It is not easy to cross the edge of the knife, so wise men often say that the road to salvation is difficult. ——"Ghatto Upanishad"
During a battle, young pilot Larry saw his friend die trying to save him. The death of his friend caused Larry to rethink the meaning of life. He left his fiancée, refused a decent job, and began to travel around the world, embarking on a path of pursuit...
In the history of human literature, Maugham, the "story master", devoted all his thoughts on the meaning of life to "The Blade". It shocked the literary world as soon as it was published, and countless young people found their soul companions in "The Blade".
Reader comments
The blade is a bit blunt and a bit disappointing. Reading Maugham's works is like having an unthinking first love in youth. It is stunning and beautiful but also shallow and reckless. It can only be said that some people are right in their evaluation of Maugham. He is a first-class writer who is close to the second-rate, with excellent skills and poor emotions. It's not that I'm arrogant. To be honest, I had high expectations for Blade before reading it, but this Blade became the second great book that I found difficult to read.
Maugham always pursued showing humanity rather than making judgments. His muzzle was always aimed at the middle class, and he was always active in ridiculing material desires. The above-mentioned connotation that could be fully expressed in half the length of the article was mentioned again and again, just like some online articles nowadays. You can tell the end at a glance. It can only be said that Maugham is a writer who is easy to get bored of. Reading one or two of them will make you astounded, and reading six or seven of them will make you sleepy.
Talk about something interesting, such as being in pain on the blade and falling off the cliff. The ultimate meaning described in Maugham's article is more like asking people to grow a pair of wings and fly to the sky, instead of crossing the edge of the knife or the cliff. The Beibei fish is very beautiful and shocking, but 7.9 Billion of the 8 billion people in the world are crawling on the blade. If you calculate it, Maugham owes me 7.9 Billion pairs of wings. So whenever I meet the moon buling buling, I still choose to pick up the sixpence. Maugham, just have fun [face covering]
I saw different life choices in the book, and the one that touched me the most was Isabel's. Because I like to pay attention to women, I can resonate more with her. She and Larry were originally a couple, and their subsequent development can be regarded as a control group. She is loyal to the material world, Larry is loyal to the spiritual world. The two were destined to be inseparable from the beginning, but fortunately, they were both moving forward on the path they expected. I appreciate Isabel's decisiveness in dealing with situations, such as her breaking off her engagement with Larry, her marriage to Gray, and her plot to ruin Sophie and Larry's wedding... She lived a wonderful enough life! [Sending Hearts]
"If you don't want to follow the crowd, life is like a big gamble. There are countless people who have failed and very few who have succeeded." However, the story Maugham himself told is tantamount to an ideological enlightenment for many young people in the world, allowing them to begin to examine whether the life they have said is as boring as Maugham criticized, and whether they have unintentionally become someone else. As for myself, I only know that at least when I read this book, I desperately want to find out that my feelings are true. I hate others chattering in front of me to make judgments about my future. I am also tired of the anxiety caused by the unknown future.
"The Blade" is a novel by the British writer Maugham. The work explores the depth of human nature and the meaning of life through the experience of the protagonist Larry.
Maugham used his unique brushstrokes to outline the image of Larry, a young man who experienced a spiritual shock during the war. In order to find the true meaning of life, he gave up his secular pursuits and embarked on an unusual path. I think Maugham's writing style in "The Blade" is very good. He uses delicate psychological descriptions and vivid scene depictions to bring readers into Larry's inner world, allowing us to deeply understand his thoughts and feelings. At the same time, Maugham's words are also full of poetry, making this novel not only a literary work, but also a masterpiece of philosophical discussion.
In "Blade", Larry's choices and actions represent a pursuit of the depth of life. He is not bound by secular values and bravely pursues his inner truth. I deeply admire this spirit. I think Maugham conveyed an attitude towards life through "The Blade", that is: the meaning of life does not lie in how much material wealth we have, but in how we understand and experience the world and discover the truth and kindness in our hearts.
For today's society, this idea has very important enlightenment significance. In an era when materialism is prevalent, people are often confused by material wealth and ignore their inner needs and true happiness. Maugham told us through "The Blade" that true happiness comes from a deep understanding and experience of life, and from kindness and love for the world. This is not only a philosophy of personal life, but also the value orientation that our society should have.
