William Somerset Maugham (better known as W. Somerset Maugham, 1874-1965) was an author and playwright. Maugham is best known for his novels Of Human Bondage, The Painted Veil, and The Razor's Edge. Maugham was bisexual and had affairs with several men.
Life[]
A symbol frequently featured on the covers of Maugham's works
A member of the Maugham family of lawyers, Maugham was born in Paris in January of 1874. This was shortly before a law passed into the French government declaring the children of foreigners born in France were automatically made French citizens. To avoid making their son a French citizen, Maugham's parents had him born in the maternity ward of Earl Richard Lyons' embassy in France.
Shortly after Maugham's eighth birthday, his mother died from tuberculosis. Maugham was devastated by this death. This was followed by the death of Maugham's father (a lawyer who lived in Paris), and Maugham was sent to live with his uncle (a vicar who lived in Kent). The move to Kent was a somewhat unwelcome one - with Maugham finding it way less comforting than Paris. He gained a stammer and became shy and lost his Christian faith.
Maugham attended The King's School in Canterbury - where he was bullied due to his stammer and his somewhat poor English. He left the school and entered school at Heidelburg University with the help of his German aunt. While at the University, he had an affair with scholar John Ellingham Brooks. Maugham returned to England in 1892. Maugham's uncle tried to steward him towards finding a job - with Maugham keeping his interest in writing from his uncle. This led to Maugham beginning a job in the medical field - entering into the medical school of St. Thomas' Hospital. While studying at St. Thomas, Maugham wrote and published his first novel - Liza of Lambeth. The novel received mixed reviews. Maugham wrote a primordial version of Of Human Bondage around the same time, but it was rejected by various publishers.
Notable works[]
- East and West - a collection of short stories
- Don Fernando - a book on Spain
Novels[]
- Liza of Lambeth - Maugham's debut novel. On a young girl trying to escape poverty.
- The Hero
- Mrs. Craddock - on a woman who marries "beneath herself"
- The Merry-Go-Round
- The Bishop's Apron
- The Explorer
- The Magician - A satire of Aleisteir Crowley
- Of Human Bondage - a somewhat autobiographical novel
- The Moon and Sixpence - a novel about a stockbroker who strives to become an artist
- The Painted Veil - a novel about Hong Kong
- Cakes and Ale - a novel about a rather liberal woman
- The Narrow Corner - on a murderer cruising through the Dutch East Indies
- Theatre - a novel about an actress and her cheating husband
- Christmas Holiday - on a naive Englishman travelling to Paris
- Up at the Villa - a suspenseful novel about a love triangle
- The Hour Before the Dawn
- The Razor's Edge - a novel about a pilot traumatized by World War I
- Then and Now - a novel about Niccolò Machiavelli
- Catalina - a satire on the power of the Church set during the Spanish Inquisition, Maugham's final novel
Sources[]
- Wikipedia