A Review of short story The Luncheon by W S Maugham

LUNCHEON- A REVIEW W S Maugham was young and naïve, and was living in Paris, some twenty years from the time of writing this striking short story with a twist of irony. His first literary works were just published. Like any young writer, he craved for admiration. And that's what he got when he received a fan mail from a lady, lavishly praising one of his just published works. He was elated and wrote …

…suggested to take only one item for luncheon, retorted back that he would eat nothing for dinner. It was a true statement. But the woman failed to understand it and called the author humorist. Maugham had his revenge at last-not by inflicting any punishment on her but by poetic justice. Meeting her twenty year later in the theatre, found her weighing twenty-one stone. He observed with complacency the way the immortal gods mete out justice.