In short, "The Blade" is a very profound novel. Maugham shows us a courageous attitude towards life in pursuing inner truth through Larry's story. This attitude not only has important guiding significance for individuals, but also has a profound enlightenment effect on today's society. I believe that "Blade" will become an eternal classic that inspires people to pursue inner truth and kindness.
The protagonist is similar to "The Moon and Sixpence". They are both extraordinary. After discovering that the current life is not what he wants, he leaves and looks for it without hesitation. After many years, he has indeed become a completely different person.
I have always liked Maugham's books. No matter how they are translated, they read very smoothly. The story line is also clear and the characters are portrayed in detail and profoundly. The person who made me sad in this book was probably Sophie. She had been unfortunate, but suddenly a light shot out in the dark world, and that was Larry. However, Isabelle turns off the light, so Sophie dies. Sophie has a spiritual dimension that Larry loves, so he's not just there to redeem her.
It's hard to say who is right and who is wrong. In this life, everyone pursues something different. Elliot's emphasis on reputation, Gray's pursuit of money, Lisabell's pursuit of material things, and Larry's pursuit and exploration of the true meaning of life... A busy life, or perhaps a life of inaction, are the current status of our existence in this world.
It's over. This ending seems a bit regretful, but also seems to be a perfect ending. Their stories are still unfolding, living their own life paths in a parallel world.
The characters in the article have distinct personalities and the collision of different classes and different ideas. They all have their own charm and are very powerful characters. They can walk out of their own lives and realize their own values.
Everyone is an independent individual and has different choices. I hope that on the way to pursue economic foundation, I can enjoy life, love nature, devote myself to practice, and bravely cross the blade!
Many concepts in "The Blade" are like sharp knives piercing the heart. After reading it, people can let go of many old and new grudges, and can more clearly follow their inner thoughts. After many emotional ups and downs, they can still keep their minds as calm as water:
①Accept the imperfection of human nature, fulfill the pursuits of others, and do not let other people's thoughts interfere too much with your own life;
② However, paying too much attention to the actual material and economic conditions and always maintaining independent thinking is your most rare asset;
③There will inevitably be regrets in life, accept all things that go against your wishes, and work hard to cultivate your perfect body and mind ~ Love yourself and love life
The difference between the protagonist and others is that most people are pursuing the happiness and fame brought by material things, but Larry cares about whether he is happy inside and whether his inner world is rich. Later, he began to explore, maybe he was exploring what people should care about in life, maybe he was exploring the connection between the universe and people, or something else. No matter what, when a person who is indifferent to fame and fortune appears among a large group of people who are chasing fame and fortune, many people think that person is out of place and "alternative". But Larry managed to ignore the eyes of others and pursue his own ideals wholeheartedly.
"It is like a drop of water rising from the ocean. After a burst of rain, it enters the pond, then drifts into the stream, merges into the river, passes through the mountains and valleys, and the vast grassland, twists and turns, and overcomes many difficulties, until finally it reaches the boundless sea from which it rises." It is not easy to cross the edge of the knife, so wise men often say that the road to salvation is difficult. This is Ghatto Upanishad's highest evaluation of Maugham's Blade. Blade tells the story of a young pilot who saw his friend die trying to save him. The death of his friend made Larry start to rethink the meaning of life. He left his fiancée, refused a decent job, and began to travel around the world to pursue the meaning of life...
Reading "The Blade" has a different feeling than reading "The Moon and Sixpence". When I read it, my mood seems to be much more alienated, and my feelings after reading it are much less. After reading the book, I don't really understand why the book is titled "Blade", although the quotation of the book has already been annotated – "It is not easy to cross the edge of a knife, so wise men often say that the road to salvation is difficult. "Ghatto Upanishad" according to this annotation, many individual lives described in the book seem to be crossing the edge, some have crossed it, and some have been injured and destroyed by the edge. However, I think that the title "Blade" does exist for the narrator (author), but not necessarily for the characters in the book themselves. Just like for some people, hardship and hard work are the edge of a knife, but others may not think so; for some people, eagerness for quick success is the edge of a knife, but others may not think so. The myriad forms of life are entirely due to the superposition of self-selection. Therefore, what you get is what you choose, and what you get must be what you want. So, the "blade" doesn't seem to exist. Just like a moth rushing to the fire, fire is just the light and heat that the moth's heart longs for, and it is worth embracing with life... Looking at it with a cold eye, none of the many characters in the book like it. But even so, there is still something to gain: reading about all living beings and examining the appearance of characters will help you build a more complete inner coordinate system and live your life well. Perhaps, life is a knife, and all living beings must cross their own edge.
