[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. ]' t.r. He became a father and husband, marrying Syrie Wellcome in 1917, three years into an affair that produced their daughter, Liza. To order The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham for 23 with free UK p&p call Guardian book service on 0330 333 6846. W. Somerset Maugham (1954). W. Somerset Maugham Height, Weight & Measurements At 91 years old, W. Somerset Maugham height not available right now. [50], By 1914 Maugham was famous, with thirteen plays and eight novels completed. [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. The Razor's Edge by W Somerset Maugham (Bill Murray Cover) (Paperback, Fiction) 1984. He was one of the most reputed and well-known . Maugham's short story "The Verger" is a tale about a simple man Albert Edward Foreman. [54], Maugham proofread Of Human Bondage at Malo-les-Bains, near Dunkirk, during a lull in his ambulance duties. 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. This website uses cookies. I cannot tell you how I loathe the theatre. 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. Canterbury was the shrine of, In his effort to achieve a casual tone, "like the conversation of a well-bred man", he used colloquialisms that bordered on clichs. [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. The best years of my life those we spent wandering about the world are inextricably connected with him. Gamer who has gained fame for her Sommerset Twitch channel. Somerset Maugham felt that his stories had to have a moral and teach people tolerance, wisdom and compassion. [16][n 4], From 1885 to 1890 Maugham attended The King's School, Canterbury, where he was regarded as an outsider and teased for his poor English (French had been his first language), his short stature, his stammer, and his lack of interest in sport. Somerset Maugham . And in one way or another however indirectly all I've written during the last twenty years has something to do with him".[109]. He qualified as a doctor in 1897, but pursued his passion for writing following the publication of his . 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. It was an amusing book to write. He moved to the United States where he led a very quiet life and went back after the war in 1944. I did so with relief. While there, he established and endowed the Somerset Maugham Award, to be administered by the Society of Authors and given annually for a work of fiction, non-fiction, or poetry written by a British subject under the age of thirty-five. Rodie ale brzy zemeli, take se vrtil do Anglie k pbuznm. Maugham usually published his works under the name of W. Somerset Maugham. Maugham, (William) Somerset (1874-1965) British novelist, short-story writer, and dramatist, b. France. Among his colleagues was Frederick Gerald Haxton, a young San Franciscan, who became his lover and companion for the next thirty years, but the affair between Maugham and Syrie Wellcome continued.[51]. [107] Maugham was happy for him and was reconciled to the possibility of returning to La Mauresque without him after the war. [135], The biggest theatrical success of Maugham's career was an adaptation by others[n 14] of his short story "Rain", which opened on Broadway in 1921 and ran for 648 performances. Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents. Updates? Sisllys 1 Henkilhistoria 2 Kirjallinen tuotanto 2.1 Suomennetut teokset Crowley took offence and wrote a critique of the novel in Vanity Fair, charging Maugham with "varied, shameless and extensive" plagiarism. Born in Paris, where his father ran a law firm, he was orphaned by the age of ten and packed off to England, where his three older brothers were already. An instinctive and magnificent storyteller, Somerset Maugham was one of the most popular and successful writers of his time. After one has got over the glamour of the stage and the excitement, I do not myself think the theatre has much to offer the writer compared with the other mediums in which he has complete independence and need consider no one. 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]. 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. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. He was the highest paid author of the 1930s. [184], Maugham was appointed Companion of Honour in 1954, on the recommendation of the British prime minister, Winston Churchill,[119] and six years later along with Churchill he was one of the first five writers to be made a Companion of Literature. Maugham believed that "it is the impressions of a man's first twenty years which form him", and at the age of 53 - and extracted from his turbulent marriage to Syrie Wellcome - he had chosen to look back at his boyhood on the Kentish coast and at his early adulthood as a medical student in London. [8][9] The second son, Frederic, became a barrister, and had a distinguished legal career in Britain The Times described him as "a great legal figure" serving as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (19351938) and Lord Chancellor (19381939). [96], Maugham's days of lengthy trips to distant places were mostly behind him, but at Kipling's suggestion he sailed to the West Indies in 1936. W. Somerset Maugham was a British playwright, novelist and short story writer. [153] Rosie appears to be based on Sue Jones, to whom Maugham had proposed in 1913. He was the son of a British diplomat. [46] Lifelong, Maugham was highly reticent about homosexual encounters, but it was thought by at least two of his lovers that at this period in his life he had recourse to young male prostitutes. [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. 