Ah King
Ah King is a collection of short stories set in the Federated Malay States and elsewhere in Southeast Asia during the 1920s by W. Somerset Maugham. It was first published by the UK publishing house, Heinemann, in September 1933; the first American edition was published on November 8 of the same year by Doubleday Doran, New York. The book was published in French translation as La Femme dans la Jungle (1935) and in Spanish as Ah King, mi criado china (1946).[1]
Like The Casuarina Tree, Ah King was loosely based on Maugham's experiences traveling with his companion Gerald Haxton in the region for six months in 1921 and four months in 1925.[2] The short stories collected in both volumes had appeared previously in magazines.
Explanation of the title
In the preface to the collection, Maugham recounts how he engaged a servant in Singapore to assist him in his travels. Ah King, a twenty-year old man, accompanied him for six months. When Maugham was about to depart for Europe and the time came for them to part ways, Ah King surprised the author by bursting into tears (having shown little sign of emotion previously on the journey), leading Maugham to dedicate the volume to him.
Contents
The stories—
- Footprints in the Jungle
- The Door of Opportunity
- The Vessel of Wrath
- The Book-Bag
- The Back of Beyond
- Neil MacAdam
Note: The short story Neil MacAdam was dramatized for the stage in 1941 by Paulo Braga as O Fruto Proibido.[3]
- v
- t
- e
- Liza of Lambeth (1897)
- Mrs Craddock (1902)
- The Magician (1908)
- Of Human Bondage (1915)
- The Moon and Sixpence (1919)
- The Painted Veil (1925)
- Cakes and Ale (1930)
- The Narrow Corner (1932)
- Theatre (1937)
- Christmas Holiday (1939)
- Up at the Villa (1941)
- The Razor's Edge (1944)
- Then and Now (1946)
- Catalina (1948)
- The Trembling of a Leaf (1921)
- The Casuarina Tree (1926)
- Ashenden (1928)
- Ah King (1933)
- The Mixture as Before (1940)
- Creatures of Circumstance (1947)
- "Rain"
- "The Vessel of Wrath"
- "The Lotus Eater"
- "The Unconquered"
- Loaves and Fishes (1902)
- Lady Frederick (1907)
- Smith (1909)
- Penelope (1909)
- The Land of Promise (1913)
- Our Betters (1917)
- Caesar's Wife (1919)
- The Circle (1921)
- The Constant Wife (1926)
- The Letter (1927)
- The Sacred Flame (1928)
- The Bread-Winner (1930)
- For Services Rendered (1932)
- Sheppey (1933)
- On a Chinese Screen (1922)
- The Summing Up (1938)
- Ten Novels and Their Authors (1954)
- The Explorer (1915)
- The Land of Promise (1917)
- Smith (1917)
- The Divorcée (1919)
- Jack Straw (1920)
- East of Suez (1925)
- The Circle (1925)
- The Canadian (1926)
- The Magician (1926)
- Sadie Thompson (1928)
- The Letter (1929)
- Charming Sinners (1929)
- Strictly Unconventional (1930)
- Rain (1932)
- The Narrow Corner (1933)
- Our Betters (1933)
- Of Human Bondage (1934)
- The Painted Veil (1934)
- The Right to Live (1935)
- Secret Agent (1936)
- The Tenth Man (1936)
- Isle of Fury (1936)
- Another Dawn (1937)
- The Vessel of Wrath (1938)
- The Letter (1940)
- Too Many Husbands (1940)
- The Moon and Sixpence (1942)
- Christmas Holiday (1944)
- The Hour Before the Dawn (1944)
- Dirty Gertie from Harlem U.S.A. (1946)
- The Razor's Edge (1946)
- Of Human Bondage (1946)
- The Unfaithful (1947)
- Quartet (1948)
- Trio (1950)
- Encore (1951)
- Miss Sadie Thompson (1953)
- The Beachcomber (1954)
- The Seventh Sin (1957)
- Adorable Julia (1962)
- Of Human Bondage (1964)
- The Razor's Edge (1984)
- Up at the Villa (2000)
- Being Julia (2004)
- The Painted Veil (2006)