Everyone has their own choices, everyone has their own life, everyone has their pursuit and end point, and everyone achieves everyone's success. No matter what the outcome is, I am finally writing on a blank piece of paper. I am neither perfect nor a bad life!
A book that Maugham must read. Larry's lifestyle is bohemian, but few people have the courage to do so. Although he loves freedom, he still has to live.
How should I put it, Maugham's techniques in this book are very mature. The pinnacle work of his later years, the plot is relaxed and relaxed, the characters are multi-faceted and real, and the narrative rhythm is natural and fluent. My only dissatisfaction is that Larry's life is too childish. Many of the arguments are actually completely rebuttable, even very simple refutations. It is hard for me to imagine that a person with a deep understanding of Western philosophy would be satisfied with such a common answer as Hinduism (it feels like Maugham himself knew this, so he added some mystical experiences and specialized special abilities to Larari to strengthen his image of a perfected person). Larry himself just used some confusing expressions to stop himself from asking the questions he originally wanted to ask. What Hinduism did was to de-swell his mind. But he thought that Hinduism answered everything, so he designed his future life in a similar way. It feels like this protagonist is simply a collection of stereotypes about intelligent people.
I didn't understand the Indian part. It felt very essential, but the level was limited. Isabel and Eliot also wrote a lot. Such eloquent narration is quite interesting, just like you are having a cordial conversation with the author.
Larry was a noble, persevering, gentle man. This novel becomes different because of Larry. It is not easy to write about a person like Larry, which means that the author will have to live by Larry as a template in the future, and Maugham is only called a second-rate writer. Although The Moon and Sixpence is more famous, I think Larry is more real and more relatable to people than Strickland.
The rating is just to record that I finished reading this book at a certain time. I haven't appreciated this book yet, and I don't have any qualifications to criticize it. It's a pleasant experience. Some of the opinions in the comment area suddenly became enlightened after reading them. I didn't expect so many more.
It feels like the protagonist of Soul is Larry, who is otherworldly and does not believe in God. He goes to the mysterious India to explore the reincarnation of the world and why people suffer in this life. It seems that this mysterious exploration has a great influence on the author. It is not clear whether it is the awe brought by the mystery itself.
It seems that the life of an ascetic is the first step towards greatness, enjoying pursuits that go against the world. Other characters are probably living in the world and making choices, following rules, pursuing fame and fortune, pursuing indulgence, destruction or perfection, which resonates more with me? Sure enough, it has not reached the point where money is regarded as dirt, or even goes in the opposite direction...
It seems that the people described in the book are all smart people. Even Eliot does not lose much by being obsessed with the party, but his existence will be forgotten. Elizabeth will decorate the new home in a modernist style. It is an inevitable rather than a stupid ending. Some kind of meaningless persistence that is not understood will be like this in the end.
After reading it, I couldn't calm down for a long time. Everyone is portrayed in detail, and everyone has his own way of life. I was deeply moved by Larry's spiritual pursuit, which ordinary people like us can only dream of!
Larry is great and is willing to sacrifice himself for others. This sacrificial spirit makes the desire for fullness seem trivial. "Larry has, as he wished, been in the noisy sea of people; and in this sea of people full of complex interests and conflicts, people are lost in their minds, but they are eager to transcend themselves; they are so determined on the outside, but so hesitant in their hearts; so kind, yet so cruel; so honest, yet so cunning; so generous, yet so stingy."
The sharp blade divides the world into two. One side is the earthly success, society, family, and wealth symbolized by Elizabeth and others. The other side is the spiritual pursuit represented by Larry and others. It is easy to embark on and settle in any world. The difficult thing is to cross the blade and move from the original world to another world.
