From the very beginning - a scene, such that many people are probably familiar with since childhood, but this makes it no less creepy. The newcomer is poisoned by other boys, everything is used, as usual in such cases. If someone's mother washed, then she was a laundress. Since the child has a broken leg, then go out and do not interfere with the game of the right boys. Then something completely different: mind-numbingly beautiful statues, squeezing each other in a warm welcoming loving embrace, stunning curves of marble outlines ... so what will the film be about - about a difficult childhood, about extreme and raging passion, or about the power of art?

As it turns out, there's a whole lot more to it than that. A person's search for his vocation, his place in life, the difficulty of connecting this with personal life The hero is dismissively informed that as an artist he will not be popular, and that a good butcher is better than a bad artist. Although, to be honest, the poor guy's drawings are very excellent, now a thousand times uglier are being sold for millions. But, be that as it may, the hero goes through the medical unit.

It is very difficult to study anatomy and pass exams, but to top it off, he falls in love with a cold, impregnable, fastidious waitress Mildred. She uses her magnificent appearance in every possible way to receive signs of attention from gentlemen, prefers pomp and glamor, clothes, theaters, restaurants, tries to demonstrate the manners of high-society fifa. There is hardly even a special carnal passion in the film - the heroine behaves depravedly, but this is more likely not in her physiological nature, but because of the banal thirst for money. Which is perhaps worse than lust. But even selfless, sacrificial, generous love can border on extreme naivety and even foolishness. After all, acquaintances have repeatedly warned the future doctor who Mildred is. True, they themselves are also not averse ... to explore it, it can be seen from a purely scientific purposes. In general, the theme of human hypocrisy, set-ups, trips from those whom you seek to trust, is also fully disclosed.

From this film, and practical sense will follow, if you notice here how all sorts of cunning people keep simpletons in the next friend zone. But it’s true, and the ladies are also warned that the desire to become the wife of a rich man or a wealthy kept woman and the pragmatic attitude towards people associated with this often lead to collapse. At the end, the young man wins the full moral victory over Mildred - that does not show a single gram of irritation, revenge, does not blurt out reproaches. Even when she tries to hurt him as tangibly as possible, and after everything that he has done for her, mocks his injury, calling him a cripple, he is able to show her, before her end, extraordinary human participation and care, surpassing even what is due in the Hippocratic Oath.

Somerset Maugham's The Burden of Human Passions is one of the best works what I read recently. Somerset describes our passions so beautifully and poetically that it even becomes somehow uncomfortable. For the lazy, a video with my review of the book “The Burden of Passions”:

I read in in electronic format. It was given to me on the Litres website. I don't think it will be difficult for you to find where you can download it.

Maugham himself believed that the novel was overloaded with redundant details, that many scenes were added to the novel simply to increase the volume or due to fashion - the novel was published in 1915 - ideas about novels at that time were different from modern ones. Therefore, in the 60s, Maugham significantly reduced the novel "... it took a long time before writers realized that a description in one line often gives more than a full page." In Russian translation, this version of the novel was called "The Burden of Passions" - so that it would be possible to distinguish it from the original version.

Summary of the novel (do not read if you are going to take up a book!)

The first chapters are devoted to Philip's life in Blackstable with his uncle and aunt and studying at the royal school in Tercanbury, where Philip suffers a lot of bullying because of his lame leg. Relatives expect that after leaving school, Philip will go to Oxford and take the clergy, but the young man feels that he does not have a real vocation for this. Instead, he goes to Heidelberg (Germany), where he studies Latin, German and French.

During his stay in Germany, Philip meets the Englishman Hayward. Philip is immediately imbued with sympathy for his new acquaintance, he cannot but admire Hayward's extensive knowledge of literature and art. However, Hayward's ardent idealism does not suit Philip: “He always passionately loved life and experience told him that idealism is most often cowardly flight from life. The idealist withdraws into himself because he is afraid of the pressure of the human crowd; he does not have enough strength to fight, and therefore he considers it an occupation for the mob; he is vain, and since his neighbors do not agree with his assessment of himself, he consoles himself with the fact that he repays them with contempt. Another friend of Philip, Wicks, describes people like Hayward as follows: “They always admire what it is customary to admire - whatever it is - and one of these days they are going to write a great work. Just think - one hundred and forty-seven great works rest in the soul of one hundred and forty-seven great men, but the tragedy lies in the fact that none of these one hundred and forty-seven great works will ever be written. And nothing in the world will change.”

In Heidelberg, Philip ceases to believe in God, experiences an extraordinary spiritual uplift and realizes that in doing so he has thrown off the heavy burden of responsibility that gave significance to his every act. Philip feels mature, fearless, free and decides to start a new life.

