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. 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. [38] He had written it four years earlier,[39] but numerous managements turned it down until Otho Stuart accepted it and cast the popular Ethel Irving in the title role. [87] His longest-running play of the decade, and of his whole career, was Our Betters. After Haxton's death in 1944, Alan Searle became Maugham's secretary-companion for the rest of the author's life. He moved to the United States where he led a very quiet life and went back after the war in 1944. The play was first presented in New York in 1917, running for 112 performances. [99], Throughout the decade Maugham, with Haxton in attendance, lived and entertained lavishly at his house on Cap Ferrat, the Villa La Mauresque. Authors. He thinks he's Somerset Maugham." At the height of his powers Maugham would have savoured the excruciating irony: the writer in decline, pumped up on sheep's cells, accused of impersonating . [10] Maugham never greatly liked his middle name which commemorated a great-uncle named after General Sir Henry Somerset[11] and was known by family and friends throughout his life as "Willie". [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. [65] Samoa was regarded as crucial to Britain's strategic interests, and Maugham's task was to gather information about the island's powerful radio transmitter and the threat from German military and naval forces in the region. W. Somerset Maugham (Of Human Bondage) " If a man hasn't what's necessary to make a woman love him, it's his fault, not hers. [49] In 1914 he began an affair with Syrie Wellcome, whom he had known since 1910. In 1940, W Somerset Maugham was forced to flee France as the Nazis invaded. [171], Comic stories include "Jane" (1923), about a dowdy widow who reinvents herself as an outrageous and conspicuous society figure, to the consternation of her family;[172] "The Creative Impulse" (1926), in which a domineering authoress is shocked when her mild-mannered husband leaves her and sets up home with their cook;[172] and "The Three Fat Women of Antibes" (1933) in which three middle-aged friends play highly competitive bridge while attempting to slim, until reversals at the bridge table at the hands of an effortlessly slender fourth player provoke them into extravagantly breaking their diets. He achieved fame initially as a dramatist with plays such as Lady Frederick (1912) and The Circle (1921). [119] He was widely understood in literary circles to have turned down a knighthood and to have hankered after the more prestigious and exclusive British honour, the Order of Merit, saying to friends that the CH "means 'Well done, but'". His supernatural thriller The Magician (1908) had a principal character modelled on Aleister Crowley, a well-known occultist. Maugham was a well-known English playwright, novelist and short story writer. [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". [n 10] When the Second World War began in 1939 he stayed in his home as long as he could, but in June 1940 France surrendered; knowing himself to be proscribed by the Nazis (Goebbels denounced him personally) Maugham made his way to England in uncomfortable conditions on a coal freighter from Nice. [67] He was helped in this by Haxton extrovert and gregarious in contrast with Maugham's shyness who became what Morgan terms an "intermediary with the outside world". [8] The two younger sons became writers: Henry (18681904) wrote poetry, essays and travel books. 227228; Mander and Mitchenson, p. 204; and Lyttelton and Hart-Davis (1978), p. 195. We will try to find the right answer to this particular crossword clue. Subject: History. William Somerset Maugham CH was an English playwright, novelist, and short story writer. W. Somerset Maugham. Description: Portrait of William Somerset Maugham: Date: 26 May 1934: Source Maugham is a British writer of great repute and has had one of the most successful literary careers in the twentieth century. 75 Copy quote. He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest paid author during the 1930s. [1] Maugham trained as a medical doctor at St. Thomas's hospital's medical school, London, but then decided to become a full-time writer. Check out our w. somerset maugham selection for the very best in unique or custom, handmade pieces from our literary fiction shops. [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. His first fiction was the critically praised naturalist novel of London slum life, Liza of Lambeth, which was published in 1897, when Maugham was 23 and completing his medical training at London's St Thomas's Hospital. [94] Maugham later wrote, "I grew conscious that I was no longer in touch with the public that patronises the theatre. [156] The structure of the book is unusual in that the protagonist is already dead before the novel opens, and the narrator attempts to piece together his story, and particularly his final years in Tahitian exile. [65] He was reunited with Haxton, who