All great men have some favored subordinates around them. The last thing you should do is neglect these people who rely on their power. When they don't get the treatment they deserve, they will become resentful and will repeatedly shoot cold arrows in front of their masters to sow discord. You must have a good relationship with them.
"Gadha Upanishad" says: A razor is sharp and difficult to overcome; a wise man has a saying that it is possible to overcome a small number of people.
Maugham's "The Blade" allows us to see from different angles that in sudden changes, some people save themselves, some save others, and some drown and sink, and cannot survive in the end.
The process of finding oneself is like walking on a knife edge. If you are not careful, your body will be broken into pieces, and the road forward is like walking on thin ice. In the book, Larry first gave up work, love, and finally material things in order to pursue his own meaning, and finally found the answer he wanted, which was self-improvement, integration into the "absolute", and advocating reincarnation. However, Larry also seems to be too self-centered. Perhaps this is the case for a person who pursues the ultimate spiritual realm, but I believe that everyone is special. I cannot fully agree with Larry's approach, just as I cannot agree that there are two identical leaves in the world. Maugham said that he gave everyone the best ending, in which everyone realizes the meaning of their life to some extent, no matter whether they pursue high or low, material or spiritual; I believe that each of us can also pursue the answer that we want for ourselves through our own unique path.
In the book, the author describes three completely different views on love: sober love, sinking love, and reborn love, as well as positive, dull, or pessimistic love stories guided by this view of love. The three women in the book, Isabel, Sophie and Susan, have their own different choices and life paths when facing life difficulties and love. The two sides of a knife are just like the fork in the road between love and life. The author tries to reflect some philosophies about life through love stories.
Fortunately, everyone has a good ending and lives the way they want to live, despite all the setbacks in the journey.
Eliot was a social expert. When he was not socializing, or on the way to socializing, he liked to make friends with various princes and nobles. When he was about to die, he still longed for the invitation of Princess xx. His life felt a bit sad. When he was dying, no one in the circle he was passionate about came to see him. Think about ourselves, do we have many such relationships, and do we need so many relationships?
Elizabeth, I feel like many beautiful women we have seen, have someone to love, but she is more considerate of reality. She married a rich man who she did not love but was very good to her. Although she later went bankrupt, with Eliot's inheritance, her life recovered and the ending was good.
Elizabeth's husband, a hard-working and capable man, married the person he loved. It was a good life for him to live like this.
? Yi, a divine man, a person who has escaped from vulgar taste
Sophie, she is really a tragic character. She could write poetry when she was young, read many books, and grew up to have a good family. However, a car accident took her husband and children away (probably), and she suffered a major blow. She has fallen into a state of decline since then, and has been addicted to alcohol, drugs, and promiscuity for a long time. Originally wanted to be raped? Yi was saved, but due to Elizabeth's jealousy, a bottle of alcohol exposed her true nature, and finally she fell into the bottomless abyss, and finally had her throat cut and died. This can be regarded as a kind of relief!
Maugham's writing always makes people want to read on and see how things develop next. It is very attractive. It reminds me of what Mr. Mo Yan said: a mature writer's works are always understandable. This is the case with Mr. Maugham's works.
? Yi, after witnessing his comrades die trying to save him, began to think about life. In order to pursue the life he wanted, a kind of philosophical spirit, when he was in his 20s, everyone was thinking about how to work and make money. When he was thinking about starting a family, he spent a lot of time reading every day, went to the coal mine to do physical work, helped others, traveled to various countries, and later achieved enlightenment in India, and finally lived the life he wanted.
This book has a lot of depth and the characters are very vivid. Larry has been looking for the meaning of life, and his experience made me feel the diversity of life. Maugham's description is very delicate, making me feel like I am actually there. Some of the thoughts in the book also made me examine my life more. All in all, "The Blade" is a book worth reading again and again.
Beautiful scenery, colorful life. What exactly does everyone pursue throughout their lives?
Perfecting yourself and living for yourself seems like an abstract concept. Then "the road is long and long, I will search up and down"!
Larry has been pursuing inner peace all his life, hoping and transcending others, and doing good with all his heart. His journey to the East gave him the answer. Unfortunately, the East here refers to India. China is a huge country next door with a profound culture. There is still a long way to go to promote it to the world!
