His first wife
His first wife (English. Cakes and Ale ) is a novel by William Somerset Maugham , which was published in 1930 by Heinemann in London and in the same year by Doubleday Doran in New York City. Rosie and the Artists is another translation of this subtle literary satire into German (Diogenes Verlag, Zurich).
content
The well-known writer Alroy Kear - called Roy - calls the first-person narrator to him. The latter, the 55-year-old writer Willie Ashenden, rushes over. The almost 50-year-old Roy talks about God and the world. Willie, who makes his glosses on ambitious writers like Roy, puzzles as to why he was actually called. Finally, Roy brings up the famous author Edward Driffield. Ted, as Edward is called, "recognized as one of the most outstanding novelists of the late Victorian era" at an old age , unfortunately passed away. His first wife Rosie, previously a waitress, had "thoroughly cheated" on him during his lifetime. Roy knows Willie used to know Ted well. Ted's second wife, the widow Mrs. Amy Driffield, a trained nurse, has chosen Roy as Ted's biographer. Roy had only met Ted when he was over sixty years old. So he needs Willie's intimate knowledge of those distant times. The budding biographer Roy knows nothing about Rosie and Ted's many years of marriage. This is very fatal because Ted's most important works come from that distant time. Roy thinks Rosie passed away long ago. For all these reasons he persuades Willie to visit Amy in Ferne Court near Blackstable - then a coastal village in northeast Kent . Amy had nursed Ted back to health from an illness about 20 years ago. He had married her in gratitude. Ferne Court is the birthplace of the famous dead man. Ted's father had been an estate manager in the area.
Willie, who hails from Tercanbury not far from Blackstable , remembers the time as a 16-year-old boy. Back then, he'd spent the school holidays at nearby Blackstable at his vicar uncle's house , and met Ted with his luscious blonde first wife, Rosie. Rosie was in her early thirties then. Good-natured Ted had taught Willie to ride a bike.
Of course, Blackstable had clapped. It was rumored at the time that Rosie went with everyone - for example the cocky coal merchant George Kemp, known as Lord George. Rosie knew and loved this married man with three children before she was married.
One day the Driffields, leaving debts, had disappeared for London and had not returned to Blackstable. Willie had lost sight of the couple for years, but as a 20-year-old medical student - assisting at St. Luke's Hospital - met again in London's Pimlico. The doctor-to-be, who was about to take his exams, quickly found Ted's circle of friends. The gentlemen had also adored Rosie, who was then around 35 years old. Willie was no exception. He describes this woman as "a young woman, ripe for love ..." Rosie readily finds herself willing to have sex with Willie. The relationship lasts for over a year. Meanwhile, Willie isn't the only one of Ted's friends who gets to sleep with Rosie. Willie is jealous. Rosie takes it calmly.
Rosie runs off to the USA with Lord George. Again Willie is plagued by jealousy. Ted has been ill for a long time. In Penzance he is nursed back to health by Amy. Ted eventually marries his nurse (see above).
Rosie is not dead at all. She meets Willie on a reading tour in Yonkers near New York. At the side of Lord George, she became happy and wealthy in the States. However, the coal merchant has died. Willie learns previously unknown details from Rosie. In London she and Ted had a little girl who had died of meningitis when she was 6 years old . Rosie's marriage was shattered from the painful loss. With the representation Maugham suggests that Ted's illness is also the result of the loss of his wife and child.
Quote
- Maugham on the writers: "... all the figures that we create are only copies of ourselves."
shape
Information is revealed drop by drop. The first-person narrator Willie Ashenden gives his family name in the fourth and his first name in the eighth of the 26 chapters. When Alroy Kear asks the narrator, the visitor puzzles over the purpose of the invitation. And when Ashenden finally gets down to business, that is, tells about Edward Driffield and his first wife, Rosie, the reader can sit back. Long, leisurely chat is offered - a literary satire that will make you smile. The cleverly lulled reader is all the more surprised by the punch line: Ashenden was one of Rosie's many lovers.
Maugham justifies himself in the preface. His Edward Driffield was not modeled on Thomas Hardy , George Meredith or Anatole France . The same applies to Alroy Kear. This figure is "composed" of four authors.
filming
In 1974 the book was made into a film for television. Michael Hordern played Willie, Mike Pratt played Ted, Judy Cornwell played Rosie, Lynn Farleigh played Amy, Peter Jeffrey played Roy, James Grout played Lord George and Paul Aston played Willie as a boy.
German editions
- Rosie and the Artists. Translated from the English by Hans Kauders and Claudia Schmölders. 207 pages. Diogenes-Verlag, Zurich 1973, ISBN 3257200862
German edition used
- His first wife. Novel. Translated from the English by Hans Kauders. Verlag Volk und Welt, Berlin 1974 (1st edition). 319 pages (Licensor: Gebrüder Weiss Verlag, Berlin)
Remarks
- ↑ Maugham took the title “Cakes and Ale” (as a synonym for life in luxury) from “ Was ihr wollt ” ( second act, third scene : Junker Tobias zum Fren: “If you think that because you are virtuous, you should No more cakes and wine in the world? ”(Source: Article in English on the original)).
- ↑ engl. Heinemann
- ↑ engl. Doubleday Doran
- ↑ engl. W. Somerset Maugham bibliography
- ↑ see also engl. Victorian literature
- ↑ engl. Blackstable
- ↑ engl. St. Luke Hospital
- ↑ engl. London Pimlico
- ↑ The English Wikipedia article speaks of "William".
- ↑ In the English Wikipedia article mentioned above, it is assumed that the model for Alroy Kear was Hugh Walpole .
- ^ Cakes and Ale in the English IMDb