joined him as secretary-companion. He successfully sued for divorce in 1916, citing Maugham as co-respondent. This ability is sometimes reflected in the characters that populate his writings. [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. The protagonist of the story, Salvatore who is a usual fisherman's son, is intensely in love with a beautiful girl who lives on the Grande Marina. It drew its details from his obstetric duties in South London slums. Maughams plays, mainly Edwardian social comedies, soon became dated, but his short stories have increased in popularity. Maugham, who had been writing steadily since he was 15, intended to make his career as an author, but he dared not tell his guardian. First, Maugham died two years before Britain's decriminalization in 1967 of same-gender sex behavior. 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 . He died at the age of 91. Updates? William Somerset Maugham, British playwright and novelist, was one of the most reputed and well-known writers of his era, and one of the highest-paid authors of his time. He made himself comfortable there, filled many notebooks with literary ideas, and continued writing nightly, while studying for his medical degree. HONOLULU VII. [153] Rosie appears to be based on Sue Jones, to whom Maugham had proposed in 1913. [25] The local physician in Whitstable suggested the medical profession, and Maugham's uncle agreed. [85] They divorced in 1929. His lifestyle was modest: he felt that despite his considerable wealth he should not live luxuriously while Britain was enduring wartime privations. William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965), English playwright and author wrote Of Human Bondage (1915); He did not know how wide a country, arid and precipitous, must be crossed before the traveller through life comes to an acceptance of reality. [180] Titles were altered to avoid association with stage plays held to be sensational: Rain became Sadie Thompson and The Constant Wife became Charming Sinners. Gosselyn was a tall, stoutish, elderly woman, much taller than her husband, who gave you the impression that she was always trying to diminish her height. 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. Somerset Maugham . [20] He took part in the adaptation for the cinema of some of his short stories, Quartet (1948), Trio (1950) and Encore (1951), in all of which he appeared, contributing on-screen introductions. . [83], In Maugham's absence his wife found an occupation, becoming a sought-after interior designer. [112] Raphael calls him "a man of more reliable stamp" than Haxton;[73] Meyers describes him as "sober, efficient, honest and gentle". [5][n 6], After the birth of his daughter, Maugham moved to Switzerland. [28], The book received mixed reviews. (1874-1965), Novelist, playwright and spy. [176] Some of his stories were judged too improper for the cinema; Calder cites an adaptation of the historical novel Then and Now which the Hays Office rejected for thirty-seven separate reasons. Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents. [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. The adaptation was by John Colton and Clemence Randolph. His style is without a trace of imaginative beauty. Used; Condition Used - Good ISBN 13 9780140185232 [152], Cakes and Ale combines humorous satire on the London literary scene and wry observations about love. An instinctive and magnificent storyteller, Somerset Maugham was one of the most popular and successful writers of his time. William Somerset Maugham ( Prizs, 1874. janur 25. Omissions? After the war he resumed his interrupted travels and, in 1928, bought a villa on Cape Ferrat in the south of France, which became his permanent home. [37] Maugham continued to write assiduously and within five years he published two more novels and a collection of short stories, and had his first play produced; but a success to match that of his first book eluded him. The Razor's Edge by W Somerset Maugham (Bill Murray Cover) (Paperback, Fiction) 1984. [5][57] Bryan Connon comments in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, "After this it seemed that Maugham could not fail, and the public eagerly bought his novels [and] volumes of his carefully crafted short stories". [n 17] He was a Commandeur of the Legion of Honour, and an honorary doctor of the universities of Oxford and Toulouse. He wrote his 32nd and last play in 1933, after which he abandoned the theatre and concentrated on novels and short stories. She began posting to Twitch in June 2019. Maugham considered himself a better writer than. Like Of Human Bondage it has a strong female character at its centre, but the two are polar opposites: the malign Mildred in the earlier novel contrasts with the lovable, and much loved, Rosie in Cakes and Ale. Raised by an uncle, the remainder of . Soon became dated, but his short stories pieces from our literary fiction shops and last play in 1933 after... 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