Somerset Maugham: Lotos Eater

Ø  He was among the most popular and the highest-paid author during the 1930s

Ø  During the First World War, he served with the Red Cros

Ø  During and after the war, he travelled to India

Ø  Maugham’s father, Robert Ormond Maugham, was a lawyer who handled the legal affairs of the British embassy in Paris

Ø  His grandfather, another Robert, had also been a prominent lawyer and co-founder of the Law Society of England and Wales

Ø  Maugham was sent to the UK to be cared for by his uncle, Henry MacDonald Maugham

Ø  He attended the King’s School, Canterbury, where he was teased for his bad English (French had been his first language) and his short stature, which he inherited from his father.

Ø  He studied medicine at the medical school of St Thomas’s Hospital in Lambeth

Ø  In maturity, he recalled the value of his experience as a medical student: “I saw how men died. I saw how they bore pain. I saw what hope looked like, fear and relief …”

Ø  In 1897, he published his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, a tale of working-class adultery and its consequences.

Ø  The writer’s life allowed Maugham to travel and to live in places such as Spain and Capri for the next decade

Ø  In 1907 he got success of his play Lady Frederick

Ø  Maugham’s supernatural thriller, The Magician (1908), based its principal character on the well-known and somewhat disreputable Aleister Crowley.

Ø  He met Frederick Gerald Haxton, a young San Franciscan, who became his companion and lover until Haxton’s death in 1944. (Maugham had homosexual orientation)

Ø  The influential American novelist and critic Theodore Dreiser described Of Human Bondage as a work of genius and comparing it to a Beethoven symphony

Ø  Maugham entered into a relationship with Syrie Wellcome, the wife of Henry Wellcome, an American-born English pharmaceutical magnate.

Ø  They had a daughter named Mary Elizabeth Maugham, (1915–1998)

Ø  In September 1915, Maugham began work in Switzerland as one of the network of British agents who operated against the Berlin Committee.

Ø  In 1916, Maugham travelled to the Pacific to research his novel The Moon and Sixpence, based on the life of Paul Gauguin

Ø  Maugham used his spying experiences as the basis for Ashenden: Or the British Agent, a collection of short stories about a gentlemanly, sophisticated, aloof spy.

Ø  This character is considered to have influenced Ian Fleming’s later series of James Bond novels.

Ø  Maugham wrote at a time when experimental modernist literature such as that of William Faulkner, Thomas Mann, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf was gaining increasing popularity and winning critical acclaim.

Ø  The Moon and Sixpence is about the life of Paul Gauguin; and Cakes and Ale contains what were taken as thinly veiled and unflattering characterizations of the authors Thomas Hardy (who had died two years previously) and Hugh Walpole.

Ø  Maugham’s last major novel, The Razor’s Edge (1944), was a departure for him in many ways

Ø  Among his short stories, some of the most memorable are those dealing with the lives of Western, mostly British, colonists in the Far East

Ø  His The Magician (1908) is based on British occultist Aleister Crowley.

Ø  George Orwell said that Maugham was “the modern writer who has influenced me the most, whom I admire immensely for his power of telling a story straightforwardly and without frills.“

Ø  Ian Fleming wrote the short story Quantum of Solace as an homage to Maugham’s writing style.

1.      “The Lotus Eater” is a short story written by W. Somerset Maugham in 1935.

2.     The story begins in 1913 with the narrator’s visit to a friend on the Island of Capri in Italy

3.     Thomas Wilson had come to the island for a holiday sixteen years earlier.

4.     Wilson had given up his job in London as a bank manager to live a life of simplicity and enjoyment in a small cottage on Capri

5.     An annuity would allow him to live simply on Capri for twenty-five years.

6.     Thirteen years later the narrator revisits his friend on Capri

7.     A lotus eater is a person who lives an idle, comfortable life and does not think or care very much about anything

8.      The title of this story refers to a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson. The poem is about the Greeks returning from the Trojan War. A storms blows their ship to the land of the ‘lotus eaters’ and they decide to stay on there, to enjoy a life of ease and rest from their labours.

9.      In “The Lotus Eater ” Wilson runs away from responsibilities

10.   In Greek mythology, the Lotophagi (or Lotophagoi)(“lotuseaters”) were a race of people from an island near Northern Africa dominated by lotus plants. The lotus fruits and flowers were the primary foodstuff of the island and were narcotic, causing the people to sleep in peaceful apathy.

