THE FALL OF EDWARD BARNARD, a Story by Somerset Maugham

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  • Опубліковано 23 сер 2024
  • In "The Fall of Edward Barnard" by W. Somerset Maugham, Bateman Hunter returns from Tahiti to Chicago, troubled by the story he must tell Isabel Longstaffe about Edward Barnard. Edward, once a promising young man, has chosen a simple and contented life in Tahiti, abandoning his previous ambitions and responsibilities. Bateman's recounting reveals Edward's transformation and his decision to stay in Tahiti with Arnold Jackson, a disgraced relative of Isabel's.

КОМЕНТАРІ • 57

  • @sagrammyfour
    @sagrammyfour Місяць тому +17

    I can't get enough of Somerset Maugham's stories. My favorite: Winter Cruise.

  • @lauralaladarling3775
    @lauralaladarling3775 Місяць тому +33

    Thank you so much for another of S.M's insightful stories. Another fine example into the nature of happiness within each individual and their outlook on a life well spent. ❤❤

  • @gabriellaspencer8954
    @gabriellaspencer8954 Місяць тому +18

    Oh my goodness, yet another beautiful story! Thank you!

  • @sharonla8071
    @sharonla8071 Місяць тому +17

    Thanks for this one. I love this story. ❤

  • @MRJERRYCURTIN
    @MRJERRYCURTIN Місяць тому +14

    Excellent

  • @patriciamay6396
    @patriciamay6396 Місяць тому +10

    Exceptional

  • @__-1234
    @__-1234 Місяць тому +3

    A very philosophical story, beautiful.

  • @almabatchelor8619
    @almabatchelor8619 Місяць тому +10

    Who fell? I think Edward was the real winner here.

    • @carmelsileo6520
      @carmelsileo6520 Місяць тому +3

      I've always thought the title was ironic. Edward may have fallen in the eyes of his former associates, but he found his own happiness, as did his friends.

  • @kauffrau6764
    @kauffrau6764 Місяць тому +6

    Brilliant! Lovely story in rich language. A pleasure of an experience. ❤

  • @JudeNance
    @JudeNance Місяць тому +3

    Very interesting, elegant, and refined. 🎉

  • @user-pm9rx5sy2k
    @user-pm9rx5sy2k 10 днів тому

    Superb listening pleasure. Thank you

  • @kathywillson7491
    @kathywillson7491 Місяць тому +3

    Wonderful lovely story.

  • @user-iw8mg4sg4l
    @user-iw8mg4sg4l Місяць тому +2

    S.M's characters are always unexpectedly intricate about whom you' ve never known if it's not for S.M.

  •  Місяць тому +10

    Good literature is so rare today. Save if you read the memoirs of Lady Gaga 😂😂

  • @selenerainey8406
    @selenerainey8406 Місяць тому +1

    I absolutely loved this story.
    SM is a master of the human psyche, as well as a wonderful storyteller!

  • @oghamstone5964
    @oghamstone5964 Місяць тому +7

    "The antique furniture and concerts......"

  • @Riklott1111
    @Riklott1111 Місяць тому +5

    Good one
    I can usually figure out somersets plot lines, this one was surprising

  • @wendybryan6071
    @wendybryan6071 Місяць тому +1

    What a wonderful and oh so human story!

  • @SophieBird07
    @SophieBird07 Місяць тому +3

    Loved this story. Edward surely dodged a bullet!

  • @user-wc6rm3gf3l
    @user-wc6rm3gf3l Місяць тому

    So happy to have found neuralsurfer! Captivating stories, quality literature and so well presented. Love the evocative pictures too which are always worthy of study. Thank you very much.x

  • @kathleensutton-vf9bb
    @kathleensutton-vf9bb Місяць тому +1

    Excellent. Can't wait for the next one!

  • @chriswu9247
    @chriswu9247 9 днів тому

    Wonderful story that is so human,not one for all and all for one!

  • @clairespace3371
    @clairespace3371 Місяць тому +1

    🎉thank you!

  • @novascheller5957
    @novascheller5957 Місяць тому

    Definitely qualities of the Razor’s Edge… lovely! Thank you again

  • @Grace.allovertheplace
    @Grace.allovertheplace Місяць тому +1

    Thank you 🙏

  • @Kiaorafranz
    @Kiaorafranz Місяць тому +1

    Very nice story.

  • @janetbaker1945
    @janetbaker1945 22 дні тому +1

    Maugham's sympathies are with Edward, of course. But this is not our real choice. Presented here is the choice between protestantism, with its emphasis on monetary gain and comfort and complacency, contrasted to naturalism--oh, the lovely portrait of the sun and sky and rain and beautiful native girl with no more complications than the loin cloth. But the actual contrasting life is the sacramental life of Christianity--Catholicism, of course, with the deep donation of self each to the other, the depth of virtue leading to the unspeakable breadth of eternity. Bateman doesn't even know of this life, nor does Isabel. The "Reformation" was a much greater source of cancel culture and misinformation than we suffer even now.

