Maugham based his characters upon people whom he had known or whose lives he had somehow come to know; their actions are presented with consummate realism. About. "Rain" (1921) by W. Somerset Maugham is a fish-out-of-water story, in which characters wholly unsuited to their environment become marooned somewhere due to external circumstances. Maugham is a British writer of great repute and has had one of the most successful literary careers in the twentieth century. He was one of the most popular authors of his era, and reputedly the highest paid of his profession during the 1930s. [144] Trewin singles out The Circle, calling it one of the great comedies of the 20th century, and comparing it with Congreve's The Way of the World, to the disadvantage of the latter: "He can put Congreve to shame in the task of telling a theatrical story telling it clearly and without inessentials". Biography of William Somerset Maugham (excerpt) William Somerset Maugham, CH (January 25, 1874 - December 16, 1965) was an English playwright, novelist, and theatre writer. Again, despite the suffering of the main characters, there is a reasonably happy ending for the central figure, Kitty. Many portray the conflict of Europeans in alien surroundings that provoke strong emotions, and Maughams skill in handling plot, in the manner of Guy de Maupassant, is distinguished by economy and suspense. [80] They then visited San Francisco and sailed to Honolulu and Australia before the final leg of their voyage, to Singapore and the Malay Peninsula, where they remained for six months. "Mr Somerset Maugham's Library for School", Lyttelton and Hart-Davis (1984), pp. IndigoMistBooks. In Somerset Maugham's novel "The Moon and Sixpence," there is a scene in which Dirk Stroeve, a painter, visits an art dealer to inquire after the work of . [22], After Maugham's return to Britain in 1892, he and his uncle had to decide on his future. Explain how this statement is relevant to "Mr. Know-All". This was Alan Searle, whom Maugham had known since 1928, when Searle was twenty-three. [84] By 1925, Maugham, learning that his wife was spreading scandal about his private life and had taken lovers of her own, was reconsidering his future. [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". His daily routine was to write between an early breakfast and lunchtime, after which he entertained himself. 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 . [56] The New York World described the romantic obsession of the protagonist as "the sentimental servitude of a poor fool". "[155], The Moon and Sixpence is the story of a man rejecting a conventional lifestyle, family obligations and social responsibility to indulge his ambition to be a painter. He returned to Britain and spent three months in a sanatorium in Scotland. Who Is W. Somerset Maugham's Wife? Love, Life, Change. [31] The first print run sold out within three weeks and a reprint was quickly arranged. [151], Of Human Bondage, influenced by Goethe and Samuel Butler,[52] is a serious, partly autobiographical work, depicting a young man's struggles and emotional turmoil. [188], In The Summing Up (1938), Maugham wrote of his non-dramatic work, "I have no illusions about my literary position. After a year at Heidelberg, he entered St. Thomas medical school, London, and qualified as a doctor in 1897. Most viewed. [158] The tribute continued, "Best sellers that appeal to the mass reader are seldom good literature, but there are exceptions. [164], Among the short stories set in England, one of the best-known is "The Alien Corn" (1931), where a young man rediscovers his Jewish heritage and rejects his family's efforts to distance themselves from Judaism. [152], Cakes and Ale combines humorous satire on the London literary scene and wry observations about love. He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest-paid author during the 1930s. [188] His urbane spy, Ashenden, influenced the stories of Raymond Chandler, Ian Fleming, Georges Simenon and John le Carr. Born in Paris, of Irish ancestry, Somerset Maugham was to lead a fascinating life and would become famous for his mastery of short evocative stories that were often set in the more obscure and remote areas of the British Empire. Appearing in popular magazines such as Nash's, Collier's, Hearst's International, The Smart Set, and Cosmopolitan, his stories [20] A modest legacy from his father enabled him to go to Heidelberg University to study. I saw how they bore pain. [34] He based himself in Seville, where he grew a moustache, smoked cigars, took lessons in the guitar,[34] and developed a passion for "a young thing with green eyes and a gay smile"[35] (gender carefully unspecified, as Hastings comments). William ('W.') Somerset Maugham. He wrote his 32nd and last play in 