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Lesson 1 (from Preface through Chapter 5)

Objective

(Preface) The preface describes how Maugham was inspired to write The Painted Veil after hearing one translation and interpretation of an episode of Dante's Purgatorio. This sparked his idea for the story and from there he began to develop the characters, etc. This lesson will center on familiarizing the students with the selection of Dante that inspired Maugham, and seeing how that conception influenced the way he developed the story.

Lesson

1) In-class Reading: Maugham said that this particular story in Purgatorio immediately caught his imagination. Have the students read the excerpt of Purgatorio on their own, then read aloud the paragraph in the Preface where Maugham describes hearing the interpretation from his translator Ersilia. Instruct them to be on the lookout for why Maugham would be so affected by this story.

2) Class Discussion: Maugham notes that one of the reasons why he was so struck with...

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