[Vocabulary] his countenance bore of set purpose

[englishhobby]

I don't understand the meaning of the phrase in bold. Is 'bore' the past form of the verb 'to bear'?
He had thrown himself into the arrogant attitude of Velasquez's portrait of Del Borro in the Museum of Berlin; and his countenance bore of set purpose the same contemptuous smile.

 

[Rover_KE]

Source and author?

 

[englishhobby]

The Magician (W. S. Maugham)

 

[GoesStation]

Early Maugham is full of impenetrable prose. It's really not good material for learners.

I'd forget about that strange sentence and move on.

 

[englishhobby]

I agree that a few passages (especially the ones about magic) are uncanny, but the plot itself is quite captivating, and there are lots of descriptions of different types of personality and appearance which I appreciate. Except for Oliver Haddo (the 'magician'), the characters talk just the way people normally do, so we can elicit some commonly used phrases and idioms. Anyway, it's fiction, so I think students can read different types of it, why not?

 

[Rover_KE]

Yes—'bore' is the past tense of 'bear'.

It might be a bit clearer if we straighten out the inversion in the second part of the text:

'... and his countenance bore the same contemptuous smile of set purpose', but it's as clear as mud to me. :-(

 

[englishhobby]

Yes—'bore' is the past tense of 'bear'.

It might be a bit clearer if we straighten out the inversion in the second part of the text:

'... and his countenance bore the same contemptuous smile of set purpose', but it's as clear as mud to me. :-(

That's just what I needed, the inversion. I had clearly forgotten about it :-D. So, 'of set purpose' refers to 'contemptuous smile'? I thought it described the action (to bear something 'purposefully').

 

[Tdol]

The person deliberately copied the smile from the painting.

 

[probus]

A small note of caution, englishhobby. If you emulate Maugham too closely you will sound like an upper-crust English person from long ago. Of course there is nothing wrong with that, but English has evolved somewhat since Maugham's day.

 

[Tdol]

This is Maugham reading his story The Three Fat Women of Antibes: https://youtu.be/vYhmah8x0Hc?t=121

 

[Tdol]

A former girlfriend played me this thirty years ago and it has stayed with me. The end is simply marvellous.

 

[englishhobby]

A small note of caution, englishhobby. If you emulate Maugham too closely you will sound like an upper-crust English person from long ago. Of course there is nothing wrong with that, but English has evolved somewhat since Maugham's day.

Thank you, probus, I also feel it is not the best idea, but, to be honest, I was trying hard to find modern fiction suitable for analysing, and every time either the language or the plot was so complicated, that I gave up the idea. Could you recommend some modern authors (to my shame, I am not familiar with them, just find some randome ones and realize their works are not quite what I need). Are there some modern short stories perhaps, or some short novels, that non-native students of English could read in the original without struggling too much with the vocabulary or plot?

 

[probus]

Two of my favorites are Hemingway and Steinbeck. Hemingway especially deserves study because he single-handedly changed the way most people write English. And counter-intuitively, perhaps, he did so by preferring simple vocabulary and short declarative sentences. And in my opinion, nobody has ever written modern English dialogue better than Len Deighton. He's the one who truly reproduces the way people actually talk nowadays.

 

[Tdol]

Samuel Beckett writes pared-down prose full of meaning. You won't have to spend much time in the dictionary, but you will have to think. He's simple, but he's not easy. He is worth the effort, though.

 

[5jj]

Hemingway especially deserves study because he single-handedly changed the way most people write English.

That's possibly a little OTT.

 

[Tarheel]

This is Maugham reading his story The Three Fat Women of Antibes: https://youtu.be/vYhmah8x0Hc?t=121

Unfortunately, the music in the background makes it hard to understand. :-|

 

[probus]

For the benefit of our learners, OTT means over the top. Anyway, de gustibus non disputandum est.

 

[Tdol]

Unfortunately, the music in the background makes it hard to understand. :-|

It works in my browser- the music dies down and almost disappears.