Some people say: After reading "The Blade", you will know that there is more than one way to live in life. People have the right to choose any way to live. The cycle of life is always looking for a kind of peace...
This is a thought-provoking novel, especially the sixth chapter of the novel, the author's all-night conversation with Cary. Many descriptions are worth reading and re-reading.
The blade is a bit blunt and a bit disappointing. Reading Maugham's works is like having an unthinking first love in youth. It is stunning and beautiful but also shallow and reckless. It can only be said that some people are right in their evaluation of Maugham. He is a first-class writer who is close to the second-rate, with excellent skills and poor emotions. It's not that I'm arrogant. To be honest, I had high expectations for Blade before reading it, but this Blade became the second great book that I found difficult to read. Maugham always pursued showing humanity rather than making judgments. His muzzle was always aimed at the middle class, and he was always active in ridiculing material desires. The above-mentioned connotation that could be fully expressed in half the length of the article was mentioned again and again, just like some online articles nowadays. You can tell the end at a glance. It can only be said that Maugham is a writer who is easy to get bored of. Reading one or two of them will make you astounded, and reading six or seven of them will make you sleepy. Talk about something interesting, such as being in pain on the blade and falling off the cliff. The ultimate meaning described in Maugham's article is more like asking people to grow a pair of wings and fly to the sky, instead of crossing the edge of the knife or the cliff. The Beibei fish is very beautiful and shocking, but 7.9 Billion of the 8 billion people in the world are crawling on the blade. If you calculate it, Maugham owes me 7.9 Billion pairs of wings. So whenever I meet the moon buling buling, I still choose to pick up the sixpence. Maugham, just have fun [face covering]
I saw different life choices in the book, and the one that touched me the most was Isabel's. Because I like to pay attention to women, I can resonate more with her. She and Larry were originally a couple, and their subsequent development can be regarded as a control group. She is loyal to the material world, Larry is loyal to the spiritual world. The two were destined to be inseparable from the beginning, but fortunately, they were both moving forward on the path they expected. I appreciate Isabel's decisiveness in dealing with situations, such as her breaking off her engagement with Larry, her marriage to Gray, and her plot to ruin Sophie and Larry's wedding... She lived a wonderful enough life! [Sending Hearts]
"If you don't want to follow the crowd, life is like a big gamble. There are countless people who have failed and very few who have succeeded." However, the story Maugham himself told is tantamount to an ideological enlightenment for many young people in the world, allowing them to begin to examine whether the life they have said is as boring as Maugham criticized, and whether they have unintentionally become someone else. As for myself, I only know that at least when I read this book, I desperately want to find out that my feelings are true. I hate others chattering in front of me to make judgments about my future. I am also tired of the anxiety caused by the unknown future.
"The Blade" is a novel by the British writer Maugham. The work explores the depth of human nature and the meaning of life through the experience of the protagonist Larry. Maugham used his unique brushstrokes to outline the image of Larry, a young man who experienced a spiritual shock during the war. In order to find the true meaning of life, he gave up his secular pursuits and embarked on an unusual path. I think Maugham's writing style in "The Blade" is very good. He uses delicate psychological descriptions and vivid scene depictions to bring readers into Larry's inner world, allowing us to deeply understand his thoughts and feelings. At the same time, Maugham's words are also full of poetry, making this novel not only a literary work, but also a masterpiece of philosophical discussion. In "Blade", Larry's choices and actions represent a pursuit of the depth of life. He is not bound by secular values and bravely pursues his inner truth. I deeply admire this spirit. I think Maugham conveyed an attitude towards life through "The Blade", that is: the meaning of life does not lie in how much material wealth we have, but in how we understand and experience the world and discover the truth and kindness in our hearts. For today's society, this idea has very important enlightenment significance. In an era when materialism is prevalent, people are often confused by material wealth and ignore their inner needs and true happiness. Maugham told us through "The Blade" that true happiness comes from a deep understanding and experience of life, and from kindness and love for the world. This is not only a philosophy of personal life, but also the value orientation that our society should have. In short, "The Blade" is a very profound novel. Maugham shows us a courageous attitude towards life in pursuing inner truth through Larry's story. This attitude not only has important guiding significance for individuals, but also has a profound enlightenment effect on today's society. I believe that "Blade" will become an eternal classic that inspires people to pursue inner truth and kindness.
