The Razor's Edge: A Novel
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: First UK Edition
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Yellowed
Condition remarks: unclipped dj - worn, faded and chipped. Binding slightly shaky.
What does it mean to truly live — and is salvation worth the cost of everything the world calls success? The Razor's Edge chronicles the restless journey of Larry Darrell, a young American veteran of the First World War who, shattered by the trauma of combat, abandons a comfortable life of wealth and social expectation to pursue spiritual enlightenment across Europe and India. Narrated with elegant detachment by a character named Maugham himself, the novel contrasts Larry's austere quest for meaning against the glittering, morally hollow ambitions of his wealthy Chicago acquaintances, painting a vivid portrait of the Lost Generation adrift between the wars. Maugham writes with a cool, ironic precision that dissects the vanities of high society while simultaneously honouring the sincerity of a soul in genuine search. Drawing its epigraph from the Katha Upanishad — *The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard* — the novel argues that enlightenment demands a sacrifice most people are unwilling to make. A meditation on spirituality, the emptiness of materialism, and the divergent paths human lives can take, this masterwork of 20th-century fiction leaves the reader asking a quietly devastating question: what, in the end, are *you* living for?
Author: W. Somerset Maugham
Format: Hardback
Published: 1944, William Heinemann Ltd
Genre: Classic fiction
Edition: First UK Edition
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Yellowed
Condition remarks: unclipped dj - worn, faded and chipped. Binding slightly shaky.
What does it mean to truly live — and is salvation worth the cost of everything the world calls success? The Razor's Edge chronicles the restless journey of Larry Darrell, a young American veteran of the First World War who, shattered by the trauma of combat, abandons a comfortable life of wealth and social expectation to pursue spiritual enlightenment across Europe and India. Narrated with elegant detachment by a character named Maugham himself, the novel contrasts Larry's austere quest for meaning against the glittering, morally hollow ambitions of his wealthy Chicago acquaintances, painting a vivid portrait of the Lost Generation adrift between the wars. Maugham writes with a cool, ironic precision that dissects the vanities of high society while simultaneously honouring the sincerity of a soul in genuine search. Drawing its epigraph from the Katha Upanishad — *The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard* — the novel argues that enlightenment demands a sacrifice most people are unwilling to make. A meditation on spirituality, the emptiness of materialism, and the divergent paths human lives can take, this masterwork of 20th-century fiction leaves the reader asking a quietly devastating question: what, in the end, are *you* living for?