After that, Philip makes an attempt to become a chartered accountant in London, but it turns out that this profession is not for him. Then the young man decides to go to Paris and paint. New acquaintances who are engaged with him in art studio Amitrino introduces him to the bohemian poet Cronshaw. Cronshaw is Hayward's antipode, a cynic and a materialist. He ridicules Philip for abandoning the Christian faith without abandoning Christian morality along with it. “People strive for only one thing in life – pleasure,” he says. - A person performs this or that act because it is good for him, and if it is good for other people, the person is considered virtuous; if he is pleased to give alms, he is considered merciful; if he enjoys helping others, he is a benefactor; if it is pleasant for him to give strength to society, he is a useful member of it; but you give twopence to a beggar for your personal satisfaction, just as I drink whiskey and soda for my personal satisfaction. Desperate Philip asks what then, according to Cronshaw, is the meaning of life, and the poet advises him to look at the Persian carpets and refuses further explanation.

Philip is not ready to accept Cronshaw's philosophy, but he agrees with the poet that abstract morality does not exist, and refuses it: “Down with the legalized ideas of virtue and vice, good and evil - he will establish for himself life rules". Philip gives himself advice: "Follow your natural inclinations, but with due regard for the policeman around the corner." (To those who have not read the book, this may seem wild, but it should be borne in mind that Philip's natural inclinations are quite in line with generally accepted standards).

Philip soon realizes that he will not make a great artist, and enters medical institute at St Luke's Hospital in London. He meets the waitress Mildred and falls in love with her, despite the fact that he sees all her shortcomings: she is ugly, vulgar and stupid. Passion makes Philip go to incredible humiliations, overspend and become delighted with slightest sign attention from Mildred. Soon, she, as expected, goes to another person, but after a while returns to Philip: it turned out that her missus was married. Philip immediately cuts off contact with the kind, noble and cheerful girl Nora Nesbitt, whom he met shortly after parting with Mildred, and repeats all his mistakes for the second time. In the end, Mildred unexpectedly falls in love with his college friend Griffiths and leaves the unfortunate Philip.

Philip is at a loss: the philosophy that he invented for himself has shown its complete failure. Philip is convinced that the intellect cannot seriously help people at a critical moment of life, his mind is only a contemplative, registering facts, but powerless to intervene. When the time comes to act, a person weakly bows under the burden of his instincts, passions. This gradually leads Philip to fatalism: “When you take off your head, you don’t cry over your hair, because all your strength was directed towards taking off this head.”

Some time later, Philip meets Mildred for the third time. He no longer feels the same passion for her, but still feels some kind of pernicious attraction to this woman and spends a lot of money on her. To top it off, he goes bankrupt on the stock exchange, loses all his savings, quits medical school and gets a job in a textile store. But just then, Philip solves the riddle of Cronshaw and finds the strength to abandon the last illusion, to throw off the last burden. He admits that “life has no meaning, and human existence is aimless. […] Knowing that nothing makes sense and nothing matters, a person can still get satisfaction by choosing various threads that he weaves into the endless fabric of life: after all, this is a river that has no source and flows endlessly without flowing into any what seas. There is one pattern - the simplest and most beautiful: a person is born, matures, marries, produces children, works for a piece of bread and dies; but there are other, more intricate and amazing patterns, where there is no place for happiness or striving for success - perhaps some disturbing beauty is hidden in them.

The realization of the aimlessness of life does not at all lead Philip to despair, as one might think, but on the contrary makes him happy: “Failure does not change anything, and success is equal to zero. Man is only the smallest grain of sand in a huge human whirlpool that has swept over for a short moment earth's surface; but he becomes omnipotent as soon as he solves the mystery that even chaos is nothing.”

Philip's uncle dies and leaves an inheritance to his nephew. This money allows Philip to return to medical school. During his studies, he cherishes the dream of going on a trip, visiting Spain (at one time he was greatly impressed by the paintings of El Greco) and the countries of the East. However, Philip's new girlfriend, nineteen-year-old Sally, the daughter of his former patient Thorpe Athelny, announces that she is expecting a child. Philip, as a noble man, decides to marry her, despite the fact that this will not allow his travel dreams to come true. It soon turns out that Sally was wrong, but Philip does not feel relieved - on the contrary, he is disappointed. Philip understands that you need to live for today, not tomorrow, the simplest pattern human life and is the most perfect. Therefore, he still proposes to Sally. He does not love this girl, but he feels great sympathy for her, he feels good with her, besides, no matter how ridiculous it sounds, he has respect for her, and passionate love, as the story with Mildred showed, often brings only grief.