The protagonist is similar to "The Moon and Sixpence". They are both extraordinary. After discovering that the current life is not what he wants, he leaves and looks for it without hesitation. After many years, he has indeed become a completely different person.
I have always liked Maugham's books. No matter how they are translated, they read very smoothly. The story line is also clear and the characters are portrayed in detail and profoundly. The person who made me sad in this book was probably Sophie. She had been unfortunate, but suddenly a light shot out in the dark world, and that was Larry. However, Isabelle turns off the light, so Sophie dies. Sophie has a spiritual dimension that Larry loves, so he's not just there to redeem her. It's hard to say who is right and who is wrong. In this life, everyone pursues something different. Elliot's emphasis on reputation, Gray's pursuit of money, Lisabell's pursuit of material things, and Larry's pursuit and exploration of the true meaning of life... A busy life, or perhaps a life of inaction, are the current status of our existence in this world.
It's over. This ending seems a bit regretful, but also seems to be a perfect ending. Their stories are still unfolding, living their own life paths in a parallel world. The characters in the article have distinct personalities and the collision of different classes and different ideas. They all have their own charm and are very powerful characters. They can walk out of their own lives and realize their own values. Everyone is an independent individual and has different choices. I hope that on the way to pursue economic foundation, I can enjoy life, love nature, devote myself to practice, and bravely cross the blade!
Many concepts in "The Blade" are like sharp knives piercing the heart. After reading it, people can let go of many old and new grudges, and can more clearly follow their inner thoughts. After many emotional ups and downs, they can still keep their minds as calm as water: ①Accept the imperfection of human nature, fulfill the pursuits of others, and do not let other people's thoughts interfere too much with your own life; ② However, paying too much attention to the actual material and economic conditions and always maintaining independent thinking is your most rare asset; ③There will inevitably be regrets in life, accept all things that go against your wishes, and work hard to cultivate your perfect body and mind ~ Love yourself and love life
The difference between the protagonist and others is that most people are pursuing the happiness and fame brought by material things, but Larry cares about whether he is happy inside and whether his inner world is rich. Later, he began to explore, maybe he was exploring what people should care about in life, maybe he was exploring the connection between the universe and people, or something else. No matter what, when a person who is indifferent to fame and fortune appears among a large group of people who are chasing fame and fortune, many people think that person is out of place and "alternative". But Larry managed to ignore the eyes of others and pursue his own ideals wholeheartedly.
"It is like a drop of water rising from the ocean. After a burst of rain, it enters the pond, then drifts into the stream, merges into the river, passes through the mountains and valleys, and the vast grassland, twists and turns, and overcomes many difficulties, until finally it reaches the boundless sea from which it rises." It is not easy to cross the edge of the knife, so wise men often say that the road to salvation is difficult. This is Ghatto Upanishad's highest evaluation of Maugham's Blade. Blade tells the story of a young pilot who saw his friend die trying to save him. The death of his friend made Larry start to rethink the meaning of life. He left his fiancée, refused a decent job, and began to travel around the world to pursue the meaning of life...
Reading "The Blade" has a different feeling than reading "The Moon and Sixpence". When I read it, my mood seems to be much more alienated, and my feelings after reading it are much less. After reading the book, I don't really understand why the book is titled "Blade", although the quotation of the book has already been annotated – "It is not easy to cross the edge of a knife, so wise men often say that the road to salvation is difficult. "Ghatto Upanishad" according to this annotation, many individual lives described in the book seem to be crossing the edge, some have crossed it, and some have been injured and destroyed by the edge. However, I think that the title "Blade" does exist for the narrator (author), but not necessarily for the characters in the book themselves. Just like for some people, hardship and hard work are the edge of a knife, but others may not think so; for some people, eagerness for quick success is the edge of a knife, but others may not think so. The myriad forms of life are entirely due to the superposition of self-selection. Therefore, what you get is what you choose, and what you get must be what you want. So, the "blade" doesn't seem to exist. Just like a moth rushing to the fire, fire is just the light and heat that the moth's heart longs for, and it is worth embracing with life... Looking at it with a cold eye, none of the many characters in the book like it. But even so, there is still something to gain: reading about all living beings and examining the appearance of characters will help you build a more complete inner coordinate system and live your life well. Perhaps, life is a knife, and all living beings must cross their own edge.
