The Painted Veil
Douban
W. Somerset Maugham
overview
Shallow, poorly educated Kitty marries the passionate and intellectual Walter Fane and has an affair with a career politician, Charles Townsend, assistant colonial secretary of Hong Kong. When Walter discovers the relationship, he compels Kitty to accompany him to a cholera-infested region of chinese mainland, where she finds limited happiness working with children at a convent. But when Walter dies, she is forced to leave China and return to England. Generally abandoned, she grasps desperately for the affection of her one remaining relative, her long-ignored father. In the end, in sharp, unexamined contrast to her own behavior patterns, she asserts that her unborn daughter will grow up to be an independent woman. The Painted Veil was first published in 1925 and is usually described as a strong story about a woman's spiritual journey. To more pragmatic, modern eyes, Kitty's emotional growth appears minimal. Still, if not a major feminist work, the book has literary interest. Sophie Ward's uninflected reading is competent if not compelling.
other editions
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面纱 译林出版社 2023 -
面纱 万卷出版公司 2021 -
面纱 2021 -
面纱 重庆出版社 2020 -
面纱 人民文学出版社 2020 -
面纱 江苏凤凰文艺出版社 2019 -
面纱 2019 -
面纱 开明出版社 2018 -
面纱 上海译文出版社 2017 -
面纱 天津人民出版社 2017 -
面紗 麥田出版社 2017 -
面纱 2017 -
彩色面纱 人民文学出版社 2016 -
面纱 江西人民出版社 2016 -
面纱 黑龙江科学技术出版社 2016 -
面纱 长江文艺出版社 2016 -
面纱 重庆 2012 -
The Painted Veil Vintage 2009 -
The Painted Veil Vintage 2006 -
面纱 重庆出版社 2006 -
彩色的面纱 北京十月文艺出版社 1988