Complete Short Stories, Volume 3

De: W. Somerset Maugham

Narrado por: Charlton Griffin

In 1938 Maugham wrote, "Fact and fiction are so intermingled in my work that now, looking back on it, I can hardly distinguish one from the other." Maugham also wrote that most of his short stories were inspired by accounts he heard firsthand during his travels to the lonely outposts of the British Empire. His beautifully restrained prose allowed him to explore the tensions and passions of isolated white colonists without the use of cloying melodrama.

In volume three of this series, we present all of the remaining short stories which Maugham published after World War I and which he subsequently caused to be republished in various collections. The stories in volume three are:

• 1. The Buried Talent
• 2. French Joe
• 3. German Harry
• 4. The Four Dutchmen
• 5. The End of the Flight
• 6. Flotsam and Jetsam
• 7. A Casual Affair
• 8. Mr. KnowAll
• 9. Straight Flush
• 10. The Portrait of a Gentleman
• 11. Raw Material
• 12. A Friend in Need
• 13. The Dream
• 14. The Taipan
• 15. The Consul
• 16. Mirage
• 17. Mabel
• 18. Masterson
• 19. A Marriage of Convenience
• 20. Princess September
• 21. In a Strange Land
• 22. The Lotus Eater
• 23. Salvatore
• 24. The WashTub
• 25. Mayhew
• 26. The Happy Man
• 27. The Point of Honor
• 28. The Mother
• 29. The Romantic Young Lady
• 30. The Poet
• 31. A Man from Glasgow
• 32. The Lion's Skin
• 33. The Three Fat Women of Antibes
• 34. The Happy Couple
• 35. The Voice of the Turtle
• 36. The Facts of Life
• 37. Gigolo and Gigolette
• 38. Appearance and Reality
• 39. The Luncheon
• 40. The Unconquered
• 41. The Ant and the Grasshopper
• 42. Home
• 43. The Escape
• 44. The Judgement Seat
• And more....

©W. Somerset Maugham Royalty Trust (P)2013 Audio Connoisseur

Brilliant Performances of Wonderful Short Stories

William Somerset Maugham’s short stories are all so beautifully detailed that it is easy to imagine yourself in the midst of them. The majority of the stories in this volume are short (between three to seven pages) and, strange enough, some of them had characters from previous stories going off on their own tangents.

The greatest aspect of this audiobook, though, is Charlton Griffin’s performance. Each character, whether male or female, has a unique voice in the story so that there’s no confusion as to who is speaking. Mr Griffin did a fantastic job of getting into each character and playing them as if he was on a stage. He certainly deserve praise for his talent and use of it!

Just Wonderful!

First you have the source material: the finest short stories ever written in English. Maugham was such a keen observer of human nature, he made these stories lush and compelling. His turn of phrase is not to be matched. Small incidents take on great proportion. I have found no modern equivalent.

Then you have the narration. Mr. Griffin’s cultured tones are just the right representation of Maugham as an urbane storyteller. He does accent the voices of individual characters differently; some find this objectionable (particularly his voicing of female characters), but I find it adds to the flavor and helps keep it clear to me who is speaking.

There are occasional music accents. They are subtle and infrequent. Even though I’m not typically a fan of this, here it works, adding one more layer to the storytelling.

I am so happy to see these tales presented like this. Just wonderful work overall!

Highly entertaining!

I love W.S. Maugham’s short stories! In my humble opinion, no one could write the way he did with such observations and precision with his colorful, fascinating and humorous writing styles! I read his short stories years ago and recommended them to friends and family. Listening to Charlton Griffin’s narration brought the stories alive, and I enjoyed them tremendously once again. Occasionally, I listened to some parts of the stories more than once, just to make sure I didn’t miss any nuances. I also read the written stories after listening to them to refresh my memory. I was able to see how my reading might have missed some of the colors that Mr. Griffin brought out in his spoken interpretation. After finishing one story, I would not go straight into another, as I needed some time to digest the flavor of the stories.

What I don’t understand is the way audiobooks arranged volume I, II and III, compared to the short story collections volume 1, 2, 3 and 4. Maugham wrote in his preface that he put particular stories together for each volume, as if making his own music playlist. He intended his stories to be read in a specific order. Even if we did not understand their arrangement, we should respect his creative ideas and hold our own opinions to ourselves.

The Volume III is far too long. I could not find the list of the titles after 44, yet there are 12 stories more! Maybe it was a commercial decision. It would have been better if the spoken stories followed the order of the written stories and volumes as Maugham intended. I had to hop around all four printed volumes to follow the audiobooks volumes. This is the only thing that I did not like from this series.

Nonetheless, I love Maugham’s writing and Griffin’s performance! I will continue to listen to more books by both of them. Once I run out of Griffin’s Maugham audiobooks, I will look for other audiobooks narrated by Griffin. I did not agree with some of the reviews about Griffin’s performance. Maybe the reviewers do not understand how Griffin captures the essence of Maugham's characters so well. Whatever the reasons, people should realize that his narration is part of the performance. It’s an art.

What a treat!

Having listened to all three volumes of the complete stories, I am once again amazed by the talents of WSM. Were I an aspiring young writer, I would study his work as we figure painters study the draftsmanship of Degas and Klimt. He maintains intense focus, clear motivation, and never wastes a word as he captures character, dialogue, and situation. Times have changed, to be sure, but excellent technique endures, which is reason enough to study the masters.

The short story is a merciless, demanding mistress: one wrong move and there will be no end of trouble. When an author is a master of this medium, it shows his talents to best effect.

Some listeners have groused about Charlton Griffin's not being British. I don't mind that, though some of his pronunciations can be a little eccentric. His rich, world-weary voice is perfectly suited to the character of WSM's observations here. I highly recommend this series to students of human nature, good writing, and days gone by. Enjoy.

Great narrator!

What an amazingly wonderful reader. I will be looking forward to hearing more from him