Updates? (1874-1965), Novelist, playwright and spy. [25] The local physician in Whitstable suggested the medical profession, and Maugham's uncle agreed. [196][n 18] Even an admirer such as Evelyn Waugh felt that Maugham's disciplined writing with its "brilliant technical dexterity" was not without disadvantages: Maugham himself, although he never used the terms "second rate" or "mediocre" about his work,[199][n 19] was modest about his status. Used; Condition Used - Good ISBN 13 9780140185232 Raised by an uncle, the remainder of . Today's crossword puzzle clue is a general knowledge one: W Somerset Maugham's 1915 novel; the subject of several films. [146] In London, the National Theatre has presented two Maugham plays since its inception in 1963: Home and Beauty in 1968 and For Services Rendered in 1979. 25 and 68, Sternlicht, p. 72; Innes p. 254; Rogal, p. 247 and Curtis, p. 398, Last edited on 22 February 2023, at 08:19, The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, W. Somerset Maugham on stage and screen Plays, List of works by W. Somerset Maugham Novels and story collections, W. Somerset Maugham on stage and screen Film adaptations, " In Fine Society, Infidelity and Its Consequences", "The 100 best novels: No 44 Of Human Bondage by W Somerset Maugham (1915)", "Somerset Maugham's Ethically Earnest Fiction", "W. Somerset Maugham's apocryphal second-rate status: setting the record straight", "W. Somerset Maugham: Theme and Variations", Works by W. Somerset Maugham in eBook form, Works by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham, National Theatre, Maugham's Theatrical Collection, National Theatre, Shakespearean Characters, William Somerset Maugham's stories on Malaya, Borneo and Singapore, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=W._Somerset_Maugham&oldid=1140893483, This page was last edited on 22 February 2023, at 08:19. They lived together in the French Riviera, where Maugham entertained lavishly. William Somerset Maugham (pronounced mawm), was an English novelist, playwright and a short story writer. 22. - Nizza, 1965. december 16.) [73] It was well received: reviewers called it "extraordinarily powerful and interesting",[74] and "a triumph [that] has given me such pleasure and entertainment as rarely comes my way";[75] one described it as "an exhibition of the beast in man, done with such perfect art that it is beyond praise". [158] The tribute continued, "Best sellers that appeal to the mass reader are seldom good literature, but there are exceptions. Many of his works were highly praised: the novels Of Human Bondage , Cakes and Ale , The Razor's Edge , and The Moon and Sixpence ; short stories such as "Rain" and "The Outstation"; and his plays Lady . He entered the marriage from a sense of duty rather than from personal inclination, and the two quickly began to grow apart. [62] His covert job, which was in violation of Switzerland's neutrality laws,[n 7] was to coordinate the work of British agents in enemy territory and dispatch their information to London. But the book I like best is Cakes and Ale. His daily routine was to write between an early breakfast and lunchtime, after which he entertained himself. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German university. W. Somerset Maugham, in full William Somerset Maugham, (born Jan. 25, 1874, Paris, Francedied Dec. 16, 1965, Nice), English novelist, playwright, and short-story writer whose work is characterized by a clear unadorned style, cosmopolitan settings, and a shrewd understanding of human nature. [184] Since then BBC radio has broadcast numerous adaptations of his plays, novels and short stories ranging from one-off presentations to 12-part serialisations including six productions of The Circle and two adaptations apiece of The Razor's Edge, Of Human Bondage and Cakes and Ale. [116] He did the same on American television, introducing the Somerset Maugham Theater series, which a reviewer said enjoyed "tremendous popularity and has won for him an audience of millions of enthusiastic fans". Maugham further damaged his own reputation by denying that another character, Alroy Kear a superficial novelist of more pushy ambition than literary talent was a caricature of Hugh Walpole. The Maharshi was of average height for an Indian, of a dark honey colour with close-cropped white hair and a close-cropped white beard. The British colonies there failed to provide him with anything like the material he had gathered in the Asian outposts in the 1920s, but the French penal settlement on Devil's Island furnished him with some stories. By Jeffrey Meyers. W. Somerset Maugham, in full William Somerset Maugham, (born Jan. 25, 1874, Paris, Francedied Dec. 16, 1965, Nice), English novelist, playwright, and short-story writer whose work is characterized by a clear unadorned style, cosmopolitan settings, and a shrewd understanding of human nature. His first novel, Liza of Lambeth (1897), a study of life in the slums, attracted attention, but it was as a playwright that he first achieved national celebrity. [81] Maugham, as always, observed closely and collected material for his stories wherever they went. Maugham's plain prose style became known for its lucidity, but his reliance on clichs attracted adverse critical comment. This website uses cookies. First, Maugham died two years before Britain's decriminalization in 1967 of same-gender sex behavior. His supernatural thriller The Magician (1908) had a principal character modelled on Aleister