
Short Stories of William Somerset Maugham, Volume 2
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Narrated by:
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Charlton Griffin
About this listen
There are seven stories in Volume 2.
In "An Official Position," to improve his lot, a prisoner in a French penalcolony accepts an odious job...and the consequences.In "Home," after a lifetime of living abroad, a penniless old sailor finallycomes home.
"Red" is a poignant love story of youth, beauty, and the fleeting moments of ecstasy that pass away only too soon.
In "Mayhew," a lawyer decides to make a clean break with his past and moves toCapri.
In "In A Strange Land," while traveling in Turkey, a vacationer meets an extraordinary English woman.
In "The Alien Corn," a young Jewish man devotes himself to the pursuit of music over the violent objections of his aristocratic family. As the family wrestles with its Jewish identity, the son flings himself headlong into the Bohemian world of performing artists.
In "The Verger," when a lowly verger is fired because of his illiteracy, it turns out to be his lucky day.
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Somerset Maugham set out on an extraordinary trip in September of 1922. He would remain abroad for nine months and end up traveling by canoe, riverboat, rickshaw and mule from Rangoon to Mandalay in Upper Burma, down through Thailand to Bangkok, then to Phnom Penh and across the jungle by river to Angkor Wat. From there he went down river to Saigon, then by ship to Hue and Haiphong. He ends the audiobook with an anecdotal story of his fellow passengers while on shipboard to Haiphong.
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The Complete Short Stories, Volume One
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Overall
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Performance
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A masterful production of Maugham's short stories.
- By J. J. Kuzma on 09-07-13
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The Somerset Maugham BBC Radio Collection
- Eight Full-Cast Dramatisations and Readings
- By: W. Somerset Maugham
- Narrated by: Alex Jennings, Janet Maw, full cast
- Length: 15 hrs and 4 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
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A collection of the BBC’s dramatisations and readings of W. Somerset Maugham’s fiction, with star casts including Alex Jennings, Dirk Bogarde, and Janet Maw.
-
-
Entertaining radio adaptations
- By scout86 on 08-23-21
-
The Razor's Edge
- By: W. Somerset Maugham
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
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Performance
-
Story
The Great War changed everything and everyone, and Larry Darrell is no exception. Though his physical wounds from the war heal, his spirit is changed almost beyond recognition. He leaves his betrothed, the beautiful and devoted Isabel; studies philosophy and religion in Paris; lives as a monk, and witnesses the exotic hardships of Spanish life. All of life that he can find - from an Indian Ashrama to labor in a coal mine - becomes Larry's spiritual experiment as he spurns the comfort and privilege of the Roaring 20s.
-
-
An Classic of Love and the Desire for Meaning
- By Eric on 01-06-17
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- By: W. Somerset Maugham
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
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-
-
Rain Down on Me
- By W Perry Hall on 01-30-14
-
The Gentleman in the Parlour
- A Record of a Journey from Rangoon to Haiphong
- By: W. Somerset Maugham
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Somerset Maugham set out on an extraordinary trip in September of 1922. He would remain abroad for nine months and end up traveling by canoe, riverboat, rickshaw and mule from Rangoon to Mandalay in Upper Burma, down through Thailand to Bangkok, then to Phnom Penh and across the jungle by river to Angkor Wat. From there he went down river to Saigon, then by ship to Hue and Haiphong. He ends the audiobook with an anecdotal story of his fellow passengers while on shipboard to Haiphong.
-
-
the crummy music
- By Thomas F. Arnall on 01-28-25
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The Summing Up
- By: W. Somerset Maugham
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
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William Somerset Maugham (1874�1965) was born at the height of British imperial power. When he died, the British Empire was all but a memory. In Maugham's lifetime, as his civilization slowly disappeared, people from all walks of life, the proud, the urbane, the crude, and the desperate, passed beneath the lens of his dispassionate scrutiny. Transformed into some of the most unforgettable literary works of the 20th century, his experiences re-emerged in his plays, fiction, and essays.