In the end, Philip even comes to terms with his lame leg, because “without it, he could not have felt beauty so keenly, passionately loved art and literature, excitedly followed the complex drama of life. The mockery and contempt to which he was subjected made him delve into himself and grew flowers - now they will never lose their fragrance. In place of eternal dissatisfaction comes peace of mind.

Review with quotes about the novel “The Burden of Human Passions” from the site irecommend.ru

Thanks to good reviews the book "The Burden of Human Passions", written by a British prose writer Somerset Maugham, at one time I was in the reader and for a long time there was unclaimed.

When you start looking for something to read, you sort through titles, authors. And every time I came across the title of this book, it seemed terribly out of date to me, and, frankly, I imagined some kind of boring thing inside. So I avoided the book for a long time. But it stubbornly caught my eye, because the name begins with the letter “b”, that is, the book is always almost at the top of the list.

And finally, I decided to read it. Now I understand that the book was just waiting in the wings, waiting for my appropriate mood.

The novel "The Burden of Human Passions" was by no means archaic. In my opinion, it is very modern, although the author wrote it in 1915, and the action takes place in it starting from 1885.

The protagonist novel by Philip Carey. We've been getting to know him since he was 9 years old, from the moment his mom dies and he's left an orphan, and we track him down life path, his becoming a man.

A boy with a crippled fate and a wounded soul. In addition to the deepest childhood trauma, the death of his parents, he had to carry his otherness through his whole life, because he was born with a serious physical ailment - a mutilated leg. Since childhood, he was limping, and this lameness of his constantly became the subject of ridicule of his peers, and in adulthood an unpleasant object of excessive attention of others.

This developed in him a huge complex, with which he had to somehow live, study, work, love.

The work “The Burden of Human Passions” is very atmospheric. We are immersed in the life of Europe at that time. Surprising openness of borders. For us, today's Russians, the borders became open quite recently, and then, for the most part, we overcome them as tourists. And here the opportunity to live, study, work in any country is amazing. In general, the mobility of people of that time is striking. So is the main character: he was born in England, studied in closed school, then I decided to study in Berlin, then work in London, then study again in Paris, return to my homeland in order to start studying again in London. But this is so, marginal notes. This is not the main thing in the book “The Burden of Human Passions”.

The main thing is the passions themselves, consuming a person. And it doesn't matter if this person lived in the 19th century or lives in the 21st. Nothing in this world changes.

Faith in God or disbelief.

Finding your place in life.

Human relationships. Loneliness.

The eternal struggle of the heart with the mind, and very often the heart is stronger. Both pride and common sense, and position in society, and their own well-being, when Her Majesty Passion enters the scene.

The emotional experiences of the protagonist of the book “The Burden of Human Passions” are written very strongly. Sometimes involuntarily there is an association with the torments of Rodion Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment. The same power of suffering.

And all these passions are timeless. Their depth, of course, depends on the sensitivity of nature. But at all times people have done stupid things under the influence of their passions, stepped on a rake, ruined their lives. And so it will always be.

I want to warn you that the book “The Burden of Human Passions” by Somerset Maugham. long. But don't let that scare you: it is read in one breath. I just lived some kind of parallel life for several days - the life of this boy, young man, man, and empathized with him.

Another review from bookmix.ru. And yes, I wanted to go to London again 🙂

I basically decided to learn this weighty brick in electronic form, if only because the phone always weighs the same, and you can’t really carry a heavy book with you on the subway.

But still, it is precisely such novels that are better to read on paper, turn the pages, looking, well, how many are there to the end, stroke the binding, choose a bookmark from what comes to hand, and inhale the smell book pages. Especially when it comes to books.

This is that old (well, still not quite old, but pretty close) kind England, about which the definition " English literature” sounds like a sign of quality.

This is the kind of novel whose plot is not worth retelling. A man was born, studied, married and died. And he solved the riddle of the Persian carpet somewhere between the stages.

More precisely, not so. We do not find the birth of the protagonist, and we will leave him at the age of thirty, when he is still far from “died”. But let's go through all the stages of growing up, self-realization and indulging our own passions.

When Philip knew in his mind that he needed to do one thing, but his heart practically forced him to do otherwise, I wanted to throw The Burden far, far away. “Rag!” I got angry, quit reading the book, but still came back. It's a romance, it can end well. Maybe, but not required. And for what I love such works - you can’t guess how it will all end, because it lasts forever and one smoothly flows into another.

