Tom's Two Cents: The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham

 

The British author Somerset Maugham essentially made a name for himself in a series of novels and short stories written before the mid-20th century.  In literary circles he became known for "Of Human Bondage," but it is for his shorter novels, "Cakes and Ale," "The Moon and Sixpence," and especially "The Razor's Edge," that he is best remembered today.  The latter, published in 1943, seems every bit as relevant now as it did then.

A British writer's take on a group of Americans, first living in Chicago, then mostly in France, in Paris and on the Riviera, it is, like "The Great Gatsby," also about the American pursuit of materialism and social status, but unlike "Gatsby," it explores a subject of much greater depth, the search for a life of the spirit, outside the context of the conventional Catholic or Protestant Church.  No, it isn't about cults, either.  It's rather about one man's search for knowledge and meaning within the context of the cosmos and himself.

That man is Larry Darrell, a former youthful WWI pilot, whose life is forever changed by his war experiences and who comes back to America unable and/or unwilling to settle down, make money in the American tradition, and thus lead a "successful" life.  His refusal to do so upsets the applecart between himself and his fiancée, Isabel, whose young life up to then has been sheltered by money, security, and social position.  Isabel wants to marry Larry, but she also wants him on her terms, not his.

Their story is told largely from the point of view of an outside narrator, the author Maugham himself, and his friend Elliott Templeton, a snobbish but very amusing American ex-patriate, who is Isabel's uncle.  Elliott is the perfect foil for Larry, who couldn't possibly care what kind of china he's dining on, or even if it's china.  Elliott, on the other hand, wouldn't be caught dead outside a guru's hovel in India.  Larry's search for spirituality in that ancient country may strike us now as a cliche, but this story was written long before John Lennon ever went in search of a guru!  And it is not so much the destination as the search itself that remains still strikingly relevant today.

"The Razor's Edge" is a well-written, thought provoking, and entertaining book, one that I recommend highly, but be forewarned: it contains nothing shocking except its ideas!