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Portrait of the artist as an old man
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The Narrow Corner
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On his way home from a remote Pacific island, Dr Saunders travels with two strangers: the treacherous Captain Nichols, and Fred, a handsome Australian with a shadowy past. Driven to shelter from a storm on the island of Banda, the trio meets good-natured Erik Christessen and his fiancée, the cool and beautiful Louise. A tense, exotic tale of love, jealousy, murder and suicide, which evolved from a passage in Maugham's earlier masterpiece, The Moon and Sixpence.
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Stunningly Great
- By SouthwestDude on 09-08-19
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Cakes and Ale
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- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
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Performance
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When Cakes and Ale was first published in 1930 it roused a storm of controversy, since many people imagined they recognised portraits of literary figures now no more. It is the novel for which Maugham wished to be remembered.
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Delightful
- By RueRue on 04-22-16
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Of Human Bondage
- By: W. Somerset Maugham
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 25 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Philip Carey, a sensitive orphan born with a clubfoot, finds himself in desperate need of passion and inspiration. He abandons his studies to travel, first to Heidelberg and then to Paris, where he nurses ambitions of becoming a great artist. Philip's youthful idealism erodes, however, as he comes face-to-face with his own mediocrity and lack of impact on the world. After returning to London to study medicine, he becomes wildly infatuated with Mildred, a vulgar, tawdry waitress, and begins a doomed love affair.
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You won't want it to end!
- By Rbjurnee on 04-18-11
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Far Eastern Tales
- By: W. Somerset Maugham
- Narrated by: Robert Powell
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Far eastern Tales is a collection of Maugham's short stories, all born of his experiences in Malaysia, Singapore, and other outposts of the former British Empire. The stories included on this recording are Footprints in the Jungle, Mabel, P & O, The Door of Oportunity, The Buried Talent, Before the Party, Mr. Know-all, Neil MacAdam, The End of the Flight and The Force of Circumstance.
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As perfect a reading as I've ever heard
- By Ted on 05-30-16
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Rebecca
- By: Daphne du Maurier
- Narrated by: Anna Massey
- Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.... The novel begins in Monte Carlo, where our heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage. Orphaned and working as a lady's maid, she can barely believe her luck. It is only when they arrive at his massive country estate that she realizes how large a shadow his late wife will cast over their lives - presenting her with a lingering evil that threatens to destroy their marriage from beyond the grave.
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Easily the best audiobook I have ever heard!
- By Kid at Heart on 11-10-18
Critic reviews
- Winner, 2003 Audie Award, Classic Fiction
" "Charlton Griffin narrates with the ease of an urbane man of the world, but recreates Maugham's strange characters with pleasure and gusto. While his narrative voice is graceful and compelling, his characterizations are acutely individual, even bizarre. Their voices linger in our memory long after the tape is off." (AudioFile)
What a treat!
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Excellent performance
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Short Stories
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Give us more Maugham!
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perfection
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Even Mau of Maugham
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Maugham a great story writer
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Acute observations of man
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It helps that he has great stories to read to the listener. Contemporary writers do not have the wit, skill, patience, and talent of Maugham. Think of Chekhov with an English sensibility. I also enjoy the colonial settings of most of his stories. Not to be missed if you dislike genre fiction as much as I do and enjoy actual literature.
Great narrator and great book, a rarity
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What made the experience of listening to Short Stories of William Somerset Maugham, Volume 2 the most enjoyable?
i am exploring great writers whom i have never read but know about.What was one of the most memorable moments of Short Stories of William Somerset Maugham, Volume 2?
red.What about Charlton Griffin’s performance did you like?
top knotch.If you could take any character from Short Stories of William Somerset Maugham, Volume 2 out to dinner, who would it be and why?
the tobacco entrepreneur for his profound simplictyAny additional comments?
looking for morepowerful stuff
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