Book Review: "Then and Now" by W. Somerset Maugham

It's been a long time since I've read some W. Somerset Maugham and yet, even though I've read some of his works how the hell I had never heard of this one I will never know. I share a birthday with this author and he has written some interesting stuff. I've got some reviews below of his other books...

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Honestly, we can say that perhaps Of Human Bondage is his most famous novel and that might also be because of the movie that was made that (I believe) starred Bette Davis. But Then and Now is a whole different thing, based on what I understand to be a semi-historical event. It's actually pretty good even though not a lot of interesting stuff actually happens and though it is described as being quite darkly funny, it isn't entirely my thing.

The novel starts with Machiavelli. He is sent to Imola to negotiate with the ruthless and expanding tyrant, Cesare Borgia. As we can see, this has already got a whole cast of historically important characters. We know that Machiavelli is a politically impressive character but even he becomes fascinated by Borgia’s cold and manipulative statecraft - something that we can definitely read as inspiring his work The Prince later on. But on top of this, Machiavelli is trying to navigate this weird and tense political atmosphere whilst simultaneously becoming obsessed with seducing Aurelia, the beautiful, young wife of his host. Maugham is painting Machiavelli as a deep and complex character and though I don't think the portrait is entirely accurate, it was accurate enough to keep me engaged for the rest of the novel. The writing also isn't Maugham's best. Sometimes it can feel a little emotionless and flat and of course, there's a ton of exposition to do concerning the historical atmosphere. I feel like his other, longer book are a bit more immersive and descriptive.

Then, Borgia demands an alliance and money from Florence, forcing Machiavelli to use clever stalling tactics while waiting for his government to respond. And this is part and parcel of the job before technologies - there's a lot of waiting. This often draws interesting little side-sections of the narrative in which we see the manipulative layers of both characters. But when it comes to the love story, there's more manipulation and politics to follow. Machiavelli bribes a corrupt local friar to manipulate Aurelia’s religious mother into letting her out of the house. Of course, this works, but with damning results. The plan that Machiavelli has for Aurelia will ultimately backfire in the most spectacular way, causing a lot of issues for Machiavelli. I'm not going to lie, the romantic storyline isn't the most interesting thing ever but we do get to see how the political and manipulative tactics of the Renaissance man (or at least the wannabe Renaissance man) and how they work in the real, non-political world.

Is it funny? No, not really. Does the storyline sometimes seem a bit ridiculous? Yes, it does. It seems like W. Somerset Maugham wanted to write something funny and then found out that jokes were overrated and he felt a little bit too intelligent for everyone. He wanted to write something that satirised the usefulness of politics which seems to argue that the most manipulative and politically minded people are in fact, the worst when it comes to actual and real relations. The relations that Borgia is trying to get Machiavelli to get from his government are ready to fall through, but Borgia's marriage is a bit rocky and Machiavelli's chances with her also seem a bit out there. Of course, there's nothing very great about either of them and yet, politically many people think that there is (including themselves). You couldn't make this shit up.

Then and Now again, isn't the best W. Somerset Maugham novel. It is a bit short, a bit empty and sometimes a bit flat - especially compared to novels like The Magician (which is probably one of the best Maugham novels). I feel like I'm glad I read it though because until I bought it, I didn't even know it existed. Thankfully, I got this book out of the way though, so I guess there's something good that came out of this.