The main character is not particularly likable. He a common person. Spontaneous, frivolous, carried away. He did not like to sit and sort through the columns of accounting figures - and who would like that? He wanted a beautiful bohemian life in Paris. Montmartre, artists, inspiration, muses, recognition.

And it can be understood. Such desires are not uncommon. It's just that not everyone decides to implement them.

And to wish for the death of an uncle in the name of an inheritance is cruel, but also quite understandable.

Again, the protagonist of the work is an ordinary person. I mean, not a superhero. And nothing human is alien to him. And the main thing here is to understand where it is, your happiness, far or close.

Moem is great. His works are lightweight, yet beautiful and graceful. Pleasant pastime: live day by day the life of one fictional character, whose prototype could be any lame. And not lame either.

Even though I deceived you. Philip is not so simple. He has enough brains. The only thing missing was character. Sometimes.

And Maugham, in turn, lost his parents early, was brought up by an uncle who was a priest, studied literature and philosophy in Heidelberg and medicine in London. In the novel, all reality is probably pre-embellished - that's what a novel is for. But it is also true that if you want to get to know the author a little, look for him in Philip.

Year of writing:

1915

Reading time:

Description of the work:

The Burden of Human Passions is a 1915 novel by English writer William Somerset Maugham. Most famous work at Maugham. The main character of the novel is Philip Carey. He is an orphan, and also lame. The book traces the events of his life from childhood to the time of his student days.

The protagonist Philip Carey thinks a lot and rushes from side to side to understand the meaning of his life. Disappointments and lost illusions await him, but this is worth answering the most important question in life. Read summary novel "The burden of human passions".

Summary of the novel
The burden of human passions

The action takes place at the beginning of the 20th century.

Nine-year-old Philip Carey is left an orphan and sent to be raised by his priestly uncle in Blackstable. The priest does not have tender feelings for his nephew, but Philip finds many books in his house that help him forget about loneliness.

At the school where the boy was sent, classmates mock him (Philip is lame from birth), which makes him painfully shy and shy - it seems to him that suffering is the lot of his whole life. Philip prays to God to make him healthy, and that the miracle does not happen, he blames himself alone - he thinks that he lacks faith.

He hates school and doesn't want to go to Oxford. Against his uncle's wishes, he seeks to study in Germany, and manages to get his way.

In Berlin, Philip falls under the influence of one of his fellow students, the Englishman Hayward, who seems to him outstanding and talented, not noticing that the deliberate unusualness of that is just a pose behind which there is nothing. But the disputes between Hayward and his interlocutors about literature and religion leave a huge mark on Philip's soul: he suddenly realizes that he no longer believes in God, is not afraid of hell, and that a person is responsible for his actions only to himself.

After completing a course in Berlin, Philip returns to Blackstable and meets Miss Wilkinson, the daughter of Mr. Carey's former assistant. She is in her mid-thirties, simpering and coquettish, and Philip does not like her at first, but nevertheless soon becomes his mistress. Philip is very proud, in a letter to Hayward he composes a beautiful romantic story. But when the real Miss Wilkinson leaves, he feels great relief and sadness because reality is so different from dreams.

His uncle, resigned to Philip's reluctance to go to Oxford, sends him to London to train as a chartered accountant. In London, Philip feels bad: he has no friends, and his work makes him unbearably sad. And when a letter arrives from Hayward with a proposal to go to Paris and take up painting, it seems to Philip that this desire has long been ripening in his soul himself. After studying for only a year, he, despite the objections of his uncle, leaves for Paris.

In Paris, Philip entered the art studio "Amitrino"; Fanny Price helps him get used to the new place - she is very ugly and untidy, they can’t stand her for rudeness and great conceit in the complete absence of drawing abilities, but Philip is still grateful to her.

The life of the Parisian bohemia changes Philip's worldview: he no longer considers ethical tasks to be the main ones for art, although he still sees the meaning of life in Christian virtue. The poet Cronshaw, who does not agree with this position, offers Philip to comprehend the true goal human existence look at the pattern of the Persian carpet.

When Fanny, having learned that Philip and his friends were leaving Paris in the summer, made an ugly scene, Philip realized that she was in love with him. And on his return, he did not see Fanny in the studio and, absorbed in his studies, forgot about her. A few months later, a letter arrives from Fanny with a request to visit her: she has not eaten anything for three days. Arriving, Philip discovers that Fanny has committed suicide. This shocked Philip. He is tormented by guilt, but most of all by the senselessness of Fanny's asceticism. He begins to doubt his ability to paint and addresses these doubts to one of the teachers. And indeed, he advises him to start life anew, because only a mediocre artist can turn out of him.

