Orienting Masculinity, Orienting Nation: W. Somerset Maugham's Exotic Fiction

by Philip J. Holden

Overview

Although their settings span a wide geographical area, from the South Pacific to India, Maugham's exotic short stories, novels, and travelogues all, ultimately, focus on the creation of a masculine British identity. In this first book to address Maugham's fiction in light of recent developments in postcolonial, gender, and cultural theory, Holden argues that Maugham's work can be understood as an attempt to negotiate between two alternative masculine identities: those of private homosexual and public writer. Holden identifies Maugham's attempts to cultivate a public persona as a writer whose heterosexuality is confirmed through a process of control of language. Furthermore, Holden illuminates the fluidity of language that Maugham, in contrast to his public persona, associated with homosexuality. The basis of this study is the provocative notion that Maugham's texts, despite their exotic locations, ultimately dramatize a struggle over masculine British identity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313298127
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/30/1996
Series:	Contributions to the Study of World Literature , #68
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.56(d)
Lexile:	1390L (what's this?)

About the Author

PHILIP HOLDEN is a Lecturer at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Born in England, he has studied and taught in Europe, North America, and East Asia.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Envisioning the Primitive: The Moon and Sixpence
The Trembling of a Leaf and the Closet of Nostalgia
The Flâneur Abroad: On A Chinese Screen
The Empty Sign of The Painted Veil
Transgression and Containment: The Malayan Short Stories
The Narrow Corner: Intoxication, Homoeroticism, and the Writing Cure
Transcending Sexuality: India and The Razor's Edge
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

A study of Maugham's novels and short stories set in the East and the South Pacific, analyzing themes in works including The Moon and Sixpence, The Trembling of a Leaf, On a Chinese Screen, The Painted Veil, The Narrow Corner, The Razor's Edge, and the Malayan short stories. For scholars in literature. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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