The Mixture As Before

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The Mixture As Before

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'The Mixture as Before'' is another short story collection by Somerset Maugham that makes me wonder yet again how he could manage to maintain so high a level of craftsmanship and a quality so close to perfection in his writing for so long a time. This book was published 19 years after Maugham's first mature short story collection - ''Trembling of a Leaf'' (1921) and 25 years after his first true masterpiece - ''Of Human Bondage'' (1915). By 1940 Maugham had stopped writing stories for the English in the Far East and so there are no such in ''The Mixture as Before'' although there are two exotic stories actually but set in at the other end of the world. All in all, the collection contains ten short stories and at least seven of them are superb in any aspect: characters, plot, writing style, food for thought. The rest three are simply wonderful and make only extremely pleasant read. They were all published in various magazines during the 1930s usually under the same titles, except for Lord Mountdrago and The Treasure which appeared as Doctor and Patient and The Best Ever, respectively.

The Three Fat Women of Antibes
A Man with a Conscience
The Treasure
The Lotus Eater
The Lion's Skin
Lord Mountdrago
Gigolo and Gigolette
The Voice of the Turtle
An Official Position
The Facts of Life