  • @lyndaproper1313
    @lyndaproper1313 13 днів тому

    "Two roads diverged in a tulgey wood, ......
    And that has made all the difference."

  • @rhonaharker6358
    @rhonaharker6358 Місяць тому +2

    Well this hasn’t aged well and it’s so snobbish

  • @tuyetpham8239
    @tuyetpham8239 Місяць тому +1

    Another beautiful and meaningful story!

  • @glenrich-uu9zr
    @glenrich-uu9zr 10 днів тому

    This brilliant early novelette of
    Mr. Maugham seems to be the
    simplified version of 'The Moon
    and Sixpence', or the 0.5 version
    of 'The Lotus Eater'.
    Maugham's writing is impeccable
    and gorgeous.
    But the age setting of Edward might
    be too young, 30-35 is my ideal.
    2-3 years of alternative experience
    might be too rapid to a big change.
    If a man have a decade of hardships
    and fickleness of human relationships ,
    he would want to find the real life
    meaning in a lesiure style. He would
    gave up the vanity and spend the rest
    lifetime in an beautiful South Sea
    island with his love ones.

  • @SunnySmile-fr5yg
    @SunnySmile-fr5yg Місяць тому

    Is Tahiti still so great as described here? Would it be worth to move there?

  • @CherriClark
    @CherriClark Місяць тому +2

  • @JavierBonillaC
    @JavierBonillaC 24 дні тому

    There was a time when I wanted to conquer the world. Show others that I was smart and hardworking. I climbed the ladder pretty fast and at 32 I lost all appetite for the admiration of my peers. I did not loose the ambition to be good at what I did, I just didn't do it for others because I felt contempt for most of the people I had to deal with. I cannot conceive life without the pursuit of perfection in some way. For myself. I could not enjoy your life like Edward's unless I was improving something; fixing something. What a great story.

  • @writenow6990
    @writenow6990 Місяць тому +4

    Can that guy really sirround himself with Bannon, Flynn, Stone, et al? I was hoping part of his sentencing forr 34 felonies would prohibit him from legally associating with other convicted felons.

    • @AriaSuperBass
      @AriaSuperBass Місяць тому +1

      I think you posted in the wrong place!

    • @fiddlersthree8463
      @fiddlersthree8463 Місяць тому +1

      You need to go down the hall to the Trump news. This room is a literary gathering. 🤣🤣🤣

  • @davidhahamgadol8669
    @davidhahamgadol8669 23 дні тому +1

    Too neat and simplistic and and pretending to be evenhanded

  • @danetteperez3863
    @danetteperez3863 14 днів тому

    Poor Edward indeed!
    I have to go with Mr. Barnard on this, I would have made his choice.
    I admit to be a romanticist!

  • @shellchenonceau6987
    @shellchenonceau6987 Місяць тому

    I pray that san Fran will eventually be restored to its former glory for folks of all color after today's corrupt leaders are finally removed.

  • @anotherblonde
    @anotherblonde Місяць тому +2

    Do any of these tales have a happy ending?

    • @sheilamartin1577
      @sheilamartin1577 Місяць тому +6

      This was the happiest of endings. They all got to lead the lives their natures were suited..a gift so rarely obtained

    • @lindariccardohenderson1656
      @lindariccardohenderson1656 Місяць тому +5

      That is a happy ending. Everyone earned the happiness they desired.

    • @fiddlersthree8463
      @fiddlersthree8463 Місяць тому +2

      I don’t think anyone was unhappy in the end, unless I missed something.

    • @sagrammyfour
      @sagrammyfour Місяць тому +1

      Edward went native. And he was happy happy happy making many happy babies and eating the coconut with his island girl. Haven't you seen South Pacific?

    • @bluechurch776
      @bluechurch776 Місяць тому +2

      This one did.

  • @emmahardesty4330
    @emmahardesty4330 Місяць тому

    Well, I'm on Edward's team. He's got the right idea for the meaning of accomplishment. Terrible ending, I thought. Prince Charming, lovely wife, get rich, get bored...ugh.

  • @Edo9River
    @Edo9River Місяць тому

    I must add that he lays it on. Too thick. at the end, as though he’s afraid the readers won’t get it.😊😊

    • @fiddlersthree8463
      @fiddlersthree8463 Місяць тому +2

      I don’t mean this as a criticism, just a comment. Your sentences have the same “flow” as the AI narrator’s reading, that is, inappropriate stops and starts.

    • @JavierBonillaC
      @JavierBonillaC 24 дні тому

      ​. That also happens when you dictate. If you make a pause it will insert a period. I think it's a very interesting comment. It was too thick at the end.

  • @rhonaharker6358
    @rhonaharker6358 Місяць тому +1

    Like Mills and Boone with snobbery and racism

  • @Edo9River
    @Edo9River Місяць тому

    With all due respect, I wish to say one crude word to express the value system which this journal is is reporting, I. Suppose we have to consider that if. The message were so repulsive, the messenger would be rejected, and this is the opposite of what The authors intended.😊

  • @milenaB23
    @milenaB23 19 днів тому

    33:13 pag 59