The Hero W. Somerset Maugham, Fiction, Classics, Historical, Psychological

I'm surprised that so few people have read Maugham's early novel, 'The Hero.' Published only four years after 'Liza of Lambeth', which struck me as wholly un-Maughamesque, 'The Hero' contains the essence of everything Maugham would become. The protagonist, James Parson, returns home wounded after the Boer War. Before leaving with the forces, he became engaged to simple, honest Mary, but now, five years later, he has seen enough of the world to know that he cannot marry her - he does not love her. So much of this sounds like the plot of 'The Razor's Edge,' and the similarities with that novel and others in the Maugham oeuvre are impossible to ignore. And then there is that uniquely Maughamesque quality - wit coupled with deep, intellectual insight - that runs through this novel just as it would elsewhere in Maugham's career. All in all, a fascinating, worthwhile read, and not one purely for the completist.

This is early Maugham is melodramatic, over-wrought, and flawed yet essential to understanding him. In the book Captain Jamie Parsons returns home to Kent after serving in the Boer War where he has won the Victoria Cross. In the 5 years that he has been away with the army he has seen the world and fallen in (unrequited) love with the feisty Portuguese wife of a brother officer. Having experienced the passions of true love, he now cannot face marriage to the good-natured, earnest, but dull, fiance he left behind and who has eagerly awaited his return. He attempts to break off the engagement, but finds himself universally condemned by prim local society. In a moment of weakness he recants and asks Mary to marry him once more. Immediately he regrets it, but conscience and social conventions prevent him from breaking the engagement a second time. Unable to avoid a loveless marriage he shoots himself.I have always thought that the central theme of Maugham's work is the primacy of (sexual) desire over social conventions and personal bonds. Thus in Rain the the missionary Davidson succumbs to the calculated charms of Miss Sadie Thompson, and in Of Human Bondage Peter Carey abases himself for the love of the slatternly waitress Mildred. Nowhere is this central theme to Maugham's work as clearly articulated as it is in The Hero:"But we all know that Nature is a goddess with no sense of decency, for whom the proprieties are simply non-existent; men and women in her eyes have but one point of interest, and she walks abroad, with her fashioning fingers setting in order the only works she cares for. All the rest is subsidiary, and she is callous to suffering and to death, indifferent to the Ten Commandments and even to the Code of Good Society."To Maugham sexual desire (not necessarily love), is the central fact of human existence, and it will trample everything else in its path. It is ironic that Maugham himself would later be trapped into a loveless marriage with Syrie Wellcome after she became pregnant with his child, and he felt compelled to "do the right thing" (see Selina Hastings excellent biography of Maugham).The Hero is now long out of print (is available free to download from Project Gutenberg or via Amazon print-on-demand). There is a reason for that. It reads like a short story that has been stretched beyond its merits. The central theme of the dull, staid, stultifying self-satisfaction of Edwardian English society is overdone and too many of the characters read like one dimensional plot devices. That said the usual Maugham acid wit is on display, and it is an enjoyable read, though not one of his best. Still, it is essential reading for the anyone who wishes to understand the author and his works.

There's something about the prose of Somerset Maugham - it's so simple, no excess verbosity whatsoever, and yet it is so beautifully crafted that it's always a delight to read. I loved this book - the content of the tale is utterly tragic: that of the soldier returned injured from war to find everything has changed and yet everything is the same; and yet there is so much humour in the narration of the story.The characters are brilliant. Nearly all of them with the exception of Jamie ("the hero" of the tale) are so parochial and small-minded in their belief systems that they are utterly hilarious at points. I loved Mary's "I'm seriously distressed about my girls. They live in nasty little cottages, and eat filthy things; they pass their whole lives under the most disgusting conditions, and yet they're happy. I can't get them to see that they ought to be utterly miserable.''Oh , I know,' sighed the curate, 'it makes me sad to think of it.''Surely if they're happy, you can want nothing better,' said James, rather impatiently.'But I do. They have no right to be happy under such circumstances. I want to make them feel their wretchedness.'And the Vicar and his wife are utterly fantastic - Poor Mr Dryden who after Mary rejects his suit, dives straight back into the field of battle (but not having one to hand in the Kentish countryside, has to opt for the Mrs Jackson's (the Vicar's wife's) drawing room.One cannot help but feel for poor James. Even though he really isn't a hero (and knows himself not to be) - his return from war after all, prompts him to reveal that he rather enjoys killing men; and that the heroic act for which he has been awarded the VC, would have worked out better for the person he tried to save, if he hadn't actually tried to save him in the first place. He suffers so dreadfully as his parents, Mary, village society and the prim ordered Kentish countryside itself strive to stifle every impulse of life and individuality out of him.This is a tragic tale, with lots going on in it: humour, a representation of late Victorian rural life, and the stresses and strains suffered by a soldier returning from a bloody battlefield. It's well worth a read and like all Somerset Maugham, it's a joy to do so.

I have read all of Somerset Maugham's writing and came to this novel last. In a way that was a good thing. I now appreciate how his style developed into that of a first class playwright. This story would adapt well to the stage. You are not meant to like any of the characters, and they are well drawn, so much so that you can almost see the delivery of their words as if on stage. You need to get a sense of occasion to really enjoy how this story unfolds. This is old-world stuff and pretentious middle class stuff, but that is what Maugham is all about. You either like or hate this kind of writing but it is interesting that Maugham's work continues to reprint. I will remain a fan. He is one of the few authors whose work I can re-read and get pleasure from each time.

To me a truly great author, perhaps the most gifted in writing social situations of England past. Such insight into the human soul with all it's doubts and challenges. Maugham is often portrayed as hard but his wit is wonderful and he shows a deep love and understanding of his fellow men and women.I read him just for the pleasure of being in his presence, how fantastic to discover another story of his on Kindle!