Everyone has their own choices, everyone has their own life, everyone has their pursuit and end point, and everyone achieves everyone's success. No matter what the outcome is, I am finally writing on a blank piece of paper. I am neither perfect nor a bad life!
A book that Maugham must read. Larry's lifestyle is bohemian, but few people have the courage to do so. Although he loves freedom, he still has to live.
How should I put it, Maugham's techniques in this book are very mature. The pinnacle work of his later years, the plot is relaxed and relaxed, the characters are multi-faceted and real, and the narrative rhythm is natural and fluent. My only dissatisfaction is that Larry's life is too childish. Many of the arguments are actually completely rebuttable, even very simple refutations. It is hard for me to imagine that a person with a deep understanding of Western philosophy would be satisfied with such a common answer as Hinduism (it feels like Maugham himself knew this, so he added some mystical experiences and specialized special abilities to Larari to strengthen his image of a perfected person). Larry himself just used some confusing expressions to stop himself from asking the questions he originally wanted to ask. What Hinduism did was to de-swell his mind. But he thought that Hinduism answered everything, so he designed his future life in a similar way. It feels like this protagonist is simply a collection of stereotypes about intelligent people.
I didn't understand the Indian part. It felt very essential, but the level was limited. Isabel and Eliot also wrote a lot. Such eloquent narration is quite interesting, just like you are having a cordial conversation with the author.
Larry was a noble, persevering, gentle man. This novel becomes different because of Larry. It is not easy to write about a person like Larry, which means that the author will have to live by Larry as a template in the future, and Maugham is only called a second-rate writer. Although The Moon and Sixpence is more famous, I think Larry is more real and more relatable to people than Strickland.
The rating is just to record that I finished reading this book at a certain time. I haven't appreciated this book yet, and I don't have any qualifications to criticize it. It's a pleasant experience. Some of the opinions in the comment area suddenly became enlightened after reading them. I didn't expect so many more. It feels like the protagonist of Soul is Larry, who is otherworldly and does not believe in God. He goes to the mysterious India to explore the reincarnation of the world and why people suffer in this life. It seems that this mysterious exploration has a great influence on the author. It is not clear whether it is the awe brought by the mystery itself. It seems that the life of an ascetic is the first step towards greatness, enjoying pursuits that go against the world. Other characters are probably living in the world and making choices, following rules, pursuing fame and fortune, pursuing indulgence, destruction or perfection, which resonates more with me? Sure enough, it has not reached the point where money is regarded as dirt, or even goes in the opposite direction... It seems that the people described in the book are all smart people. Even Eliot does not lose much by being obsessed with the party, but his existence will be forgotten. Elizabeth will decorate the new home in a modernist style. It is an inevitable rather than a stupid ending. Some kind of meaningless persistence that is not understood will be like this in the end.
After reading it, I couldn't calm down for a long time. Everyone is portrayed in detail, and everyone has his own way of life. I was deeply moved by Larry's spiritual pursuit, which ordinary people like us can only dream of!
Larry is great and is willing to sacrifice himself for others. This sacrificial spirit makes the desire for fullness seem trivial. "Larry has, as he wished, been in the noisy sea of people; and in this sea of people full of complex interests and conflicts, people are lost in their minds, but they are eager to transcend themselves; they are so determined on the outside, but so hesitant in their hearts; so kind, yet so cruel; so honest, yet so cunning; so generous, yet so stingy."
The sharp blade divides the world into two. One side is the earthly success, society, family, and wealth symbolized by Elizabeth and others. The other side is the spiritual pursuit represented by Larry and others. It is easy to embark on and settle in any world. The difficult thing is to cross the blade and move from the original world to another world.
All great men have some favored subordinates around them. The last thing you should do is neglect these people who rely on their power. When they don't get the treatment they deserve, they will become resentful and will repeatedly shoot cold arrows in front of their masters to sow discord. You must have a good relationship with them.