Crowley, a well-known occultist. More recent assessments generally rank Of Human Bondage a book with a large autobiographical element as a masterpiece, and his short stories are widely held in high critical regard. [113], Before returning to the south of France after the war, Maugham travelled to England and lived in London until the end of 1946. [94] Maugham later wrote, "I grew conscious that I was no longer in touch with the public that patronises the theatre. He was the son of a British diplomat. Died: December 16, 1965, in Nice, France. His stories the first in the genre of spy fiction continued by Ian Fleming, John le Carr and many others[169] are based so closely on Maugham's experiences that it was not until ten years after the war ended that the security services permitted their publication. For the next year and a half he studied literature, philosophy and German. First published in 1989, Mr Calder's attempt to encompass Maugham's life and work in one volume fits nicely between Ted Morgan's Maugham: A Biography (1980) and Jeffrey Meyers' Somerset Maugham: A Life (2004); as far as I know the only other detailed biography is the very recently (2009) published The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham by Selina . William Somerset Maugham Theatre I THE door opened and Michael Gosselyn looked up. "[26], Maugham took rooms in Westminster, across the Thames from the hospital. On his eightieth birthday the Garrick Club gave a dinner in his honour: only Dickens, Thackeray and Trollope had been similarly honoured. [102] Haxton, as a citizen of neutral America, was not in immediate peril from the Germans and remained at the villa, securing it and its contents as far as possible, before making his way via Lisbon to New York. William Somerset Maugham ( 25. ledna 1874, Pa - 16. prosince 1965, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat pobl Nice) byl anglick spisovatel a dramatik . He was, by his own account, not a particularly imaginative or inventive person, but he studied people and places and used them, sometimes with minimal alteration or disguise, in his stories. Somerset Maugham . He was plump rather than stout. Love, Life, Change. Story Salvatore by W. Somerset MaughamIntroduction, Theme and Summary The story deals with love of a couple never going to be united. [15] Maugham's biographer Selina Hastings describes as "the first step in Maugham's loss of faith" his disillusion when the God in whom he had been taught to believe failed to answer his prayers for relief from his troubles. He was raised by his aunt and uncle, and bullied by children at school. It was written in 1915 and staged in New York in 1917, for a satisfactory but not unusual 112 performances, but when produced in the West End in 1923 it was played 548 times. Popular British novelist, playwright, short-story writer and the highest-paid author in the world in the 1930s, Somerset Maugham graduated in 1897 from St. Thomas' Medical School and qualified as a doctor, but abandoned medicine after the success of his first novels and plays. In May 1917 they married at a ceremony in New Jersey. "[98] He visited the Hindu sage Ramana Maharishi at his ashram, and later used him as the model for the spiritual guru of his 1944 novel The Razor's Edge. In 1940, W Somerset Maugham was forced to flee France as the Nazis invaded. Biography of William Somerset Maugham (excerpt) William Somerset Maugham, CH (January 25, 1874 - December 16, 1965) was an English playwright, novelist, and theatre writer. View interactive tab. [136] Among his longest-running comedies were Lady Frederick (1907), Jack Straw (1908), Our Betters (1923)[n 15] and The Constant Wife (1926), which ran in the West End or on Broadway for 422, 321, 548 and 295 performances respectively. Maugham's mother Edith Mary Snell had tuberculosis, and died of the disease when he was eight; his father died two years later, of cancer. Lord knew what they cost. [191] Virginia Woolf was friendly though a little patronising;[192] Lytton Strachey disparaged one of his books as "Class II, Division I". . Subject: History. [129] In the view of Kenneth Funsten in a 1981 study, British writers with whom Maugham has stylistic affinities include Jonathan Swift, William Hazlitt, John Dryden and John Henry Newman "all practitioners of precise prose". Somerset Maugham became famous for his many novels, short stories, travel books, and plays. . Appearing in popular magazines such as Nash's, Collier's, Hearst's International, The Smart Set, and Cosmopolitan, his stories It is very natural". Postscript on 5/13 : I thought the name Joo Cezar de Castro Rocha sounded familiar - he's one of Ren Girard . Author: w Somerset 1874-1965 Maugham. The lifelong ban followed his arrest and trial over a homosexual incident in 1915. Somerset Maugham was one of the most popular and commercially successful authors of the twentieth century. "[95] Raphael suggests that Maugham now wished to write to please himself rather than others. Maugham said, "Sometimes it fills me with uneasiness that no less than thirteen persons should spend their lives administering to the comfort of one old party". Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German university. [5], In 1915 Syrie Wellcome became pregnant, and in September, while Maugham was on leave to be with her, she gave birth to their only child, Mary Elizabeth, known as Liza. [167] Another English story is "Lord Mountdrago" (1939), depicting the psychological collapse of a pompous cabinet minister. He studied in Dune and qualified as a doctor, but found his calling in writing. But at first glance, Maugham's progression to worldwide fame and great wealth seems relatively straightforward. The W. Somerset Maugham Collection features: The Moon And Sixpence Of Human Bondage The first volume, Orientations, came out in 1898 and his last, Creatures of Circumstance, in 1947, with seven others between the two. It drew its details from his obstetric duties in South London slums. What you give an audience is all your own; the rest of us have to content ourselves with at the best an approximation of what we see in the minds eye. In the post-war era, Maugham settled into a pattern of life that changed little from year to year: In 1959 the foreign travel included a final trip to the far East. He said that lacking any great powers of imagination he wrote about what he saw, and that although he could see more than most people could, "the greatest writers can see through a brick wall my vision is not so penetrating".[202]. He later said, "I took to it as a duck takes to water. [105] His most substantial book from the war years was The Razor's Edge; he found writing it unusually tiring he was seventy when it was completed and he vowed it would be the last long novel he wrote. Authors. He found his uncle and aunt well-meaning but remote by contrast with the loving warmth of his home in Paris; he became shy and developed a stammer that stayed with him all his life. 245246. His American publishers estimated that four and a half million copies of his books were bought in the US during his lifetime.[127]. His reputation as a novelist rests primarily on four books: Of Human Bondage (1915), a semi-autobiographical account of a young medical students painful progress toward maturity; The Moon and Sixpence (1919), an account of an unconventional artist, suggested by the life of Paul Gauguin; Cakes and Ale (1930), the story of a famous novelist, which is thought to contain caricatures of Thomas Hardy and Hugh Walpole; and The Razors Edge (1944), the story of a young American war veterans quest for a satisfying way of life. 6 and 9798, Mander and Mitchenson, pp. The marriage lasted for twelve years, but before, during and after it, Maugham's principal partner was a younger man, Gerald Haxton. [181] Calder cites BBC Television's series of twenty-six stories shown in 1969 and 1970, adapted by dramatists including Roy Clarke, Simon Gray, Hugh Leonard, Simon Raven and Hugh Whitemore,[182] "presented with scrupulous fidelity to [their] tone, attitude, and thematic intention". [5] Maugham wrote his first book while in Heidelberg, a biography of the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer, but it was not accepted for publication and the author destroyed the manuscript. He wrote near the opening of the novel: "it is impossible always to give the exact unexpurgated words of Liza and the other personages of the story; the reader is therefore entreated with his thoughts to piece out the necessary imperfections of the dialogue". As a result, he developed a talent for applying a wounding remark to those who displeased him. W. Somerset Maugham Height, Weight & Measurements At 91 years old, W. Somerset Maugham height not available right now. 00:00. [72] In the same year Maugham published one of his best-known novels,[73] The Moon and Sixpence, about a respectable stockbroker who rebels against conformity, abandons his wife and children, flees to Tahiti and becomes a painter. [5][n 6], After the birth of his daughter, Maugham moved to Switzerland. Syrie and Liza were with him for part of the year, providing a convincing domestic cover, and his profession as a writer enabled him to travel about and stay in hotels without attracting attention. He was educated at King`s school in Canterbury, studied painting in Paris, went to Heidelberg University in Germany and studied to be a doctor at St. Don't waste time Get Your Custom Essay on "The Escape Maugham Analysis" Among the best-known examples are "Rain" (1921), charting the moral disintegration of a missionary attempting to convert the sexual sinner Sadie Thompson;[161] "The Letter" (1924), dealing with domestic murder and its implications;[162] "The Book Bag" (1932), a story of the tragic result of an incestuous relationship;[163] and "Flotsam and Jetsam" (1947), set in a rubber plantation in Borneo, where a dreadful shared secret binds a husband and wife to a mutually abhorrent relationship. [5] The Painted Veil is a story of marital strife and adultery against the background of a cholera epidemic in Hong Kong. He did not wish to follow his brothers to Cambridge University,[23] and his stammer precluded a career in the church or the law even if either had attracted him. When W. SOMERSET MAUGH AM was asked to select and edit the ten best novels in world literature, he thought at once of Balzac. [56] The New York World described the romantic obsession of the protagonist as "the sentimental servitude of a poor fool". [13] Two and a half years after his mother's death his father died, and Maugham was sent to England to live with his paternal uncle Henry MacDonald Maugham, the vicar of Whitstable in Kent. Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 - 7 June 1970) was an English author, best known for his novels, particularly A Room with a View (1908), How. W. Somerset Maugham was a British playwright, novelist and short story writer. Summary []. 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