{"id":69,"date":"2025-10-17T14:48:46","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T13:48:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stourbend.com\/?p=69"},"modified":"2025-10-17T16:07:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T15:07:25","slug":"novelist-as-observer-somerset-maugham-and-the-razors-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stourbend.com\/?p=69","title":{"rendered":"Novelist as observer: Somerset Maugham and The Razor\u2019s Edge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!n362!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fad46f20e-21e4-4370-840b-9983e43b3740_1000x1521.jpeg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>What is the point of fiction?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Some storytelling has a simple declared intention: to entertain. That\u2019s it.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Others are educative. They are often didactic, with a moral, like a lesson in a children\u2019s book separating good from evil with a smile, or stories warning about a warming climate told by building readers\u2019 empathy with characters confronting capitalism, rather than presenting scientific evidence. They are ones that enact a fixed set of ideas through narrative. They educate by entertaining. They run the risk of letting ideas tip into ideologies.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Others explore ideas that aren\u2019t yet fixed, at least not in the mind of the fiction writer, but with the aim of finding some truth (Nordberg, 2023, 2024).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Every so often \u2013 and they come less often than I as reader would like \u2013 some pursue ideas without an ulterior motive, an end for which fiction is the means. These observe and inform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve just read one of these, one that builds a sense of satisfaction, of openness and tolerance, despite the insignificance of its plot, its modest claims of analysis, and its absence of moralizing. The work:&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3JKjqZb\">The Razor\u2019s Edge<\/a><\/em>, a somewhat quaint and rather quiet 1944 novel by William Somerset Maugham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It came to my attention a couple of years ago, when a professional editor mentioned its unusual and striking method of narration. Look it up, she said. I finally have. &#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read the rest of <a href=\"https:\/\/donnordbergwriting.substack.com\/p\/novelist-as-observer-somerset-maugham\">Novelist as observer: Somerset Maugham and The Razor\u2019s Edge<\/a> on Substack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"179\" src=\"http:\/\/www.stourbend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DNwriting-banner-large-1024x179.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-60\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.stourbend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DNwriting-banner-large-1024x179.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.stourbend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DNwriting-banner-large-300x53.png 300w, https:\/\/www.stourbend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DNwriting-banner-large-768x135.png 768w, https:\/\/www.stourbend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DNwriting-banner-large.png 1204w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the point of fiction? Every so often \u2013 and they come less often than I as reader would like \u2013 some pursue ideas without an ulterior motive, an end for which fiction is the means. These observe and inform. I\u2019ve just read one of these, one that builds a sense of satisfaction, of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stourbend.com\/?p=69\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Novelist as observer: Somerset Maugham and The Razor\u2019s Edge<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-criticism","category-don-nordberg-is-on-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stourbend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stourbend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stourbend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stourbend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stourbend.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=69"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stourbend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70,"href":"https:\/\/www.stourbend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions\/70"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stourbend.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=69"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stourbend.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=69"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stourbend.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=69"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}