The resulting scandal, which starts with the turning of the white china knob on the door, turns out to be an embarrassing affair for all parties involved, as these things tend to do. Walter gives Kitty a choice, but as it turns out, she has only one choice, which is to follow him to Mei-Tan-Fu. ”It means death. Absolutely certain death.” For a while, Kitty had hoped Walter might improve, but once she had succumbed to Charlie Townsend's assured athleticism she could no longer fool herself that Walter was anything other than a short, ugly, charmless nonentity. I think Kitty's state of mind at the end is an important statement about women at this pivotal point in history. Women have got the vote, but still very few options in life. Here, Kitty learns an important lesson-- that it is far more beneficial for everyone if girls are raised to be open-minded and independent human beings, instead of just men's wives. Overall, this is a very interesting exploration of people and the relationships between men and women - it definitely won't be the last I read by W. Somerset Maugham. Kitty's condescending thoughts toward her lover's wife, Dorothy Townsend, also highlight her shallowness. She considers Dorothy to be old, a poor dresser, dull, and socially insignificant to boot. Kitty notes that Dorothy Townsend's father lives in a small house at Earl's Court, whereas Kitty's family lives in South Kensington. Though the modern reader is unlikely to know the significance of these particular locales, context clues suggest that South Kensington is the more fashionable place to live.

Kitty Fane ruthlessly ridicules her husband, Dr. Walter Fane, to her lover as she dreams of marrying this cad she can't see is playing her. Though the husband Walter loves Kitty still, after he finds out of the affair, his jaundiced need to get even goads him into taking her on his mission to rural China, into the heart of the cholera epidemic. Kitty e Walter Fane nel primo adattamento cinematografico del 1934 hanno il volto di Greta Garbo e Herbert Marshall. Ilregista è Richard Boleslawski. Le riprese, come di consueto all’epoca, sono essenzialmente in teatro di posa, e quindi, scenografie tutte ricostruite in studio. Per favore vattene - singhiozzò - Questa è l'unica cosa che puoi fare per me adesso. Ti odio e ti disprezzo. Walter valeva dieci volte più di te e io ero troppo stupida per accorgermene. Va' via. Va' via. Maugham entra subito nel vivo e poi ci ricapitola gli antecedenti. Si comincia con la scena d’adulterio, Kitty sta incontrando il suo amante, Charlie Townsend, un funzionario statale inglese, quando sente che qualcuno sta tentando di aprire la porta della sua stanza da letto e teme che sia suo marito Walter.

L’intera trama prende spunto da un altro celebre riferimento letterario: da quella Pia de’ Tolomei che Dante incontra nel Purgatorio. Questi i versi del poeta fiorentino: His parents died early and, after an unhappy boyhood, which he recorded poignantly in Of Human Bondage, Maugham became a qualified physician. But writing was his true vocation. For ten years before his first success, he almost literally starved while pouring out novels and plays.

His fame as a short story writer began with The Trembling of a Leaf, subtitled Little Stories of the South Sea Islands, in 1921, after which he published more than ten collections. His other works include travel books such as On a Chinese Screen, and Don Fernando, essays, criticism, and the autobiographical The Summing Up and A Writer's Notebook. Saddest lines in the book, from her husband: “I never expected you to love me, I didn’t see any reason that you should, I never thought myself very loveable. … What most husbands expected as a right I was prepared to receive as a favor.” numai 3 luni, o femeie frivolă devine un monument de cumințenie și virtute. Metamorfoza frumoasei Kitty Garstin se petrece mult prea repede ca să fie întru totul convingătoare. Nimeni nu se modifică radical într-un trimestru (sic!), chiar dacă muncește într-o mănăstire de călugărițe misionare, venite din Marsilia, într-un oraș bîntuit de molimă, iar soțul ei, doctorul Waler Fane - la care oricum nu ține, fiindcă nu-l înțelege -, moare eroic de holeră. This book got under my skin- first because I totally disliked Kitty and then because I really wanted everything to turn out well for her. I had a love hate relationship with her right from the beginning. For Walter, her husband, I felt mostly pity. An introvert who just didn’t know how to express his feelings. If only…If only either could have changed just enough. What I learned in the reading of this wonderful short novel is that the film version is much more about the couple's relationship, whereas the book is much more about Kitty's coming of age.

Walter and Kitty barely spoke as they travelled by chair through the inscrutable Chinese hinterland. How frighteningly yellow were the faces that surrounded them! But such a relief to be met by a white man on their arrival! Even if he was bald and ugly. Was Somerset Maugham a spy? W. Somerset Maugham, the writer of The Painted Veil, was a member of Britain Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). He was recruited by an intelligence officer after his first novel had just been published. The officer suggested that Maugham’s knowledge of the German language and his reputation as a writer would be a perfect cover for his spying activities for the English. I'll lay down the math. 10 points for Edward Norton, 10 points for the sometimes mediocre but still artistic cinematography, and then 10 more for the couple of scenes that demanded emotional involvement. The story gets off to an exciting start in the city of Hong Kong, where a British national named Kitty Fane is interrupted from post-coital afternoon bliss with a charismatic Assistant Colonial Secretary named Charlie Townsend when she hears someone in her house. Incredulous that it could be Kitty's husband, who is supposed to be at work, the couple watch as the white china knobs of the windows slowly turn from someone trying to get in. Townsend reassures Kitty that it was probably a servant, but she is alarmed when her lover tells her that he left his topee downstairs. Questioning her boy servant, Kitty learns that her husband Walter was indeed in the house.