The Painted Veil (novel)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Painted Veil is a 1925 novel by W. Somerset Maugham. The title is taken from Percy Bysshe Shelley's sonnet which begins "Lift Not The Painted Veil Which Those Who Live/Call Life."

Biographer Richard Cordell notes that the book was influenced by Maugham's study of science and his work as an houseman at St Thomas' Hospital. ^[1]

[edit] Summary

Shallow and lost, Kitty marries the intellectual and passionate Walter Fane, a bacteriologist who is madly in love with her. Kitty has an affair with the "perfect" Charles Townsend, assistant colonial secretary of Hong Kong. When Walter finds out about their affair, he leaves Kitty with an ultimatum. Heartbroken, Kitty decides to accompany Walter to the cholera-infested mainland of China.

řǔŤǑň≤’==Film adaptations== The novel has been adapted for the screen three times:

• The Painted Veil (1934 film)
• The Seventh Sin (1957 film)
• The Painted Veil (2006 film)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Maugham, W. Somerset. The Painted Veil. (1925 first edition) London: Heinemann
• Maugham, W. Somerset. The Painted Veil.(1925 first edition) New York: First American Trade Edition, George H. Doran
• Maugham, W. Somerset. The Painted Veil. (2002 reprint) Replica Books ISBN 978-0735101739