Cake and Beer 7

Commentary on the work 298
Author's Chronology 309

A satirical novel that caused a stir by candidly depicting real people and the inner workings of the literary world.

How do we balance the acrobatics of success and creativity?

▶ The feeling of fear grew more and more.
Anyone could see that it was my portrait.
─ Hugh Walpole

▶ The portrait of a career-oriented writer drawn by the body is close to torture.

He is portrayed as a thick-faced, hypocritical populist who rose to fame overnight.
─ Virginia Woolf

▶ If you saw yourself in this work, it is because we are all the same, just like humans.
─ Somerset Maugham

Somerset Maugham's satirical novel, Cake and Beer, which has both popularity and artistry.
Who is the real model for the protagonist Edward Driffield?

Somerset Maugham's "Cake and Beer," a story brimming with wit and satire, written in a concise, realistic style and compressed structure, has been published as volume 394 in the Minumsa World Literature Collection.
This novel, published in 1930 when the author was in his prime as a writer, is a satirical novel that caused a great stir in the world because it vividly portrays the inner workings of the literary world at the time and the characters resemble the author's acquaintances and famous people.
Thomas Hardy was also pointed out as the real model for the master Edward Driffield in the work.
This is because there are many overlaps with Driffield in this work, such as his background as a poor man in southern England, his love of pubs, and his history of being banned due to a scene involving the death of a child.
Alloy, a writer who succeeded through worldly wisdom, was also portrayed as a carbon copy of his friend, novelist Hugh Walpole, and Hugh, who was so apprehensive after reading this work, even tried to block the publication of Cake and Beer.
Somerset Maugham is said to have tried to appease Walpole by sending him the following letter:
“If you see yourself in this work, it is because we are all the same, and in the end, we are the same human being.”
Ashenden is asked by fellow writer Aloy, who is writing a biography of the famous author Edward Driffield, to provide information about him.
Ashenden, who has known Driffield since his unknown days, recalls the youthful energy and passion of Driffield and his first wife, Rosie.
As the title 'Cake and Beer' suggests, the main theme of this work is the play and pleasure of life.
Somerset Maugham often said, "Just because a pleasure doesn't last forever doesn't mean it's not a pleasure," and warned against the danger of life's pleasures being trivialized by ideas and morality.
As if reflecting the body's thoughts, in this work, Driffield gradually loses his vitality and individuality instead of enjoying the sweetness of being a successful writer, as Rosie, who had preserved the joys of a healthy life, leaves him, and Mrs. Trafford, who claims to be his guardian, restrains him.

As the author himself reveals in the work, "Cake and Beer" is a work that tells the story that was left unfinished in "In the Bondage of Man" (1915), which is considered to be Maugham's greatest work.
If 『In the Human Shackles』 dealt with the inner subjugation of humans due to passion, this work focuses on the external factors that bind humans, the social shackles, through the life of a writer.
The title of the piece, 'Cake and Beer', is an idiom meaning material pleasure or the play of life, and appears in Shakespeare's comedy 'Twelfth Night'.
In the scene where Sir Andrew and Sir Toby are making a fuss and singing love songs at Olivia's house, butler Malvolio urges them to stop the commotion, and Sir Toby responds as follows.
“Just because you’re moral, does that mean you can’t have cake and beer anymore?”

The conditions for a life faithful to 'Cake and Beer' are freedom, tolerance, and liberation.
“Just because you’re moral, does that mean you can’t have cake and beer anymore?”

The historical setting of "Cake and Beer" is the latter half of Queen Victoria's reign (1837-1901), a period of political, economic, and social change in British society.
The influence of the church declined, natural science gained strength, solemnism took a backseat, and psychologism emerged.
After the 16th century, changes also occurred in the gentry class that formed the ruling class of society, and wealthy merchants and professionals were added to the ranks of landowners and clergy.
In the novel, the aunt, who does not forget her noble birth as she comes from an aristocratic family and ignores Major Greencoat's wife, who is a former factory worker, and the upper class people of Blackstable who do not welcome the donations of coal merchant George Camp show the conservative and conventional characters of the time who are unable to adapt to the changing times.

On the other hand, the character representing pleasure and play in this work is Rosie, Driffield's first wife.
Rosie lives a life of 'cake and beer', as if mocking the Victorian virtues of chastity and respectability.
Even after marrying Driffield, she had several lovers and even ran away in the middle of the night after evading debts.
If you apply a moral yardstick to her, Rosie is a character who is open to criticism, but she never knows how to hate or slander anyone, and she is always innocent and bright like a child.
Rosie is Driffield's muse, who doesn't harbor negative emotions like sadness or hatred, and is only interested in making those around her happy.
Even Rosie shows a liberated side, thinking that 'humans who are struggling to survive on a small planet are nothing but a joke in the eyes of immortal intelligence.'


A wise writer outlives his contemporaries rather than chasing success.

Edward Driffield was a writer who was praised as a master only in his old age before he passed away.
According to the memoirs of the narrator, Ashenden, he was born into poverty and worked in various jobs in his youth before debuting as a novelist and writing steadily.
He barely made a living as a writer, receiving some acclaim within the literary world but without achieving any real fame, but his career reached a turning point when he caught the eye of his guardian, Lady Trafford.
Mrs. Trafford sees Driffield as a future winner and begins to sponsor him, and Driffield begins to mingle with high society, laying the foundation for his rise to prominence.
But the foundation of success is a double-edged sword for Driffield.
To gain Mrs. Trafford's patronage, you must attend dinners she hosts, read your writing, and meet people she has chosen.
His wife leaves him while his social activities are strictly controlled by her.
It's not just the guardians who are tying up Driffield.
He faced fierce social resistance because of his works based on his own experiences.
Critics and the public condemned his book for its indifferent depiction of a child dying in pain and for its immoral depiction of a mother having sex with another man on the day of her child's death.
But despite the blows from within and without, Driffield ultimately survived as a writer.
In life, I lost cake and beer, though.
Somerset Maugham cites success as the greatest threat to writers.
When a writer becomes successful, he leaves the world he originally belonged to and enters high society, but since he was not a part of that world in the first place, he ends up losing his own individuality in that world.
Ashenden says that even without genius, one can succeed as a writer with a good background, sincerity, and worldly wisdom.
The standard for judging a master is not public opinion at the time, but how long he will survive.
The body emphasizes through this work that a successful writer is not necessarily a great writer, and that to move from success to greatness, one must survive in the contemporary world for a long time.


Success is merely a prerequisite for long-term survival, while the title of great writer is like a medal awarded to those who have climbed the ladder of time.
Because literature also has trends and it is not easy to judge the essential value of a particular style that has gained popularity.
― From the translator's note