THE COLONEL'S LADY, A Short Story by Somerset Maugham
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- čas přidán 25. 05. 2024
- George Peregrine, a retired colonel, discovers that his wife Evie has written a book of passionate poetry under her maiden name. Initially dismissive, he learns from others that her book is highly acclaimed for its raw emotion and becomes a sensation. George eventually reads the poems and realizes they recount Evie's intense love affair with a younger man..... won't reveal more here.
- Zábava
He clearly hasn't a clue of the incredible woman he has & never appreciated.
And who's to say she was the reason they didn't have children....
Bingo!
Indeed, thought the same, but back then no man would have even accepted the idea!
It was always the woman’s fault, as was the fact that if the woman had a child that was a daughter it was her fault.
Totally agree, a selfish man.
How many husbands out there fully unaware of their ladies' deep universe... Quite a lot I can imagine😢
Somerset Maughan never disappoints. So perfectly written. A master of the short story.
He has no idea about Evie. None. He doesnt deserve her. He never has. He never will.
Yes. Thick as two short planks, the colonel. Plus a bore and a hypocrite. It's quite okay for him to have a lover!
Spellbinding! The irony of him setting off to London periodically for a "bit on the side", when sitting across the table from him every day was this passionate, sexual creature that had been awakened by the attentions of another man.... and he was utterly oblivious to her. Wow!
What if that other man was him in the first few years of their marriage? It makes it all even sadder in a way and him even a greater fool. I wish she would have told him in the end if it was him. I think the women at that party knew, as did many other people. Sadly, people never talked about these things in those days and many still don't know how to have a deep and meaningful conversation today, either.
A woman is not loved because she is beautiful, Rather, She is beautiful because she is loved.❤
@@KyriaNunNuitI think you hit the nail on the head. It was that last sentence that made it clear to me: it was her husband who had died on her...😢
Was she talking about her husband?????
@@jemartinez50ja That is many people's best guess and it is probably the case. Everything fits when you interpret the story through that lense.
A wonderful construct, to create a portrait of a remarkable woman entirely through the impressions of a hopelessly empty husband.
A hopeless empty and self-absorbed husband.
For a contemporary version of this situation, in a wonderfully-constructed novel, read “Trust” by Hernan Diaz.
He missed the boat.
He could have been afloat.
But he passively left uncared for the moat
He had built around the lady and wife
Whose love endured and flourished through what she wrote.
@@deborahdunthorn1717 : brava!
I love Somerset maughams writing he's very thoughtful writer
Ol' George is a typical, self-absorbed man of that time. By God, she's HIS woman and should have no life beyond the narrow confines which HE has determined, i.e. a life devoted to HIS comfort and well being, existing only as an appendage to him. He's a dull, unimaginative human being.
The way Maugham slowly and carefully revealed his nature was masterful.
Georges still exist. My husband was exactly the man you described. Nothing interested him but his own comfort created by me. After 10 fairly miserable year I left him, taking my son with me. Since then I am happy. I think I am not the marrying type and neither was he.
This was a great story , thank you for putting this on CZcams for us to enjoy.
I’m not slim and not even pretty any more, but my husband still loves me so much. I can’t be the only woman with a faithful man who still sees the pretty woman she was when we met!
You must be a beautiful person and your husband a perceptive man. Enjoy.❤
Having left my 14yr marriage not long ago, I know what it means to grieve that lost love so much it tears your soul apart, sadly beautiful story
Yes I feel your grief, I too was in a loveless marriage for 20 years. Still recovering and forgiving myself for a wasted life.
🎉yes we give so much for the sake of our children,then they leave an aree not interested or think you were a fool to have stayed,thanks kids
As a 75 year old woman, I look back on my 10 year marriage through my 20s. I lived on my own love for my husband. I possessed so much love for him that I was fuelled by it. I was not such a good wife because he was almost besides the point. Who he was did not interest me very much because I was a bit scared of him. Fortunately, during those 10 years, he disregarded me. Even now looking back, it was all fantasy in my own head. From 30 years old to when I was 60 years old, I did not see him. He returned to live next to my adult daughters when he was 60 and dying. He was a shadow of his former self, and I still loved him. My love flew over reality and just existed.