11.    Like a mythical lotus eater he settles a life of oblivion.

12.   “Still, that’s better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick”: he compares the twenty five years he will have on the island to the forty that “the mythical German” had after falling in love with Capri. Literally it just means something along the lines of “could be much worse.” It also signifies the choice between something pretty good and something that sounds downright horrible.

13.   In Somerset Maugham’s story ‘The Lotus Eater’ we get such an example of narrative intrusion when the narrator describes his purpose of writing the story.

14.   ‘Most people, the vast majority in fact, lead the lives that circumstances have thrust upon them…’

15.   ‘round pegs in square holes’: a common metaphor a round peg etc is one who is unfitted for his position or occupation in life.

16.   ‘They are like tram cars travelling… rails’: The majority of the people of the world are ordinary, unprepared, who do not take risk and want to move only on well-chartered routes.

17.   The narrator was spending the month of August at a friend’s villa on the Pizza in Capri

18.   ‘It is one of the most lovely sights in the world’- When the sun sinks slowly into the island of Ischia is silhouetted against a blaze of splendour.

19.   ‘talking their heads off’: another common metaphor for talking excessively. This is an example of Maugham’s frequent use of cliché

20.  ‘The pizza at Capri, with its clock over the footpath that leads up from the harbour, with the church up a flight of steps, is a perfect setting for an opera by Donizetti.’

21.   Donizetti: Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellni, Donizetti was a leading composer of the bel canto style during the first half of the 19^th century.

22.  He was dressed in a blue cotton shirt and a pair of grey trousers of a thin canvas and on his feet he wore a pair of very old espadrilles.

23.  He looked like the manger of a branch office in an insurance company.

24.  Dona Lucia was the host’s wife at Morgan’s.

25.  Her eyes are compared with the eyes of Hera

26.  Hera: According to Greek Mythlogy Hera is the wife and one of the three sisters of Zeus .She was the goddess of marriage, women, childbirth, and family.

27.  ‘How does anyone know what anyone is capable of?’- The narrator’s friend asked to the narrator.

28.  ‘Baths of Tiberious’: It refers to the bathing place of the sea at Capri named after Tiberious Julius Ceaser, the second Roman emperor. He was believed to take bath regularly at this place when he came to Capri to rule his reign.

29.  Wilson’s body was dark brown, thin.

30.  ‘Six feet from the shore it was thirty feet deep’

31.   Suetonius: Suetonius was an ancient Roman historian and biographer. His fame rest on two Latin works- ‘De Viris Illustribus’ and ‘De Vita Caesarum’. It is suggestive of Wilson’s knowledge of Roman History

32.  Wilson is compared to a mythical German who came to Capri only for lunch and to have a look at the Blue Grotto and stayed for 40 years being fascinated by its beauty.

33.  Blue Grotto is a sea cave on the coast of the island of Capri, southern Italy.

34.  Monte Solaro is a mountain on the island of Capri in Campania.

35.  The narrator and Wilson had wine, bel paese cheese and a plate of figs, coffee and strega at the restaurant.

36.  Antonio was the cook

37.  Strega is a kind of alcoholic drink mixed with various elements. It is found in Italy, especially at Capri.

38.  According to Wilson, people did not know the value of leisure- the most priceless thing a man could have. Even they did not know, leisure is something to aim at. The only object of work is to obtain leisure.

39.  ‘a festa up at the Punta di Timberio’: Festa, an Italian word means festival, especially, in the memory of a religious event marked by public judgement. ‘Punta di Timberio’ is lovely place at Capri in Italy.

40. ‘Fest of the assumption, the festival of Venus’: According to Catholic church, it is related to Virgin Mary’s reception into heaven in a bodily form. Actually it refers to the festival of Venus, a Pagan celebration of Roman goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite’s rising from the sea.

41.   Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love beauty, pleasure and procreation.

42.  Wilson was the manager of the Crawford Street branch of the York and City.

43.  Wilson’s wife had died of bronchial pneumonia four years before.

44. His daughter died of blood-poisoning.

45.  Eastbourn: a Sussex sea-side resort which has always had a reputation for attracting genteel visitors. It was liked by Wilson’s wife for a holiday.

46. Wilson’s uncle went to Australia before he was born

47.  Marion Crawford: Francis Marion Crawford (1854-1909), an Anglo-American historical novelist, widely read in his time.