The news of his aunt's death makes Philip go to Blackstable, and he will never return to Paris. Having parted with painting, he wants to study medicine and enters the institute at the hospital of St. Luke in London. In his philosophical reflections, Philip comes to the conclusion that conscience is main enemy individual in the struggle for freedom, and creates for himself a new life rule: you must follow your natural inclinations, but with due regard for the policeman around the corner.

One day in a cafe, he spoke to a waitress named Mildred; she refused to keep up the conversation, hurting his vanity. Philip soon realizes that he is in love, although he perfectly sees all her shortcomings: she is ugly, vulgar, her manners are full of disgusting affectation, her rude speech speaks of the poverty of thought. Nevertheless, Philip wants to get her at any cost, up to marriage, although he realizes that this will be his death. But Mildred declares that she is marrying someone else, and Philip, realizing that main reason his torments - wounded vanity, despises himself no less than Mildred. But you need to move on: pass exams, meet friends ...

Acquaintance with a young pretty woman named Nora Nesbit - she is very sweet, witty, knows how to easily relate to life's troubles - restores his faith in himself and heals spiritual wounds. Philip finds another friend when he has the flu: he is carefully cared for by his neighbor, doctor Griffiths.

But Mildred returns - having learned that she is pregnant, her betrothed confessed that he was married. Philip leaves Nora and starts helping Mildred - so strong is his love. Mildred gives up a newborn girl for upbringing, not having any feelings for her daughter, but falls in love with Griffiths and enters into a relationship with him. The offended Philip nevertheless secretly hopes that Mildred will return to him again. Now he often thinks about Hope: she loved him, and he treated her vilely. He wants to return to her, but finds out that she is engaged. Soon a rumor reaches him that Griffiths broke up with Mildred: she quickly got tired of him.

Philip continues to study and work as an assistant in the dispensary. Communicating with many of the most different people, seeing their laughter and tears, grief and joy, happiness and despair, he understands that life is more difficult abstract concepts about good and evil.

Cronshaw arrives in London, who is finally going to publish his poems. He is very ill: he suffered pneumonia, but, not wanting to listen to doctors, he continues to drink, because only after drinking he becomes himself. Seeing the plight of an old friend, Philip transports him to his place; he soon dies. And again Philip is oppressed by the thought of the meaninglessness of his life, and the rule of life invented under similar circumstances now seems to him stupid.

Philip becomes close to one of his patients, Thorp Athelny, and becomes very attached to him and his family: a hospitable wife, healthy, cheerful children. Philip likes to be at their house, to warm himself by their cozy hearth. Athelny introduces him to the paintings of El Greco. Philip was shocked: he discovered that self-denial is no less passionate and decisive than submission to passions.

Having met Mildred again, who now earns a living by prostitution, Philip, out of pity, no longer feeling the same feelings for her, invites her to settle with him as a servant. But she does not know how to run a household and does not want to look for work. In search of money, Philip begins to play on the stock exchange, and the first experience he succeeds so much that he can afford to operate on his sore leg and go with Mildred to the sea.

In Brighton they live in separate rooms. Mildred is angry about this: she wants to convince everyone that Philip is her husband, and upon her return to London, she tries to seduce him. But she does not succeed - now Philip is physically disgusted with her, and she leaves in a rage, pogrom in his house and taking away the child, to whom Philip managed to become attached.

All of Philip's savings went to moving out of the apartment, which brings back painful memories for him and is also too big for him alone. In order to somehow improve the situation, he again tries to play on the stock exchange and goes bankrupt. His uncle refuses to help him, and Philip is forced to leave his studies, move out of his apartment, spend the night on the street and starve. Learning of Philip's plight, Athelny gets him a job in a shop.

The news of Hayward's death makes Philip rethink the meaning of human life. He recalls the words of the already deceased Cronshaw about the Persian carpet. Now he interprets them as follows: although a person weaves the pattern of his life aimlessly, but, weaving various threads and creating a pattern at his own discretion, he must be satisfied with this. The uniqueness of the picture is its meaning.

Then there is the last meeting with Mildred. She writes that she is ill, that her child has died; besides, when he comes to her, Philip finds out that she has returned to her former occupations. After a painful scene, he leaves forever - this haze of his life finally dissipates.

Having received an inheritance after the death of his uncle, Philip returns to the institute and, after graduating, works as an assistant to Dr. South, and so successfully that he invites Philip to become his companion. But Philip wants to travel "in order to gain the promised land and know himself."

