THE FALL OF EDWARD BARNARD, A SHORT STORY BY W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM
Hello dear readers and fellow bloggers! In this post, I'll share a review for a short story The Fall of Edward Barnard by William Somerset Maugham. Published in 1921, The Fall of Edward Barnard is a wonderfully ambiguous and modernist piece of writing that through irony, contrasts the the East and the West. Indeed, you might say that Maugham criticizes the Western culture, or at least its perceived inability to appreciate other cultures, and a simpler way of life. At the same time, this critique is not overly negative and he recognizes the progress that the Western culture achieved. Even while Barnard questions the price of industrial progress of the West, he doesn't ridicule it and is very much aware of its advantages. In other words, this story is extremely intelligent in its contrasting of industrial values with those of countries that are not as industrial. In my last post, I reviewed The Painted Veil and did my best to avoid spoilers. To...