The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham - 1944

This book is in good condition.There is no wear on the front, back, spine, and edges of the cover boards. There is no bumping on the corners of the cover boards. The previous owners name is affixed to the inside of the front cover board. The pages are yellowed and tanned but are clear of any markings.

"Maugham, like Hermann Hesse, anticipated a fresh embrace of Eastern culture by Americans and Europeans almost a decade before the Beats were to popularise it. (It should be noted that Americans had explored Eastern philosophy prior to these authors, notably in the first half of the nineteenth century by the Transcendentalists, and then from the visit of Vivekanada in 1893, and then Yogananda's move to the U.S. in 1920.) Maugham himself visited Sri Ramana Ashram, where he had a direct interaction with Ramana Maharshi in Tamil Nadu, India in 1938. Maugham's suggestion that he "invented nothing" was a source of annoyance for Christopher Isherwood, who helped him translate a verse 1.3.14 from the Katha Upanishads for the novel's epigraph – उत्तिष्ठ जाग्रत प्राप्य वरान्निबोधत | क्षुरस्य धारा निशिता दुरत्यया दुर्गं पथस्तत्कवयो वदन्ति || (uttiṣṭha jāgrata prāpya varān nibodhata| kṣurasya dhārā niśitā duratyayā durga pathas tat kavayo vadanti|| ) – which means "Rise, wake up, seek the wise and realize. The path is difficult to cross like the sharpened edge of the razor (knife), so say the wise...." Razor's Edge: The Katha Upanishad by Nancy Cantwell. Timequotidian.com, 29 January 2010.