Meanwhile, Athelny's eldest daughter, Sally, is very fond of Philip, and one day, while picking hops, he succumbs to his feelings ... Sally reveals that she is pregnant, and Philip decides to sacrifice himself and marry her. Then it turns out that Sally was wrong, but for some reason Philip does not feel relieved. Suddenly he realizes that marriage is not self-sacrifice, that the rejection of fictitious ideals for the sake of family happiness, if it is a defeat, is better than all victories ... Philip asks Sally to become his wife. She agrees, and Philip Carey finally finds that promised land, to which his soul has been striving for so long.

Please note that the summary of the novel "The Burden of Human Passions" does not reflect complete picture events and characters. We recommend you to read full version works.

1

The day turned dull and grey. The clouds hung low, the air was icy, and snow was about to fall. A maid came into the room where the child was sleeping and parted the curtains. Out of habit, she glanced at the facade of the house opposite - stucco, with a portico - and went to the crib.

“Get up, Philip,” she said.

Throwing back the blanket, she took him in her arms and carried him downstairs. He's not quite awake yet.

- Mom is calling you.

Opening the door to the room on the ground floor, the nanny brought the child to the bed on which the woman was lying. It was his mother. She held out her arms to the boy, and he curled up next to her, not asking why he had been woken up. The woman kissed his closed eyes and with thin hands felt his warm body through his white flannel nightgown. She hugged the child to her.

- Do you want to sleep, baby? she asked.

Her voice was so weak that it seemed to come from somewhere far away. The boy did not answer and only stretched sweetly. He felt good in a warm, spacious bed, in gentle hugs. He tried to become even smaller, shrunk into a ball and kissed her through a dream. His eyes were closed and he was sound asleep. The doctor silently approached the bed.

“Let him be with me for a little while,” she groaned.

The doctor did not answer, but only looked at her sternly. Knowing that she would not be allowed to leave the child, the woman kissed him again, ran her hand over his body; taking her right foot, she touched all five fingers, and then reluctantly touched her left foot. She started crying.

- What's wrong with you? the doctor asked. - You're tired.

She shook her head, and tears rolled down her cheeks. The Doctor leaned towards her.

- Give it to me.

She was too weak to protest. The doctor handed the child over to the nanny.

- Put him back in bed.

- Now.

The sleeping boy was carried away. Mother sobbed, no longer holding back.

- Poor thing! What will happen to him now!

The nurse tried to calm her down; exhausted, the woman stopped crying. The doctor went to the table at the other end of the room, where the corpse of a newborn baby lay covered with a napkin. Raising the napkin, the doctor looked at the lifeless body. And, although the bed was fenced off by a screen, the woman guessed what he was doing.

- Boy or girl? she whispered to the nurse.

- It's also a boy.

The woman didn't say anything. The nurse returned to the room. She approached the patient.

“Philip never woke up,” she said.

There was silence. The doctor felt the patient's pulse again.

“Perhaps I am no longer needed here,” he said. - I'll come after breakfast.

"I'll walk you out," the nurse offered.

They silently descended the stairs into the hall. The doctor stopped.

“Did you send for Mrs. Carey’s brother-in-law?”

- When do you think he will arrive?

I don't know, I'm waiting for a telegram.

- And what to do with the boy? Wouldn't it be better to send it somewhere for now?

“Miss Watkin agreed to take him in.

- And who is she?

- His godmother. Do you think Mrs. Carey will get better?

The doctor shook his head.

2

A week later Philip was sitting on the floor of Miss Watkin's living room in Onslow Gardens. He grew up as an only child in the family and used to play alone. The room was filled with bulky furniture, and on each ottoman were three large ottomans. The chairs also had pillows. Philip dragged them to the floor and, moving the light gilded front chairs, built an intricate cave where he could hide from the redskins lurking behind the curtains. With his ear to the floor, he listened to the distant thump of a herd of buffalo running across the prairie. The door opened and he held his breath to avoid being found, but angry hands pushed back the chair and the pillows fell to the floor.

- Oh, you rascal! Miss Watkin will be angry.

- Ku-ku, Emma! - he said.

Nanny leaned over, kissed him, and then began dusting and removing the pillows.

- Shall we go home? - he asked.

Yes, I came for you.

- You have a new dress.

It was 1885, and women were putting bustles under their skirts. The dress was made of black velvet, with narrow sleeves and sloping shoulders; The skirt was decorated with three wide frills. The hood was also black and tied with velvet. Nanny didn't know what to do. The question she'd been waiting for hadn't been asked, and she didn't have a prearranged answer to give.

Why don't you ask how your mom is doing? she finally couldn't resist.

- I forgot. And how is mom doing?

Now she could answer:

- Your mom is fine. She is very happy.

