The Painted Veil' is set in England and China, taking place in the 1920's. It is a story of love, betrayal, revenge and redemption. I definitely wasn't prepared for some of the twists and turns that this story took, but I enjoyed every minute. That was as far as the plot was based on the fith canto of the Inferno. The title was derived from an unfinished sonnet of Shelley: Lift not the painted veil which those who live call Life 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. William Somerset Maugham, famous as novelist, playwright and short-story writer, was born in 1874, and lived in Paris until he was ten. He was educated at King's School, Canterbury, and at Heidelberg University. He spent some time at St. Thomas' Hospital with a view to practising medicine, but the success of his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, published in 1897, won him over to letters. Of Human Bondage, the first of his masterpieces, came out in 1915, and with the publication in 1919 of The Moon and Sixpence his reputation as a novelist was established. His position as a successful playwright was being consolidated at the same time. His first play, A Man of Honour, was followed by a series of successes just before and after World War I, and his career in the theatre did not end until 1933 with Sheppey.

Once in Hong Kong she meets Townsend, a married colonial official, and their torrid love affair commences. Kitty accepts his proposal impulsively. She despises his fawning attentions. She has therefore never invested any emotion or even thought into the relationship. He takes her to Hong Kong where he works as a bacteriologist. There she meets Charlie Townsend, who intuitively senses the vulnerability in their relationship. He is charming, fit, and knows the right string of words to whisper in a silly, unhappy girl’s ear. Kitty is a fool, and she can’t for the life of her understand why Walter can’t see it. For a while, Kitty had hoped Walter might improve, but once she had succumbed to Charlie Townsend's assured athleticism she could no longer fool herself that Walter was anything other than a short, ugly, charmless nonentity. In the novel, THE PAINTED VEIL serves as a grim metaphor for life. More specifically, the speaker equates the veil with what people like to call life. In this sense, the speaker asserts that what we believe to be pure reality is actually nothing more than a covering that masks what really lies beneath. The veil represents the set of beliefs that people live by. It’s a comforting illusion that impacts the way we see and perceive others. But when others behave in a way that is not consistent with what we perceive of them, our belief is shattered and the veil is torn apart.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. I've always heard that they were a devoted couple," said Kitty, watching him through her eyelashes. I can't say that there is one "moral of the story" that really stands out to me with the book. There were many. This book was a beautiful, albeit heartbreaking, account of the human experience.

I know this is harsh, but I've heard such good things about The Painted Veil, and I felt like it didn't deliver. The book might be a classic, but the film seems highly overrated to me. I really don’t want to say too much of the plot- it is a short book after all and I think it is best discovered fresh. 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. Maugham a fost sincer cînd a spus despre el însuși (în Bilanț) că nu are cine știe ce talent literar și nu se pricepe la comparații și metafore. Sinceritatea lui mi l-a făcut simpatic și am dus romanul pînă la capăt. They saw the white china knob of the handle slowly turn. They had heard no one walk along the verandah. It was terrifying to see that silent motion. A minute passed and there was no sound. Then, with the ghastliness of the supernatural, in the same stealthy, noiseless, and horrifying manner, they saw the white china knob of the handle at the window turn also. Kitty, her nerves failing her, opened her mouth to scream; but, seeing what she was going to do, he swiftly put his hand over it and her cry was smothered in his fingers.”Kitty discovers that she is pregnant and suspects that Charlie Townsend is the father. When Walter confronts her on the matter, she answers his inquiry by stating "I don’t know". She cannot bring herself to deceive her husband again. Kitty has undergone a profound personal transformation. Soon after, Walter falls ill in the epidemic, possibly through experimenting upon himself to find a cure for cholera, and Kitty, at his deathbed, hears his last words. 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. The ending was sad, darnit, I was beyond grieving, but accepted the realism of it. And it was positive.

For a medical readership, the story really takes off once the couple have relocated to a small Chinese community. The story is recounted through Kitty's eyes, who has little interest or understanding in her husband's role, which makes the restricted insights all the more tantalising. We get to feel what it is like to be married to a devoted doctor and scientist. I waited, but didn't quite get that, though. Turns out, surprise-surprise, the film adaptation is much more "Hollywood" than Maugham's book. Which isn't a bad thing for the film, actually, especially if you happen to have a crush on Edward Norton, as I do.The more time she spent in the village, the more Kitty came to see the error of her ways. For the first time, Kitty grew to appreciate her husband and even admire him. Though she never really fell in love with him, she finally felt shame and remorse for her actions. This book got under my skin- first because I totally disliked Kitty and then because I really wanted everything to turn out well for her. I had a love hate relationship with her right from the beginning. For Walter, her husband, I felt mostly pity. An introvert who just didn’t know how to express his feelings. If only…If only either could have changed just enough. Per favore vattene - singhiozzò - Questa è l'unica cosa che puoi fare per me adesso. Ti odio e ti disprezzo. Walter valeva dieci volte più di te e io ero troppo stupida per accorgermene. Va' via. Va' via.

Ersilia mi disse che Pia era una gentildonna senese; il marito, sospettandola di adulterio e non osando metterla a morte per timore dei familiari, la portò in un suo castello in Maremma nella speranza che i mefitici vapori del luogo provvedessero alla bisogna; ma poiché ella tardava a morire si spazientì e la fece gettare dalla finestra. Wonderful writing and a good read from Maugham. I had not read him lately so I forgot how good a writer he is. I never expected you to love me, I didn’t see any reason that you should, I never thought myself very lovable….What most husbands expected as a right, I was prepared to receive as a favour.”

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The film is fantastic but the book is better. While this is a story of a doomed relationship, I would contest that the setting of a cholera outbreak, and one man's heroic fight to contain it, makes this a medical classic. And later, I waited for this beautiful moment of recognition between estranged husband and wife, in cholera-infested China: Unfortunately, out of the initial 8000 copies, 4000 had already been disseminated and needed to be recollected. Yet 74 copies —most of which were review copies— still remain in existence, making up this practically unobtainable first issue of the First English Edition. Thus, the preface (Fig 1) of this second Heinemann issue, where Maugham revealed the intricacies of having used certain names, was kept in all subsequent versions of the book. Walter is silent and pale for several days, and then gives Kitty an ultimatum. She will accompany him on his expedition to fight a cholera epidemic in Mei-tan-fu, a city in southern China, or he will bring her to court for her infidelity. Kitty is horrified, and certain that the cholera epidemic will mean her death. Walter gives her another out: if Charles agrees to marry her, he will allow her to divorce him and she can stay in Hong Kong. Kitty, delighted that she will finally get the chance to be with her beloved Charles, immediately confronts her lover with this proposal. Charles refuses to divorce his wife Dorothy, and Kitty, heartbroken, agrees to go with Walter to Mei-tan-fu. Garstin, a pretty upper-middle class debutante, squanders her early youth amusing herself by living a social high life, during which her domineering mother attempts to arrange a "brilliant match" for her. By age 25, Kitty has flirted with and declined marriage proposals from dozens of prospective husbands. Her mother, convinced that her eldest daughter has "missed her market", urges Kitty to settle for the rather “odd” Walter Fane, a bacteriologist and physician, who declares his love for Kitty. In a panic that her much younger, and less attractive sister Doris will upstage her by marrying first, Kitty consents to Walter's ardent marriage proposition with the words, "I suppose so". Shortly before Doris's much grander wedding, Kitty and Walter depart as newlyweds to his post in Hong Kong.