Pia from Dante's Divine Comedy reimagined as a modern protagonist by a 20th-century master

Somerset Maugham was fascinated by the story of Pia, who appears in the Purgatorio section of the Divine Comedy, which he read during a trip to Italy during his school days.
The author, who was wondering what kind of setting would be appropriate if Dante's Pia were reconstructed in a 20th-century version, wrote a sophisticated and modern novel based on his experiences from a trip to China in 1925, about 30 years later.


■ Another masterpiece that highlights Somerset Maugham's unique insight into life.

Beautiful and cheerful, Kitty enters the social world to the expectations of her vain mother, but eventually, driven by her age, she runs away and marries.
Charles Townsend, the charming married man Kitty falls in love with, is the man who brings meaning to her dull life.
But just as the truth about their affair is about to be revealed to the world, Charles, who has a bright future ahead of him, betrays Kitty, and Kitty's mental world is shattered.


Walter, deeply hurt by his wife's betrayal, threatens Kitty and takes her to a remote area of ​​China where cholera is rampant. Walter's soul struggles daily between the deep pain he feels and the desire to see her die, and the inability to forgive himself for loving her but not forgiving her, or for still loving such a frivolous woman.


Meanwhile, “Kitty experiences various human lives and values ​​in the process of fighting the fear of death that surrounds her, and grows spiritually, breaking free from her narrow-minded perspective.” (Translator’s note) In front of the vastness of nature, on a Mahayana level, Kitty realizes the futility of her past desires and takes a more contemplative attitude toward the future.
“Two drops of water in a river flow silently into the unknown.
“Those two drops of water, though distinct in themselves, are merely part of the featureless river to the observer.” (Text 54) “And by finding the clue of forgiveness in the vastness of nature, they cast off the shackles of wrong love that had bound them like bondage and heal their own wounds.” (Translator’s note)

Despite this, Kitty realizes that Charles, whom she trusted and loved so much, was a pathetic, vain, and selfish egoist, and she despises him to the core, but is still confused about how she falls again before his lust.


Why can't Kitty love her husband, who truly cares for her, even though she respects him? Somerset Maugham explores the boundless fragility of human nature and the ironies of life through the tragic end of the intelligent and cool-headed Walter and the arduous maturation of the beautiful but frivolous Kitty.

As the author quotes Shelley's poem ("A five-colored veil, the living call it life"), lifting the beautiful veil that covers humanity may seem to offer hope, but what lingers beyond the veil of life is in fact an unknown fear and despair.


■ Original work of the film "The Painted Veil" starring Naomi Watts and Edward Norton

Somerset Maugham's novels are widely read across generations because they offer profound insights into human nature, are moving, and, above all, are entertaining.
In particular, The Veil of Life deals with a more universal theme and is so contemporary and sensuous that it has been adapted into a film three times (first in 1934 with Greta Garbo and then in 1957 as “The Seventh Sin” with Eleanor Parker), each time reinvented.
The latest film, starring Naomi Watts, opens March 15th, and while the original's Kitty ultimately fails to love her husband, the film's conclusion is a bit different.