Sunday, January 2, 2011

Mothers-in-law from hell

This book is written by two Japanese women who have got married with Hong Kong males and moved to live in Hong Kong.  The title and the introduction of this book give people the impression that the book will generally be about the horrible mothers-in-law of the writers and how they cope with them.  Yet, as the readers go on reading, they will find that it is in fact a book which depicts some uncivilized horrible behaviours of the elderly in Hong Kong.  e.g. There is a description of a situation in a Macdonald restaurant in Hong Kong where some elderly pick up the cups used and left behind by other patrons of the restaurant and help themselves to numerous refill in the restaurant.  I was appalled on reading that, though I am not sure if the case quoted is really representative of the situation in Hong Kong.  I, myself, have never come across such a situation before.  The elderly involved must be in poverty then. 
In my experience, Japanese like to observe people of other places.  Maybe that is one of the reasons why they often suffer from cultural shocks.  I have to admit that some elderly people are not behaving in a very pleasant way in this big city.  But somhow, I feel puzzled about the relationships between the in-laws in Japan.  Will there be problems as well?  I think some of the problems are in fact, caused by cultural differences and some of them have to do with the people they come across. 









J.D. Salinger's Nine Stories

J.D. Salinger's writing gives me the feeling that he thought and behaved in a way that was far more advanced than his contemporaries.  After reading Catcher in the Rye, I browsed through the internet for information on this writer and was surprised to find that he died of a very old age recently.

My conclusion is that his writings are still "cool" , in fact a lot "cooler" than a lot of writers these days.  I am particularly amazed by the way he protrayed his protagonist in De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period.  I can't believe that the stories were written in the 40's, except for the fact that most characters in his stories seemed to be chain-smoking themselves to death all the time.   

Somerset Maugham's "The Painted Veil"

"The painted veil" begins with a very interesting preface, when Maugham complained a bit about how the claim of libel from the Assistance Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong at the time had forced him to replace "Hong Kong" with "Tching-Yen" in the story, leaving behind around sixty copies of books that have already gone into print with "Hong Kong" as the background.  Yet, those books have become valuable collectibles since then.   Though "Tching-Yen" is replaced with "Hong Kong" in the version I have read, I still have no idea about where Mei-tan-fu is.  Is it Guilin as suggested in the movie with Edward Norton playing the role of Walter?   Or, is it just an imaginary setting,  referring to a place in China in general.  When we read the Hansard (official record of the Legislative Council )of the early 20th century of Hong Kong or books like "Governing Hong Kong", we will come to see that it was very common for epidemic outbreaks to take place at the time.  Poor infrastructures and hygiene habits probably have contributed to such outbreaks.  Anyway, very often, Englishman were rather reluctant to come to settle down in this part of the world at that time.  So, it is interesting to see the changes after one and a half century of British rule. 
When I read  this book, I couldn't help comparing the relationship between Walter and Kitty to the one between Mildred and Philip in "Of Human Bondage". Both stories are about how a rather intellectual man fell for a woman that was rather "shallow".  And they either tortured or bored each other to death.  On the other hand, the description on the  relationship between Kitty's mother and father reflects how Maugham is cynical and satirical about marriage relations.  It is particularly interesting when Maugham shows the readers how Kitty's father finally felt at ease after his wife's death, and yet he was not accustomed to such freedom after so many years of being under control in such a relationship.  He did not feel comfortable completely in smoking a pipe indoors, as his wife used to object to that.  The readers can't help sympathizing with him when he was embarrassed to feel too relaxed and even tried to explain to Kitty why he was reading newspapers so soon after his wife's death, when Kitty reached home earlier than expected and met him in the living room.  As Chinese, we can't understand exactly why the breadwinner of the family can be despised by his dependents, as Chinese women in the last generation will tend to treat the breadwinner of the house as the boss, apart from the fact that they really love their husband and children. 
Readers will be disappointed by the movie after reading the book. The movie probably misses the very main themes or messages the writer is trying to get across.  Kitty never really loved Walter.  She probably admired what he was doing for the people in Mei-tan-fu afterwards.  She might have grown up a bit after seeing the epidemic-struck Mei-tan-fu and the humanitarian work done by the French nuns and her husband.  But her encounter with Townsend in Hong Kong showed that she was weak and was far different from the French nuns who have left their homes forever to work for poor people.  She came to her senses after the encounter, but her relationship with Walter was not what the movie has tried to convey.  It is not fair to compare a book with a movie, though.  All the actors can act really well in the movie, including the actor from Hong Kong, playing General Yu.  And the movie is good if we don't try to compare it with the book. 






