The Razor's Edge

What do you think of the real-life author placing a version of himself in his fictional story? Does it distance the reader from the other characters, or does it create a sense of intimacy with the author? Both? How does Maugham’s approach differ from that of other writers employing authorial intrusion?

Isabel speaks passionately about men and work, but not women and work. What does it say about Isabel (or the society she lives in) that it doesn’t occur to her to study law or medicine or finance as she presses Larry to do?

Compare/contrast American idealism with the European society in which most of the story takes place. How do they differ in their attitudes toward work, money and prestige? What are the strengths and failings of each? Is one better than the other? How might these differences have arisen, and how do they carry over into the 21st century?

Was Isabel justified in what she did to Sophie? Was she motivated more by a jealousy or a desire to protect Larry? Maugham, as a character, thinks Isabel is a likable person, but is the reader meant to agree?

Is this really the story of Larry’s quest for enlightenment, or is it more about personal fulfillment (or some other theme), with the characters representing different aspects and expressions of that theme? How might the other characters’ lives be different if they all adopted Larry’s philosophy that self-perfection is the road to happiness?

Much of the action of the story takes place off the page and is recounted to the narrator later. The reader rarely experiences those events with the same immediacy they would get from another point of view. Is this a strength or a weakness? What are the advantages/disadvantages?

Compare/contrast themes from The Razor’s Edge to another story or stories that explore similar ideas (e.g., The Great Gatsby, which takes place during the same time period and also employs a first-person narrator who is not the protagonist).

What do you think of Larry’s decision to renounce the world and travel the country as a kind of roving guru? Is his idea of salvation really superior to, for example, love or good works? Would you agree with Maugham that Larry would be better off if he’d gotten married and had a family?