London, c.1895

He looked at people walking about and envied them because they had friends; sometimes his envy turned to hatred because they were happy and he was miserable. He had never imagined that it was possible to be so lonely in a great city. 

-p.182 

When Philip thought that he must spend over four years more with that dreary set of fellows his heart sank. He had expected wonderful things from London and it had given him nothing. He hated it now. He did not know a soul, and he had no idea how he was to get to know anyone. He was tired of going everywhere by himself. He began to feel that he could not stand much more of such a life. He would lie in bed at night and think of the joy of never seeing again that dingy office or any of the men in it, and of getting away from those drab lodgings.   

-p.189  

from 'Of Human Bondage' (1915) by W. Somerset Maugham. London: Vintage Books

In my writing again and again, I find myself interrogating the topic of city life, and of being a living subject in place where a mass of people struggle not to crash into on another on a daily basis. Reading Somerset Maugham, I am struck by the sense of isolation which he conveys, whatever the place. Our antihero Philip Carey is a lonely person with a tricky personality, at once incredibly sensitive but touchy, tactless, and unable to negotiate his emotions in a satisfying, constructive manner. The book contains nearly 500 pages of hopelessness, despair and difficulty, both in relationships and financially. It is uncanny how closely the London of 1895 resembles London 2017. In the end, the most surprising thing of all is that Philip gets a happy ending. Good luck to him.