The Razor's Edge

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Those who look to him for a colorful, romantic story will find this slow-paced at the start; but in the final analysis even they will find that he has told a good story -- more than one, in fact, and that he has given something else as well. Such is the powerful lure of Larry Darrell’s rejection of conforming to the soul-sucking expectations of society. Could you help me please, my teacher asked me about psychology as a branch of psychological prose and its characteristic which Maugham imbibes into his works?

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Further, the settings are usually foreign or exotic—European or Asian rather than American or English. Except for one brief episode that occurs in New York, the novel is set either in London or in the nearby villages and countryside. With characters such as the urbane and aristocratic art agent, Elliott Templeton, he exchanges views and pleasantries in an attitude of amusement and tolerance. He prefers to permit the story to unfold in an episodic way by letting others whom he meets tell him what they know or think about Strickland. The Cockney dialogue that pervades the novel is accurately represented, both in its pronunciation and in its slang or colloquial expressions.

He sought to tell a story with clarity and grace, to embody a set of attitudes and values, and to entertain his readers with insights into character and life.

The Razor’s Edge : W.somerset Maugham - Archive.org The Razor’s Edge : W.somerset Maugham - Archive.org

Priding themselves on their creativity and talent, Razors Edge leave you with beautiful, confidence boosting hair with every visit. A veteran with good connections and a sharp mind, he could easily go into business and start making big money just like his friends. In Cakes and Ale, the ideal is beauty, which readers and critics find in the style, characters, and descriptions of Edward Driffield’s novels. Life is short, nature is hostile, and man is ridiculous but oddly enough most misfortunes have their compensations and with a certain humour and a good deal of horse-sense one can make a fairly good job of what is after all a matter of very small consequence.

He is concerned chiefly with discovering the meaning of human existence and eliminating evil in the world.

The Razor’s Edge Summary | GradeSaver

As is typical of naturalistic fiction, the characters are generally without hope, yet even in a naturalistic tradition Maugham reveals an original perspective. We build and maintain all our own systems, but we don’t charge for access, sell user information, or run ads. The minor works reward the reader with their depiction of the ironies of human life, the eccentricities of human beings, and the unusual settings and universal conflicts, yet, however rewarding, they lack the thematic richness and emotional concentration of Maugham’s best novels. After this realization, Philip comes to understand the secret of a piece of Persian rug given him by an eccentric poet. During one of his rare visits to Chicago, Elliot Templeton, an art dealer and the biggest snob in Paris, invites his old acquaintance, the narrator, to a lunch at his sister’s house.

In structure, however, it is much closer to a series of loosely collected short stories featuring the same cast of characters.