The Mixture as Before
| Author | William Somerset Maugham |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Publisher |
William Heinemann (UK) Doubleday Doran (US) |
|
Publication date
|
1940 |
| Media type | |
| OCLC | 1535145 |
The Mixture as Before is a collection of 10 short stories by the British writer W. Somerset Maugham, first published by William Heinemann in 1940.
In the foreword, Maugham writes, "When my last volume of short stories was published The Times headed their review of it with the title The Mixture as Before. This of course was meant in a depreciatory sense, but I did not take it as such.... The writer has his special communication to make.... [I]f there is in his personality a certain abundance he may continue for a long time to produce work which is varied and characteristic; but the time comes at last... when, having given what he has to give, his powers seem to fail.... He must be content, he must rejoice even, if a new work... shows no falling off; if, in fact, it can truthfully be called The Mixture as Before."
Arrow, Beatrice and Frank, intent on losing weight, stay at Antibes on the French Riviera. They are on a strict diet. They like to play bridge, and Frank invites her friend Lena to make four at bridge. Lena's liking for fattening food causes tension among the other three. After she leaves, Beatrice, having had to watch Lena eating for a fortnight, gives in and starts eating the same; the others follow suit.
In Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, a penal colony in French Guiana, the narrator is interested in Jean Charvin, convicted of murdering his wife, now working in the colony's accounts department, and learns hs story. In Le Havre in France, Jean and his friend Henri Renard both loved Marie-Louise; Jean had a job, but Henri did not. When Jean's boss, who was considering Henri for a job, asked him if his friend was honest, his false reaction made the company reject Henri, who went to the far east to work for a silk firm, while Jean married Marie-Louise. Henri later died. Jean began to dislike his wife, and, tortured by remorse about Henri, eventually gave way to a violent act against her.
Richard Harenger, working in the Home Office in London, moves to a flat near Whitehall after he separates from his wife. Requiring a parlourmaid, he hires Pritchard, who turns out to be a perfect servant. One evening, when he decides to go to the cinema, he thinks it would be kind to ask Pritchard, who has nothing to do on her evening off, to come with him. They have dinner afterwards and dance. Back at the flat, happy that he has been kind to Pritchard, he kisses her, which turns into passion. The next morning he reproaches himself for being a fool, but is relieved to find that she has resumed her work as if nothing had happened.
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