48. SYBARIS AND CROTONA: Sybaris, a neighboring city to Crotona, was as celebrated for luxury and effeminacy as Crotona for the reverse. A war arose between the two cities, and Sybaris was conquered and destroyed. Milo, the celebrated athlete, led the army of Crotona.

49. Wilson’s house was in a peasant cottage away from the town in a vineyard with a view of the sea. By the side of the door there stood a great oleander in full of flowers. There were two small rooms, a tiny kitchen and an attached shade with a furnished bedroom looking like monk’s cell. In the sitting-room there were two arm-chairs.

50.   G.F.Watts and Lord Leighton: Watts (1817-1904) and Leighton (1830-1896) were pretentious painters of Greek mythological subjects much in vogue during the late Victorian period. Wilson’s taste for them is evidence of his romanticized view of Capri’s historical/mythological associations and a sign of his commonplace character.

51.   Assanta is the wife of Wilson’s landlord. She acted as his servant.

52.  He was English and the Italian authorities did not wish to make themselves responsible for them.

53.  Assanta had been keeping Wilson for two years.

54.  Assanta’s husband makes Wilson fetch water and clean the cow shed etc.

55.  Wilson was hiding behind an olive tree.

A.    Simile

B.    Metaphor

C.    Irony

D.   Condensed sentence

A.    A playground

B.    A public square

C.    A big park

D.   A seaside resting place

A.    Light sandals for beach-walking

B.    Leather shoes for long lasting

C.    Light canvas shoe with plaited fibre sole

D.   Stockings

A.    The place has multi-lingual population

B.    Capri was a tourist spot

C.    They were mainly……..from different countries

D.   People could talk in a number of languages

A.    A river

B.    A Roman ruler

C.    Old city

D.   Villa

A.    Roman history book

B.    Historical work by Roman historian, Suetonis

C.    A school text book read widely during the period

D.   A certificate course

A.    25 years.

B.    15 years

C.    20 years

D.   Nota

A.    The life in Capri is better than his previous life of disturbances and worries

B.    He was feeling comfortable here

C.    He was contemplating suicide after 25 years

D.   He got one of his eyes injured in his work.

A.    Dramatic irony

B.    Hyperbole

C.    Metonymy

D.   Simile

A.    The author

B.    Wilson

C.    Author’s friend

D.   Nota

A.    The moon represents the vicissitudes of life with her ever-changing states

B.    The moon is a symbol of his death

C.    It anticipates his death

D.   It is just a decorating element

A.    A kind of fruit

B.    A kind of cactus

C.    A kind of evergreen shrubs with tough leaves

D.   A kind of wind

A.    Topsy-turvy

B.    Loose

C.    Trickery

D.   A kind of handkerchief

A.    Ascension of Christ

B.    Feasting on virgin Mary’s birth

C.    Feasting on Christ’s birthday

D.   Ascension of Virgin Mary up in heaven

A.    He fell in love with the place

B.    His wife and daughter died

C.    He loved a life of leisure

D.   He hated work

A.    Aphrodite

B.    Diana

C.    Diamelon

D.   Nota

A.    Walking up and down

B.    Swimming in the water

C.    Gossip

D.   Small fight at the restaurant

A.    New York

B.    Crawford Street

C.    London

D.   Paris

A.    Sybarite

B.    Sober

C.    Sybrate

D.   Secret

A.    Possible irony on will’s son

B.    Possible satire on will and son

C.    Clear contradiction in his will and fate

D.   It’s just a name

A.    Beethoven

B.    Schuman

C.    Schubert

D.   Addagio

A.    Sixth Symphony

B.    The moon on the seashore

C.    Moonlight Sonata

D.   Ode to Joy

A.    Wilson’s inability to commit suicide

B.    Wilson’s growing old

C.    Wilson’s reaching 60 years

D.   Wilson’s inability to do some work

A.    Lady Seasum

B.    Assunta

C.    Asanta

D.   Nota

A.    A musical rhyme

B.    A kind of wine

C.    Cheap food made of flour

D.   Shoe

A.    60.

B.    66

C.    65

D.   Nota

A.    That of humans becoming one with nature after death

B.    Ironic presentation of death

C.    Contradictory life coming to end

D.   Peaceful death

A. First-person narrative

B.    Minute description of the incidents

C.    Journalistic style

D.   Mention of historical facts