriots (Signora Niccolini’s decision to marry an Italian was not greeted by her English relatives and compatriots, because they looked at foreigners as on those who were almost imbecile), and is it possible to change your thinking and the manner of living after spending many years in a foreign country ( though Signora Niccolini spent  30 years in Turkey she remained a pattern of decorum. The foreign country didn’t affect her.  She remained the precise, prim English woman, knowing her place, through all the vicissitudes because she had no faculty of surprise).

Summary

While travelling in Minor Asia (Turkey) a vacationer stays at a hotel where he meets Signore Niccolini - an extraordinary English woman. She tells him the story of her life. She was a house-keeper in service in a noble English family, and her husband Signor Niccolini was a chef. When they saved a certain amount of money they were married, retired from service, and bought a hotel in Turkey (at which the main character stays). Her husband died fifteen years ago and she never returned to England. It was strange for the main character that Signora Niccolini could have lived in Turkey for 30 years without its having touched her. But what surprised him most, is the fact that she had two adopted illegitimate sons of her husband and didn’t consider that as something wrong, telling the vacationer that her husband was a full-blooded man.

Main idea

I think that this story implies rather interesting example of how a person can be the very image of his/her country (Signora Niccolini was a strict, modest and prim Englishwoman) and at the same time behave rather unusually and contradict his/her views and opinions (though Signora Niccolini considered foreigners to be imbecile she married an Italian and moved to Turkey with him. Moreover, she adopted her husband’s two illegitimate sons and didn’t consider that as something wrong, proudly telling the vacationer that her husband was a full-blooded man).

Character sketch

The main characters of this short story are the vacationer and Signora Niccolini. As for Signora Niccolini (she is described directly by the author), she was an Englishwoman and served in a house of a noble English family where she met her future husband who served there as a chef. When they saved a certain amount of money they were married, retired from service, and bought a hotel in Turkey (they left England because her family didn’t like the idea of marrying a foreigner (Signor Niccolini was an Italian). Her husband died after living fifteen years in Turkey and she had to manage the hotel on her own. Moreover, it was extraordinary that she could have lived for 30 years in a foreign country without its having touched her (she remained a pattern of decorum: the precise, prim English woman, knowing her place, through all the vicissitudes because she had no faculty of surprise. She took everything that came as a matter of course. She looked upon everyone who wasn’t English as a foreigner and therefore as someone, almost imbecile, for whom allowances must be made. She ruled her staff despotically, and everything about the hotel was clean and neat. Moreover, just because she didn’t have her own children she had adopted two illegitimate sons of her husband and didn’t consider that as something wrong (she told the vacationer with a mixture of pride, primness, and satisfaction that her husband was a full-blooded man).

My impression

I like this story; I think it stimulates your thinking. Moreover, at the same time, I find it rather amusing and entertaining. A strict, modest and prim Englishwoman married a foreigner (an Italian) though she considered foreigners to be imbecile. Moreover, she adopted her husband’s two illegitimate sons (for she didn’t have her own children) and didn’t consider that as something wrong, proudly telling the vacationer that her husband was a full-blooded man. All in all, as W. S. Maugham said “The novel may stimulate you to think. It may satisfy your aesthetic sense. It may arouse your moral emotions. But if it does not entertain you it is a bad novel. It is merely laziness that induces people to go to novels for instruction on subjects that are the province of experts. There is no short road to knowledge and you will only waste your time if you seek it in a work of fiction”.