Watch ps Chris Oyakhilome
Harry was "shrewd", might have been the young man. As a lawyer, he would be accustomed to playing a role. Can you imagine how easy it would have been to seduce the wife of a man who thought of her as an employee or a stuffed trout?
"He had no objection to her reading them."
She must have been so terribly disappointed in him.
George did not be deserve his wife. So many men seem so superficial. If a woman is not beautiful men seems so dismissive. So many men never bother to go past the surface appearance.
Yes tragic but what an indictment of men!
Well, this particular man was so selfish and self-involved: what he really wanted was a housekeeper and that’s what he got. Luckily not all men are like that. Loved the way he felt entitled to his bit of fluff … but his wife had to be blameless. Great character study!
Actually he is just a typical male and never developed beyond the two dementions of power and sex. Harry, the literary critics and her reading public had a broader understanding of life, family and friends relationships, the sense of being in the family of man, how humans fit in the world of plants and animals, our place in the universe. He was just intellectually undeveloped, had never discovered the mysterious spirit of life, poor man 😢. That is the real tragedy of this story. He could never understand his own lack.
@@user-sz2ef5sc8e
It is a tragedy, but I over generalized as usual. There are exceptions, just not enough. Going to university sometimes helps. I found this book fun and enlightening: Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Roadmaps, probably out of print, circa 2003(?)
Rubbish
I'm of two thoughts:
(1) I believe Evie wrote of the love affair between she and her young husband 20 plus years ago and how she shone with life from the warmth of his early love and respect. There are many ways to die and the Colonial clearly painted the story of his bitter death from his wife.
(2) What did the lover see in her?
🌹He saw in her the woman who bloomed under the warmth of his loving respect and admiration.
Quite different from the woman who, like an untended rose, withers under the lack of loving care from her husband.🥀
Option one is how it is represented in the film version.
💗
💗
💗
Absolutely 💯 on so many levels.
To live with a husband that "died" long ago
The narrator has a beautiful voice, thank you..
I thought it might be an AI voice. Not much expression
Sounds like Hugh Bonnerville
The narration makes or breaks a good reading. The voice complimented the writing so well.
@@user-kd7xq8jh1o I'm sure the glitches will be worked out in the near future, but at this point there will usually be a word or phrase oddly pronounced or inflected that will betray an ai narration. I didn't catch any here.
It's a great invention, just not when it replaces humans in specifically human endeavors.
With AI, there are usually inanely pronounced words. Sounds like a real and very professional narrator to me. @@user-kd7xq8jh1o
So many people like that. So self absorbed, so blind to others. I love Maugham so much!!!
“ What in the name of heaven did the fellow see in her”? Obviously what George Perigrin didn’t… what a waste of life
Oh my gosh, I went numb hearing that.
That was the tell wasn't it? He's the lover she lost.
What an unfeeling idiot ☹️
Oh, Colonel, can't you see the boy she loved, the boy she lost, the boy who died & turned into a responsible man .. can't you see
GASP!!! *smacks forehead
Of course!!!!
Oh George.....
Wait, are you saying it’s he?
@@hawthorne1504 Could be.
@hawthorne1504 Yes,
I had the same thought!! Came to the comments to see if there were others :)
Oh, my, this story touched me deeply I can just imagine endless breakfasts in the future. Thank you so much for this upload. Looking forward to many more. Never knew Maugham was such a great short story writer and so prolific.
Maugham was genius.
@@starlynn57
Definitely ❤
A natural soul reader,a born psychologist.
right tone.🙂
Somerset Maugham is an absolutely splendid writer. I highly recommend him.
SHE was way above his head. A lovely story. Colonel not thick as a brick but incapable of moving beyond his programming.
Deft observation
I loved the story. Thank you.
“What the devil do he ever see in her”?
Something you ignored George
That last comment, to me, proves he doesn't deserve her.
❤
So sad
A woman isn't loved because she is beautiful,, rather, She is beautiful because she is loved.❤
This has always been one of my favourite Maugham short stories. So heartbreaking.
Sadly a tale of most aged miserable marriages.
Colonel can't understand how to love passionately for Evie to be seen and truly loved.
Simply self-centered and with incredulity by the intelligence of Evie.
Very good reflection on an older couple being on different paths & just jogging along for conventions sake, just being companionable, sad in a way
I love Maugham's short stories. I think I've read them all more than once!