1933, after which he abandoned the theatre and concentrated on novels and short stories. Dickens . During his time in Heidelberg he had his first sexual affair; it was with John Ellingham Brooks, an Englishman ten years his senior. [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. The British ambassador, Lord Lyons, had a maternity ward set up within his embassy which was legally recognised as UK territory enabling British couples in France to circumvent the new law, and it was there that William Somerset Maugham was born on 25 January 1874. [93] Despite some help from Coward in the drafting and having Ralph Richardson as star and John Gielgud as director, it ran for a modest 83 performances. She was married to the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome, but the couple had formally separated in 1909, after which she had a succession of partners, including the retailer Harry Gordon Selfridge. Under 1. verdenskrig var han hemmelig agent i Rusland; hans spionroman Ashenden: Or the British Agent (1928; "Ashenden: Den hemmelige agent") bygger p denne erfaring. [110] He came from Bermondsey, a poor district of London. In The Summing Up (1938) and A Writers Notebook (1949) Maugham explains his philosophy of life as a resigned atheism and a certain skepticism about the extent of mans innate goodness and intelligence; it is this that gives his work its astringent cynicism. One recalls, too, the long list of movies that have been made from his novels . Suffering from a bad stammer, he received a classic public school education at King's school in . The best years of my life those we spent wandering about the world are inextricably connected with him. Crowley took offence and wrote a critique of the novel in Vanity Fair, charging Maugham with "varied, shameless and extensive" plagiarism. [193] Lee Wilson Dodd wrote, "Mr Maugham knows how to plan a story and carry it through. They visited the Far East together in 191920, keeping Maugham away from home for six months. [26] In maturity, he recalled the value of his experiences: "I saw how men died. 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. [103], Maugham spent most of the war years in the US, based for much of the time at a comfortable house on the estate of his American publisher, Nelson Doubleday. Competence is the word. [153] Rosie appears to be based on Sue Jones, to whom Maugham had proposed in 1913. He remained covert in his life and in his writings. [n 12] There is some suggestion that his known homosexuality may have militated against his receiving the higher honour.[119]. Maugham died in the Anglo-American Hospital in Nice on the night of 1516 December 1965 at the age of 91, of complications following a fall. 'Mr. Know-All' is a heart-rending story of a big talker who saved the marriage of a modest woman. There are but two important critics in my own country who have troubled to take me seriously and when clever young men write essays about contemporary fiction they never think of considering me. I am done with playwriting. There are nineteen in all, of which those most often mentioned by critics are Liza of Lambeth, Of Human Bondage, The Painted Veil, Cakes and Ale, The Moon and Sixpence and The Razor's Edge. He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest paid author during the 1930s.After losing both his parents by the age of 10, Maugham was raised by a paternal uncle who was emotionally cold. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). [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. Maugham's short story "The Verger" is a tale about a simple man Albert Edward Foreman. He has been a verger in St. Peter's Neville Square Church, doing his duties with great enjoyment and dedication. This website uses cookies. Contents. [40] It ran for 422 performances at five different West End theatres. [123] Nonetheless, his final years, according to Connon, were marred by increasing senility, misguided legal disputes and a memoir, published in 1962, Looking Back, in which "he denigrated his late former wife, was dismissive of Haxton, and made a clumsy attempt to deny his homosexuality by claiming he was a red-blooded heterosexual". The possibility became a certainty when in November 1944, after a six-month illness initially diagnosed as pleurisy, Haxton died of tuberculosis. Actually it has extremely complicated things to say about them, but its most important message may be that actions have real consequences, no matter how casually those actions may be taken". He traveled in Spain and Italy and in 1908 achieved a theatrical triumphfour plays running in London at oncethat brought him financial security. [69] She returned to England and he continued with his work as a secret agent. 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