- Mom left. You won't see her again.

Philip didn't understand.

- Why?

- Your mother is in heaven.

She began to cry, and Philip, though he did not know what it was, began to cry too. Emma

- a tall, bony woman with blond hair and coarse features - was from Devonshire and, despite many years of service in London, never unlearned her harsh accent. From tears, she was completely moved and tightly pressed the boy to her chest. She understood what a misfortune befell the child, deprived of that only love, in which there was not even a shadow of self-interest. It seemed terrible to her that he would end up with strangers. But after a while she pulled herself together.

“Uncle William is waiting for you,” she said. “Go say goodbye to Miss Watkin and we'll go home.

“I don’t want to say goodbye to her,” he replied, somehow ashamed of his tears.

“Well then, run upstairs and put on your hat.”

He brought a hat. Emma was waiting for him in the hallway. Voices came from the office behind the living room. Philip hesitated. He knew that Miss Watkin and her sister were talking to friends, and he thought - the boy was only nine years old - that if he came to them, they would take pity on him.

Year of writing: in Wikisource

"The burden of human passions"(English) Of Human Bondage listen)) is one of the most famous novels by the English writer William Somerset Maugham, written in 1915. The protagonist of the book is Philip Carey, a lame orphan whose fate can be traced from an unhappy childhood to his student years. Philip painfully searches for his calling and tries to find out what is the meaning of life. He will have to experience many disappointments and part with many illusions before he can find his answer to this question.

Plot

The first chapters are devoted to Philip's life in Blackstable with his uncle and aunt and studying at the royal school in Tercanbury, where Philip suffers a lot of bullying because of his lame leg. Relatives expect that after leaving school, Philip will go to Oxford and take the clergy, but the young man feels that he does not have a real vocation for this. Instead, he goes to Heidelberg (Germany), where he studies Latin, German and French.

During his stay in Germany, Philip meets the Englishman Hayward. Philip is immediately imbued with sympathy for his new acquaintance, he cannot but admire Hayward's extensive knowledge of literature and art. However, Hayward's ardent idealism does not suit Philip: “He always passionately loved life and experience told him that idealism is most often a cowardly escape from life. The idealist withdraws into himself because he is afraid of the pressure of the human crowd; he does not have enough strength to fight, and therefore he considers it an occupation for the mob; he is vain, and since his neighbors do not agree with his assessment of himself, he consoles himself with the fact that he repays them with contempt. Another friend of Philip, Wicks, describes people like Hayward as follows: “They always admire what it is customary to admire - whatever it is - and one of these days they are going to write a great work. Just think - one hundred and forty-seven great works rest in the soul of one hundred and forty-seven great men, but the tragedy lies in the fact that none of these one hundred and forty-seven great works will ever be written. And nothing in the world will change.”

In Heidelberg, Philip ceases to believe in God, experiences an extraordinary spiritual uplift and realizes that in doing so he has thrown off the heavy burden of responsibility that gave significance to his every act. Philip feels mature, fearless, free and decides to start a new life.

After that, Philip makes an attempt to become a chartered accountant in London, but it turns out that this profession is not for him either. Then the young man decides to go to Paris and paint. New acquaintances who work with him at the Amitrino art studio introduce him to the bohemian poet Cronshaw. Cronshaw is Hayward's antipode, a cynic and a materialist. He ridicules Philip for abandoning the Christian faith without abandoning Christian morality along with it. “People strive for only one thing in life – pleasure,” he says. - A person performs this or that act because it is good for him, and if it is good for other people, the person is considered virtuous; if he is pleased to give alms, he is considered merciful; if he enjoys helping others, he is a benefactor; if it is pleasant for him to give strength to society, he is a useful member of it; but you give twopence to a beggar for your personal satisfaction, just as I drink whiskey and soda for my personal satisfaction. Desperate Philip asks what then, according to Cronshaw, is the meaning of life, and the poet advises him to look at the Persian carpets and refuses further explanation.

Philip is not ready to accept Cronshaw's philosophy, but he agrees with the poet that abstract morality does not exist, and refuses it: "Down with the legalized ideas of virtue and vice, good and evil - he himself will establish life rules for himself." Philip gives himself advice: "Follow your natural inclinations, but with due regard for the policeman around the corner." (To those who have not read the book, this may seem wild, but it should be borne in mind that Philip's natural inclinations are quite in line with generally accepted standards).