Reminds me of a line from a Kipling poem, "The Colonel's lady and Rosie O'Grady are sisters under the skin".
lyrical piano music - and it fits the story so beautifully. very poignant and interesting story. there must have been many women🌹 in similar circumstances - married to vain, empty man. 🥀
The beauty is always in the eye of the beholder
Well, well, if you have to ask, you’ll never know.
Great story!
Thanks for posting!
They both played their part, when George was having one night stands Evie had a young lover who actually loved her and she loved him passionately back. Bravo Evie! and who said that looks have anything to do with love and passion?
Masterpiece.
The affair was actually with George himself…She was remembering the earlier days of love shared with him. It makes sense, both as a possible plot of the story or if the author meant it to be literal. The culture of that time would not look kindly to a wife’s adult story . The sad thing universally to this day is communication, honesty, selflessness, and sharing in a marriage. Most people lack these skills and don’t work hard enough to develop their marriage.
I think you nailed it, with your observations. In those days the man was brought up like the colonel, so he found it hard to act any other way, so sad.
Excellent conclusion, you could certainly be correct. A fine short story!!
Hmmmm do you think George was capable of the love described in the book? Even when he was 20? I believe she indeed had an affair with a younger man....
@@alisonvanschoor730 you have a good point. That is sure a good possibility. A leopard never changes his spots.
Well said❤
❤as my eyesight dims, it is great to just listen to a good yarn.
Moral of the story: never marry anyone unless you see something lovable in them that nobody else falls in love with. You have to be careful and not delude yourself, seeing things that are not there. It has to be something real that other people can know about and yet they don't fall in love with the person, and you do. A big clue is that both of you can speak to each other like you cannot speak to anyone else. If you have a conversation in which time flies, other people seem not interesting and you want the conversation never to end, that's the one. Marry that person and the conversation never does end. Marrying someone for a list of qualities they have, that tick all the boxes, is marrying a shopping list, not a person. You know its *the person* when you find the person you want to tell everything to, and the other person feels the same.
No the moral of the story: NEVER MARRY😂
One of Somerset Maugham's best stories and so beautifully read. A great joy to listen to.
Excellent short story!!!!
😢 What a jerk of a husband!
Absolutely enjoyed the story! Thank you.
I remember that the story went a bit further with an interesting revelation at the end...anyone else?
A pleasure to listen to. Thank you ❤
Yes! The “other man”was the younger George. His “death” was the death of their marriage….She was mourning the loss of their love (and earlier happiness)….
I believe that version was part of a 3-story, S. Maugham movie or teleplay-and am fairly certain that Maugham, himself, gave a short introduction to each story…I would assume that he had made the changes to the story-possibly to appease the censors (who would have baulked at a story centering on a wife’s adultery)?….I must say though : I preferred that version to this one-it had so much heart & pathos….❤
That would be either Trio or Quartet, lovely films must look them out !
@@Shineon83thank you for sharing that take on the story. It makes sense, both as a possible plot of the story is as written or if the author meant it to be literal. The culture of that time would not look kindly to a wife’s adult story . The sad thing universally to this day is communication, honesty, selflessness, and sharing in a marriage. Most people lack these skills and don’t work hard enough to develop their marriage.
@@Shineon83 I like both versions...
My sister always said I can't like all comedians, but why not? From Harold Lloyd to the Marx Brothers, Danny Kaye, and everyone in between, each era has something unique to offer. Why choose when both versions have something special?
YES SHE REVEALS ALL TO HIM AND THEN HE HAS A BKUNDING FKASH OF REALISATION IT US IN FACT a very true story repeated everywhere THE DULL STUPID SELFISH MAN DISMISSIVE OF THE IDEA his "LITTLE BORING WIFE " could BE CAPABLE of ANYTHING WORTHY OF ATTENTION such "stupid little men " ARE TEN A PENNY tin gods
What a treat to listen to a story written by Somerset Maugham!
Thank you 🤗
Oh, this was a delight to listen to! Thank you….
I saw a short film of this. At the end she said, "It was you, George, it was you."
What a beautiful, marvellous story, so many layers.
Now I am hooked! Listening to all of them, can tha you enough!
W. Somerset Maugham the famous short story teller ‼️ I've read a whole load of them - many moons ago.
Oh this Colonel, The absolute CONCEIT of some men is just beyond comprehensible 😮😮
Thank you for such beautifully rendered read.