Somerset Maugham 's Of Human Bondage

I am surprised to find that this novel that was written around a hundred years ago can be so entertaining and full of ideas that are still so inspiring .  Though we may be very different from Philip, the protagonist, as he seems to be unable to feel or love as ordinary people (probably due to his deformity and the fact that he became an orphan at an early age, and was brought up by a clegryman that was far from truly compassionate or religious), there are a lot of thought provoking ideas for us to brood over, including those on life, work, one's career, religion etc. 

Day-to-day work for ordinary people can be boring.  Yet, we seldom come to dwell on the fact that for quite a number of people, they don't need to be talented to do what they are doing to make a living, or even a fortune. With aggressive characters, mediocre people can be even more successful than people who have real talents, no matter whether they be doctors or lawyers. Yet, the point is, if a person is not talented, and does not believe so, it can be tragic. When Philip asked Lawson "I wonder if it's worthwhile being a second-rate painter.  You see, in other things, if you're a doctor or if you're in business, it doesn't matter so much if you're mediocre.  You make a living and you get along.  But what is the good of turning out second-rate pictures?" Perhaps, there may still be exceptions, second-rate pictures can be sold and hanged on ordinary people's homes as mere decorations.  Lots of craftsmen are doing that for a living nowadays.  So,there is still nothing either bad or good, but thinking make it so, that is, what the person wants himself to be.
When Philip was thinking of quitting art and asked Monsieur Foinet for advice,  Monsieur Foinet's opinion was that "money is like a sixth sense without which you cannot make a complete use of the other five".  So, being too cynical about earning enough to cultivate one's own interests does not help to make a person a greater artist in any sense.  And it is doubtful whether one should see the endurance of hardships as directly correlated to inspiration for creation.

The protagonist's relationships with women in this book is particularly weird.  Miss Wilkinson was a lot older than him.  Fanny Price seemed to be a character from a horror movie.   Norah seemed to be a pleasant and clever woman, but she looked rather unattractive according to the writer's descriptions.  And Philip's self-abusive relationship with Mildred probably serves to explain how some people love in a rather irrational manner.  It may be totally out of other people's understanding.  So, we may keep on reading about how Philip rejected the love of women that were good to him and debased himself for loving a woman that didn't deserve his love at all.  In the end, I started to question whether it was real love that was involved, or rather, human relationships are somehow a reflection of one's self-esteem or psychological state of mind. 
This book is full of unusal characters.  They are not common, ordinary people we encounter in our daily life.  What makes it so interesting is that the characters' behaviours are very unusal and unpredictable.    When Philip was invited to pass comments on Fanny Price's paintings, the descriptions about the fact that she was totally unaware of her lack of talents in art and her confidence over her horrible works probably serve to astonished the readers.  In fact, comic and tragic elements often co-exist in incidents such as the funeral of Aunt Louisa, Fanny Price's brother's request for a visit to the Mont-martre right after the burial of his sister.  People's behaviours can be so outrageous that there is obviously a sardonic undertone in Maugham's descriptions. Those people obviously cared more about trivial matters around them, in other words, they were more concerned about  themselves than the people that were actually involved in those incidents, even if they be their close relative and life companion.

Many people have written essays which suggest that this book is Somerset Maugham's autobigraphy.  If this is really his autobiography, it definitely explains why he had been a spy before.   Spys need to be callous in a way in order to be successful.  When I was reading the description on how the train was pulling out of Blackstable when Aunt Louisa saw him off after giving all her money to him,  I couldn't help thinking that he was a bit heartless in forgetting all about her when she was out of his sight. 
In reality, Maugham started writing this book as a young man, and he put the half-finished scripts aside for 15 years before he picked it up again as a middle-aged man and went on writing.  Yet, as the book is about how a young boy grows up, the passage of time definitely gives the book more solid descriptions on how the other characters (Cronshaw, Philip's uncle) behave and think. 

On the other hand, modern technology really helps us to enjoy reading more.  When I came to the part on Philip's life in France, I simply couldn't visualize the various paintings as I don't have the background of an art student.  Yet, as I  browsed through the webs, all the paintings and details about the artists then popped up immediately on the screen, adding immediate pleasure to reading.  Say, if there is no such means as convenient as browsing the web, it might have taken me ages to imagine how Somerset Maugham means by describing the woman who cohabited with Cronshaw as "Bohemienne in the Louvre by Franz Hals".  Or I would have no idea at all about the arguments in respect of  the skills used in painting  "Olympia".  Yet, I still think that electronic means are definitely no substitute to books.  With the beautifully designed cover and printed pages, I think books can be a piece of artwork to me.  Besides, you don't have the satisfaction of flipping over the pages, and knowing that you are getting near to finish reading a book, if you don't have the actual object in your hands.