Soon, Philip realizes that he will not become a great artist, and enters the medical institute at St. Luke's Hospital in London. He meets the waitress Mildred and falls in love with her, despite the fact that he sees all her shortcomings: she is ugly, vulgar and stupid. Passion makes Philip go to incredible humiliations, overspend and become delighted with the slightest sign of attention from Mildred. Soon, she, as expected, goes to another person, but after a while returns to Philip: it turned out that her missus was married. Philip immediately cuts off contact with the kind, noble and cheerful girl Nora Nesbitt, whom he met shortly after parting with Mildred, and repeats all his mistakes for the second time. In the end, Mildred unexpectedly falls in love with his college friend Griffiths and leaves the unfortunate Philip.

Philip is at a loss: the philosophy that he invented for himself has shown its complete failure. Philip is convinced that the intellect cannot seriously help people at a critical moment of life, his mind is only a contemplative, registering facts, but powerless to intervene. When the time comes to act, a person bows helplessly under the burden of his instincts, passions, and God knows what else. This gradually leads Philip to fatalism: "When you take off your head, you don't cry over your hair, because all your strength was directed towards taking off this head."

Some time later, Philip meets Mildred for the third time. He no longer feels the same passion for her, but still feels some kind of pernicious attraction to this woman and spends a lot of money on her. To top it off, he goes bankrupt on the stock exchange, loses all his savings, quits medical school and gets a job in a textile store. But just then, Philip solves the riddle of Cronshaw and finds the strength to abandon the last illusion, to throw off the last burden. He admits that “life has no meaning, and human existence is aimless. […] Knowing that nothing makes sense and nothing matters, a person can still get satisfaction by choosing various threads that he weaves into the endless fabric of life: after all, this is a river that has no source and flows endlessly without falling into no seas. There is one pattern - the simplest and most beautiful: a person is born, matures, marries, produces children, works for a piece of bread and dies; but there are other, more intricate and amazing patterns, where there is no place for happiness or striving for success - perhaps some disturbing beauty is hidden in them.

The realization of the aimlessness of life does not at all lead Philip into despair, as one might think, but on the contrary make him happy: “Failure does not change anything, and success is equal to zero. Man is only the smallest grain of sand in a huge whirlpool of people that swept over the earth's surface for a short moment; but he becomes omnipotent as soon as he solves the mystery that even chaos is nothing.”

Philip's uncle dies and leaves an inheritance to his nephew. This money allows Philip to return to medical school. During his studies, he cherishes the dream of going on a trip, visiting Spain (at one time he was greatly impressed by the paintings of El Greco) and the countries of the East. However, Philip's new girlfriend, nineteen-year-old Sally, the daughter of his former patient Thorpe Athelny, announces that she is expecting a child. Philip, as a noble man, decides to marry her, despite the fact that this will not allow his travel dreams to come true. It soon turns out that Sally was wrong, but Philip does not feel relieved - on the contrary, he is disappointed. Philip understands that one must live for today, not tomorrow, the simplest pattern of human life is the most perfect. Therefore, he still proposes to Sally. He does not love this girl, but he feels great sympathy for her, he feels good with her, besides, no matter how ridiculous it sounds, he has respect for her, and passionate love, as the story with Mildred showed, often brings only grief.

In the end, Philip even comes to terms with his lame leg, because “without it, he could not have felt beauty so keenly, passionately loved art and literature, excitedly followed the complex drama of life. The mockery and contempt to which he was subjected made him delve into himself and grew flowers - now they will never lose their fragrance. In place of eternal dissatisfaction comes peace of mind.

Autobiographical

According to Maugham, "The Burden of Human Passions" is "a novel, not an autobiography: although it has many autobiographical details, much more is fictional." And yet it should be noted that, like his hero, Maugham lost his parents early, was brought up by an uncle who was a priest, grew up in the town of Whitstable (in the novel Blackstable), studied at the royal school in Canterbury (in the novel by Terkenbury), studied literature and philosophy in Heidelberg and medicine in London. Unlike Philip, Maugham was not lame, but he stuttered.

Maugham's attitude towards the novel

Maugham himself believed that the novel was overloaded with redundant details, that many scenes were added to the novel simply to increase the volume or due to fashion - the novel was published in 1915 - ideas about novels at that time were different from modern ones. Therefore, in the 60s, Maugham significantly reduced the novel "... it took a long time before writers realized that a one-line description often gives more than a full page." In Russian translation, this version of the novel was called "The Burden of Passions" - so that it would be possible to distinguish it from the original version.

Screen adaptations

• 1934 film with Leslie Howard as Philip and Bette Davis as Mildred
• 1946 film with Paul Henry as Philip and Eleanor Parker as Mildred
• 1964 film with Laurence Harvey as Philip and Kim Novak as Mildred

Notes