Shame the name of the reader is not mentioned.
His last sentence sums up very nicely why she had an affair. "Whatever did he see in her?" What YOU didn't, m'lad.
From Trinidad and Tobago love the story, thank you.
Thank you so much for sharing, Loved this story. Love Maugham ❤❤❤❤❤🙏
I am attracted to this story by the photo and the narrator's voice. I strongly think that the young man was the young George. They fell in love, got married and years later, Evie's George 'died'. Their love died.
Richsrd Burton's voice
@@rosesilveira344Ah. Of course.
Lean: . . . And the book's title was ?? I think you are correct 👍
@@rosesilveira344
Yes, it is. Thanks for pointing that out.
I would advise all of you who found the ending, as presented here, to read the story for the real ending by S Maugham. It makes far more sense.
Eh ? The ending here is exactly as written by Somerset Maugham. Are you suggesting it was somehow the way it was read ?
You saw a piece on tv that added the explanation. This is the story as it was written.
Great Expectations had two endings. Very ambiguous yet unique.
@@pathopewell1814 I understand the original ending was thought to be too miserable for Dickens's readers, but as you say the alternate ending was brilliantly ambiguous.
Maugham is admirable in the way he sees, understands and describes people. Such a great story and a wonderful narrator.
Sumerset Maugham was the master of short stories
Wow. Evie was passionate and beautiful inside and out. Something, her husband, could never understand. Funny, it was ok for him to have his extra marital affair, but not Evie, he will forever know, that Evie may of found love even briefly and he never.
I love Sommerset Maugham!
I loved this short story called Flotsam and Jetsum
The marriage continued , a little bit strained , but i daresay they were comfortable with each other and what more can you ask for , in this world ?
The husband is a bastard !she might not have appeal for him but
She found someone who loved her just as she is!😌
I knew straight away that the golden, caring lover she'd had andost was the Colonel. I guess a lot of people never really talked in those days - and still don't today. Nor did they have marriage counselling to help them find each other again if they were willing. More's the pity.
The height of arrogance! The Colonel was the love who died and all that remained was his empty self 😔 42:24
What a treat. Thank you.
Delicious and obscene 🎉 Finding your channel has been such a revelation and this story is easily one of my favorites😊
Thank You🌱🌺🙏
I'm gonna have to pace myself with the stories by this author. This one was so intense I need to work through my feelings before reading another one 😅
One of my most favourite writer of my youth.
Oh what pleasure of beautiful writing…
And… what an immense gift having a solid advice back then versus running to a (doubtful abilities) therapist these days…
Always loved W. Somerset Maugham. Haven't read him since college almost 40 years ago.
What a deliciouslly intriguing story of hidden sin. But Evie, motivated by the indifference of her husband towards her might have created this story of adultery in her imagination. And with all the passion of a spurned woman, with vehement fluency, put her imagined liason with a younger man into poetry.
Reading these poignant stories using AI is wasting their beauty. I'll read them for you.
Ditto
Agree, please use human voices
@@hanginlaundry360How can you tell?
@@marywilliams9858 It's kind of like a drum machine vs. a human drummer. The reading is flawless and breathless. It's listenable to be sure, and AI will undoubtedly get better, but I like the human touch... and human employment.
@@hanginlaundry360 I think the give-away is the lack of, or wrong emphasis on certain phrases which sound as if the reader hasn’t understood what he/she is reading. Too true! It’s a pity when you think of the great narrators out there. I guess, in the end, it’s all about money.
It was probably his fault she didn't have children since he was unfaithful to her and his girlfriend was probably unfaithful to him, an easy way to get a disease that would make him sterile. And being a sportsman certainly doesn't guarantee understanding what pleases a woman, not that he might have thought about it. Why do men assume the promise of fidelity in marriage is just meanlngless words? A broken trust can never be repaired. Whether she actually had a lover or not isn't important. He will always worry about it and who she was writing about. His double standard was his undoing.
Besautifully written and read. ☮️
Perfect writing. Of a world none of moderns can envision…from a time when people sat at such big tables and had servants- the photo.
Oh my goodness.
Amazing. My Father loved Somerset Maughan and now I realise why.
Maugham is an amazing writer. What a fabulous story and beautifully read as well. Bravo!
