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''The Narrow Corner'' is a novel by the British writer W. Somerset Maugham, first published by William Heinemann in 1932.〔(Maugham, W. Somerset (1874-1965) ) British Library, accessed 25 September 2015.〕 A quote from ''Meditations'', iii 10, by Marcus Aurelius,〔(Marcus Aurelius ) Wikiquote〕 introduces the work: "Short therefore, is man's life, and narrow is the corner of the earth wherein he dwells." In the story, set "a good many years ago" in what is now Indonesia, a young Australian, cruising the islands after his involvement in a murder in Sydney, forms a passionate affair on an island which causes a further tragedy. ==Background== In the preface to a collected edition, Maugham writes about the origin of two characters in the novel.〔W. Somerset Maugham, ''Far and Wide'', nine novels; volume 1. The Companion Book Club, 1955.〕 Dr. Saunders was based on "a medical student I had known when I was myself one and whom I continued to know till he died forty years later ... He had ... a great sense of humour, a pleasant cynicism and not a little unscrupulousness." After originally including Dr. Saunders in the short story "The Stranger" in ''On a Chinese Screen'', Maugham remained interested in the character. Captain Nichols originally appeared in ''The Moon and Sixpence'' (introduced in chapter 46); he was suggested by "a beachcomber I met in the South Seas.... He was a very pretty rascal, but he took my fancy. He had smuggled guns into South America and opium into China." An incident related by Nichols in ''The Moon and Sixpence'' was cut out during proof reading, since Maugham realized it could be the basis of a new novel. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Narrow Corner」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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