I came to Cakes and Ale not with a sense of moral urgency, but with a cup of tea and a faint suspicion that I was about to be gently mocked. That suspicion, as it turns out, is the correct posture in which to approach W. Somerset Maugham. One doesn’t read Maugham expecting thunderbolts from … Continue reading Cakes and Ale, or the Saints and the Sinners
Tag: Cakes and Ale
Maugham’s Cakes and Ale: On the Sacred Art of Not Taking Oneself Too Seriously
There are books one reads, and books one is quietly read by. Somerset Maugham’s Cakes and Ale falls into the latter camp - it observes you from over the rim of its brandy glass, raises a bemused eyebrow, and says absolutely nothing. Not because it’s shy, but because it knows better than to interrupt the theatre of … Continue reading Maugham’s Cakes and Ale: On the Sacred Art of Not Taking Oneself Too Seriously
Wording 