In the days of Somerset Maughan, the only way the woman could prove that she wasn't barren was the fall pregnant to another man. Now we know that it's mostly the accountability of the male, the result of low or no sperm count as we now know that the sex of the child is due to the man.
But whether the sperm prospers is decided by the female acid/alkaline vaginal secretions.
A wonderful story with a very sad ending.
Tragic...it's been decades since studying Maughan. So many great stories.
Love this story like many of Somerset Maugham's !!!!
Wow! I've only read Maugham's novels. In my studio sculpting, and listened to this. TY for putting these stories here! Amazing and as usual deeply understood, that human nature.
Thanks so much for sharing 💙💙💙
Wonderful reading!
All through the story Maugham had me wanting to emphasize with George. But it took me all the way to the end to realize he projected his own clulessness onto his wife. That's why Maugham is one of my favorites.
Thank you very much, neuralsurfer!
I read this story several years ago, but a strange thing happened to my memory and I thought it was an 18th century story. Your illustrations are a journey through time!
Wonderful work willie
That was fantastic but coming from the man who wrote Of Human Bondage, I am not surprised. What a great story.
Excellent, thank you for sharing!
Brilliant!! Enjoyed every moment from the first word to the last.🙏💙
Thank you for this story!
I find this story completely encouraging..whether real or made up..she finds happiness within her own world and success too..this success must have given her great happiness and tremendous confidence..
He’s always been my favorite author !!😊
I think this was about the early love between them which has died.
That's what I thought !
This one was excellently read , thank you . Great story
I first discovered Maugham as a precocious 13 year old, starting with Moon and Sixpence, and quickly read through his oeuvre, and revisiting them often through the years. Maugham was a keen observer of human behavior and motivation, giving him deep insight into the impact of the stratified society in which he lived upon the psychological development and trajectory of individual lives.
What a great story.
Thank you for reading and uploading
Just the right time / length of the story for one go!!!!!!!
“For the Colonel’s Lady and Judy O’Grady Are Sisters under Their Skins” The Ladies by Rudyard Kipling, written in 1896. The short story was published in Good Housekeeping, March 1946, so we must deduce Maugham had read the Kipling poem, and must have known comparisons between the two would be drawn as both are about the experience of wives of Colonels. Up until the 1960s opiates were common components of almost every household remedy, and wonder if Mrs Peregrine partook of a remedy or two and allowed her mind to drift into her fantasies to relieve her unfilfilled marriage. Peregrine falcon males are known to consume their own young; is this why wife is depicted as childless?.
Colonels were a dime a dozen in those days, especially after ww2. And they hung on to their wartime titles to the day they died and many were't even real. Peregrine was a common first name among the upper classes.
This story was made into a film which included 3 of Maugham's stories, if I'm remembering correctly. It was made in the late 40's or perhaps early 50's. This one ended with the wife admitting it was about her husband and what they had shared in the past. I guess the movie maker (I think it was a British film) decided it had to have that tidied up ending for movie audiences.
Oh, I will look for this film. Thank you.
Did the film version have the same title?
@@RamonaMcKean I found this one: czcams.com/video/E23wM2fGcJU/video.htmlsi=MASDvjr-sMwq0-rY
@@RamonaMcKean The fourth film in Somerset Maugham’s ‘Quartet’. My favourite from ‘Trio’ is ‘The Verger’.
Thanks so much for sharing this. An exquisite reading by the way. My own late wife was older than l; some cast a jaundiced eye on our relationship. But it was bliss to us …
Thank you so much for uploading. Poignant story written perfectly and read beautifully. Thank you again. ❤
What a lovely story. ❤
The way I interpreted this story was that her lover had been her young husband when love and pure happiness flourished. As the years passed, her husband focused all his time with his business and enjoying his leisure time with his friends or at his country club and lost interest in the feelings of his wife. She lovingly looked after his homestead whilst her husband enjoyed what he loved best in life. The lover, (her husband), had now died. She had to accept this and hoped one day he would at last remember why he had asked her to marry him. He had fallen love with her then, but now she has had her story published in a poetic manner she is hoping that he is intelligent enough to understand that the lover with whom she had shared those blissful moments was no-one other than he himself.
Loved it! What women had to endure 😢
I was struck by the social commentary Maugham was making. The Colonel is the accepted standard of his time, Maugham was simply pointing out what society wasn't seeing.