Contributions should be appropriate for a global audience. Please avoid using profanity or attempts to approximate profanity with creative spelling, in any language. Comments and media that include 'hate speech', discriminatory remarks, threats, sexually explicit remarks, violence, and the promotion of illegal activity are not permitted. It makes for wonderful reading, from cover to cover, but there is a touch of an overbearing didacticism in some of these sketches and writings; too often, Maugham labours hard his points and conclusions, not only about the figures he sets out to deconstruct and discuss - Loyola, Cervantes, Lope De Vega, Saint Teresa, Luis De Leon and, most of all, El Greco. The accomplished craftsman of words that he was, even this didacticism is mostly easy to swallow, provided you have the patience and time to sit on each of these pieces. But what particularly seems a little preachy is when Maugham is getting ahead of himself, trying more to deconstruct our perceptions and ideas about writers, artists and the like, which also makes the entire volume a little self-indulgent.

It was really not what I expected and I started to wonder what is meant by a travel book. For most of this book Maugham is taking the part of a critic of both literature and art of the golden age of Spain. For the literature he gives a summary of the writing and then critiques it. For the paintings he does concentrate largely on El Greco which does give rise to an astonishing passage where he discusses the suggestion that El Greco was gay. Well, what to say? Sometimes you can excuse things by saying "well in those times...." but he goes as far as to say that it is not possible to be gay and a genius.Though elsewhere in the chapter Maugham hails El Greco as great, he attributes what he perceives to be El Greco's flaws to his supposed homosexuality, saying that a homosexual is generally not capable of making great art, because he is essentially superficial, with an incomplete knowledge of the human condition. He cannot create great art--he can merely draw pretty decorations. This is why, for example, Maugham thinks El Greco's religious paintings are devoid of any true religious feeling--they are just excuses for him to draw elongated bodies, experiment with posing the hands, and paint dramatic clouds with lovely colors.

Don Fernando," then, is a loose collection of observations on Spain in general, and especially Spain in the Golden Age. Maugham discusses food, architecture, painting, literature, the practice of writing, drama, mysticism, Catholicism, the Spanish obsession with honor, picaresque novels, and such figures as St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Teresa of Avila, Cervantes, and Lope De Vega. Maugham wrote at a time when experimental modernist literature such as that of William Faulkner, Thomas Mann, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf was gaining increasing popularity and winning critical acclaim. In this context, his plain prose style was criticized as 'such a tissue of clichés' that one's wonder is finally aroused at the writer's ability to assemble so many and at his unfailing inability to put anything in an individual way. He is a member of famous Actor with the age 75 years old group. Don Fernando Height, Weight & Measurements William Somerset Maugham, famous as novelist, playwright and short-story writer, was born in 1874, and lived in Paris until he was ten. He was educated at King's School, Canterbury, and at Heidelberg University. He spent some time at St. Thomas' Hospital with a view to practising medicine, but the success of his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, published in 1897, won him over to letters. Of Human Bondage, the first of his masterpieces, came out in 1915, and with the publication in 1919 of The Moon and Sixpence his reputation as a novelist was established. His position as a successful playwright was being consolidated at the same time. His first play, A Man of Honour, was followed by a series of successes just before and after World War I, and his career in the theatre did not end until 1933 with Sheppey. Each review score is between 1-10. To get the overall score that you see, we add up all the review scores we’ve received and divide that total by the number of review scores we’ve received. In addition, guests can give separate ‘subscores’ in crucial areas, such as location, cleanliness, staff, comfort, facilities, value for money and free Wi-Fi. Note that guests submit their subscores and their overall scores independently, so there’s no direct link between them.

An authentic New Mexico experience awaits at Hotel Don Fernando de Taos, Tapestry Collection by Hilton. Located on six and a half scenic acres in Taos, NM, our hotel features Southwestern architecture, charming casita-style accommodations and decorative artwork and tapestries by area artists to create a unique and locally inspired place to stay. Families, couples, skiers, hikers and travelers looking to explore this relaxed, eclectic city enjoy a central location near Taos’s classic Pueblo buildings, world-class museums, quirky cafés and superb restaurants. Not a place for a romantic dinner a deux – unless you want to keep things nice and light. But fabulous for a girls (or blokes) evening out on your way to the many bars and other places that Richmond has to offer. It’s a regular haunt. I have even been here for a post shopping lunch and an informal business lunch. The place is never empty. Now. I have had better tapas. And I have eaten in more modern and prettier restaurants. But this place has been here for ages. And will probably still be here for many more years. Tried and trusted. His net worth has been growing significantly in 2022-2023. So, how much is Don Fernando worth at the age of 75 years old? Don Fernando’s income source is mostly from being a successful Actor. He is from USA. We have estimated

Don Fernando was born on 12 April, 1948 in USA, is an Actor, Director, Producer. Discover Don Fernando's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is He in this year and how He spends money? Also learn how He earned most of networth at the age of 73 years old? Popular As Don Fernando (born April 12, 1948) is a director and actor of pornographic films. He started in the pornography business in 1977 and performed for 39 consecutive years; the longest tenure for any male pornographic film actor in the world, until his retirement in 2016. Because of his high libido and sexual endurance during his performances in adult film and video productions on 3 continents, he was known in the United States and Europe as "Mr. Reliable", and in Japan as "Superman of Video Sex". As a director, he specialized in performing with Asian females, and earned the moniker "Asianman". He won the Best Supporting Actor Award twice (1995 [ citation needed] and in 2005) during the Festival de Cine Erotica-Barcelona [1] Fernando was inducted into the X-Rated Critics Organization Hall of Fame in 1997. [2] He was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame during the 2004 AVN Awards. [3] Other Awards and Inductions [ edit ] It begins, living up to its title, with a memory of Don Fernando, a tavern-keeper whom Maugham had encountered in his first visit to Spain - who also had worked out a side business as a dealer of curios and antiques. One day, Fernando sold Maugham an ancient-looking manuscript that turned out to be a history of none other than Saint Ignatius of Loyola and his life and struggles and ultimate triumphs that established his reputation as a Jesuit priest across the world. This work is different from his others in that it is a travelogue with history thrown in. And how. Only he could be extremely serious but conversational. This book is all about Spain and it’s cultural and social history. A real deep dive into the daily lives of kings and queens and the folks in the villages. An exposition of how their daily lives were across areas such as food literature and relationships. This has a lot of his views on art expounded in great detail. I learnt about a new genre of ‘picaresque’ novels.

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