Books: East of Suez

East of Suez

THE NARROW CORNER—W. Somerset Maugham—Doubleday, Doran ($2.50). Though Publishers Doubleday, Doran blurb The Narrow Corner as if it were another Of Human Bondage, it is not. Returning to that indeterminate East of which he has often yarned before, Author Maugham spins a tale that in less sardonic hands would be a melodrama. Eye-witness of the story is Dr. Saunders, an Englishman who for some English reason is a pariah to his kind and has become an opium-smoking, suspiciously bachelor dweller among Chinese. An able eye specialist, he has a large practice. On a lucrative visit to a far-away trader, he runs into two dubious Australians, gets a lift on their lugger to another island. Captain Nichols, skipper of the boat, is a shifty but unashamed scoundrel. Blake is a nice-looking youngster with a secret on his mind. When a gale blows them to Kanda, a beautiful and peaceful island, none of them is in a hurry to leave. Blake strikes up a great friendship with Erik, a simple-hearted Dane who is secretly engaged to the local beauty. Blake, meaning no harm to his friend, spends the night with her, is seen by Erik coming from her room. Erik shoots himself. Blake, horrified, will have nothing more to do with the girl, tells philosophic Dr. Saunders everything, tells him also the secret that has made him a fugitive from Australia. Dr. Saunders listens philosophically, says goodby. On his leisurely way home he meets Scoundrel Nichols again, learns that Blake has drowned his troubles.

Maugham tells his eventful narrative sparely, almost drably, seldom allows even his mouthpiece Dr. Saunders such Maugham-like summations as: “Life is short, nature is hostile, and man is ridiculous; but oddly enough most misfortunes have their compensations, and with a certain humor 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.”