"Gadha Upanishad" says: A razor is sharp and difficult to overcome; a wise man has a saying that it is possible to overcome a small number of people. Maugham's "The Blade" allows us to see from different angles that in sudden changes, some people save themselves, some save others, and some drown and sink, and cannot survive in the end.
The process of finding oneself is like walking on a knife edge. If you are not careful, your body will be broken into pieces, and the road forward is like walking on thin ice. In the book, Larry first gave up work, love, and finally material things in order to pursue his own meaning, and finally found the answer he wanted, which was self-improvement, integration into the "absolute", and advocating reincarnation. However, Larry also seems to be too self-centered. Perhaps this is the case for a person who pursues the ultimate spiritual realm, but I believe that everyone is special. I cannot fully agree with Larry's approach, just as I cannot agree that there are two identical leaves in the world. Maugham said that he gave everyone the best ending, in which everyone realizes the meaning of their life to some extent, no matter whether they pursue high or low, material or spiritual; I believe that each of us can also pursue the answer that we want for ourselves through our own unique path.
In the book, the author describes three completely different views on love: sober love, sinking love, and reborn love, as well as positive, dull, or pessimistic love stories guided by this view of love. The three women in the book, Isabel, Sophie and Susan, have their own different choices and life paths when facing life difficulties and love. The two sides of a knife are just like the fork in the road between love and life. The author tries to reflect some philosophies about life through love stories.
Fortunately, everyone has a good ending and lives the way they want to live, despite all the setbacks in the journey. Eliot was a social expert. When he was not socializing, or on the way to socializing, he liked to make friends with various princes and nobles. When he was about to die, he still longed for the invitation of Princess xx. His life felt a bit sad. When he was dying, no one in the circle he was passionate about came to see him. Think about ourselves, do we have many such relationships, and do we need so many relationships? Elizabeth, I feel like many beautiful women we have seen, have someone to love, but she is more considerate of reality. She married a rich man who she did not love but was very good to her. Although she later went bankrupt, with Eliot's inheritance, her life recovered and the ending was good. Elizabeth's husband, a hard-working and capable man, married the person he loved. It was a good life for him to live like this. ? Yi, a divine man, a person who has escaped from vulgar taste Sophie, she is really a tragic character. She could write poetry when she was young, read many books, and grew up to have a good family. However, a car accident took her husband and children away (probably), and she suffered a major blow. She has fallen into a state of decline since then, and has been addicted to alcohol, drugs, and promiscuity for a long time. Originally wanted to be raped? Yi was saved, but due to Elizabeth's jealousy, a bottle of alcohol exposed her true nature, and finally she fell into the bottomless abyss, and finally had her throat cut and died. This can be regarded as a kind of relief! Maugham's writing always makes people want to read on and see how things develop next. It is very attractive. It reminds me of what Mr. Mo Yan said: a mature writer's works are always understandable. This is the case with Mr. Maugham's works. ? Yi, after witnessing his comrades die trying to save him, began to think about life. In order to pursue the life he wanted, a kind of philosophical spirit, when he was in his 20s, everyone was thinking about how to work and make money. When he was thinking about starting a family, he spent a lot of time reading every day, went to the coal mine to do physical work, helped others, traveled to various countries, and later achieved enlightenment in India, and finally lived the life he wanted.
This book has a lot of depth and the characters are very vivid. Larry has been looking for the meaning of life, and his experience made me feel the diversity of life. Maugham's description is very delicate, making me feel like I am actually there. Some of the thoughts in the book also made me examine my life more. All in all, "The Blade" is a book worth reading again and again.
Beautiful scenery, colorful life. What exactly does everyone pursue throughout their lives? Perfecting yourself and living for yourself seems like an abstract concept. Then "the road is long and long, I will search up and down"!
Larry has been pursuing inner peace all his life, hoping and transcending others, and doing good with all his heart. His journey to the East gave him the answer. Unfortunately, the East here refers to India. China is a huge country next door with a profound culture. There is still a long way to go to promote it to the world!
Some people say: After reading "The Blade", you will know that there is more than one way to live in life. People have the right to choose any way to live. The cycle of life is always looking for a kind of peace...
This is a thought-provoking novel, especially the sixth chapter of the novel, the author's all-night conversation with Cary. Many descriptions are worth reading and re-reading.