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. [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. In May 1917 they married at a ceremony in New Jersey. His short stories were published in collections such as The Casuarina Tree (1926) and The Mixture as Before (1940); many of them have been adapted for radio, cinema and television. Author: w Somerset 1874-1965 Maugham. This ability is sometimes reflected in the characters that populate his writings. She had the re-mains of good looks, so that you said to yourself that when young . 245246. The Razor's Edge, the author's last major novel,[5] is described by Sutherland as "Maugham's twentieth-century manifesto for human fulfilment", satirising Western materialism and drawing on Eastern spiritualism as a way to find meaning in existence. [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. His American publishers estimated that four and a half million copies of his books were bought in the US during his lifetime.[127]. After another long trip to the Far East, he agreed with Syrie that they would live separately, she in London and he at Cap Ferrat in the south of France. The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham. [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". Support your answer with examples from the story. Biography of William Somerset Maugham (excerpt) William Somerset Maugham, CH (January 25, 1874 - December 16, 1965) was an English playwright, novelist, and theatre writer. In addition, Carey has a. 00:00. Born in the British Embassy in Paris, where his father worked, Maugham was an orphan by the age of ten. Maugham gave up writing novels shortly after the Second World War, and his last years were marred by senility. [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. [66] In addition to his intelligence work, Maugham gathered material for his fiction wherever he went. Who Is W. Somerset Maugham's Wife? Peaches were not in season then. [70] He arrived in Petrograd in August, too late to influence the outcome: in November, Kerensky was supplanted by Lenin and the Bolsheviks, who took Russia out of the war. [110] He came from Bermondsey, a poor district of London. [14], After spending the first ten years of his life in Paris, Maugham found an unwelcome contrast in life at Whitstable, which according to his biographer Ted Morgan "represented social obligation and conformity, the narrow-minded provincialism of nineteenth-century small-town English life". . Summary []. Item Width: 156mm. During his time in Heidelberg he had his first sexual affair; it was with John Ellingham Brooks, an Englishman ten years his senior. [55] When the book was published in 1915 some of the initial reviews were favourable but many, both in Britain and in the US, were unenthusiastic. Synonyms for Somerset Maugham in Free Thesaurus. He became a medical student in London and . Lord knew what they cost. One recalls, too, the long list of movies that have been made from his novels . 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 . In his teens he became a lifelong non-believer. [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. Somerset Maugham became famous for his many novels, short stories, travel books, and plays. At the start of the same war William Somerset Maugham, who chronicled my mentor's life, joined a Red Cross unit in France and served as an ambulance driver, becoming one of what later became to be known as the Literary Ambulance Drivers. 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 protagonist of the story is Roger Charing, a tall, handsome, rich, experienced middle-aged man. As a result, he developed a talent for applying a wounding remark to those who displeased him. Between 1903 and 1906 he wrote two more plays, a travel book and two novels, but his next big commercial and critical success did not come until October 1907, when his comedy Lady Frederick opened at the Court Theatre in London. [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". [187] Nonetheless, Maugham is recognised as an influence on Coward, Lawrence, Kingsley Amis, Graham Greene, Christopher Isherwood, V. S. Naipaul and George Orwell. [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". [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. Maugham was a well-known English playwright, novelist and short story writer. Died: December 16, 1965, in Nice, France. 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 . Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. [141] Several commentators have characterised him as a pessimist, who did not share Shaw's optimistic belief that art could improve humanity. [5] This book, described by Raphael as "an elegant piece of literary malice",[73] is a satire on the literary world and a humorously cynical observation of human mating. In The Spectator the critic J. D. Scott wrote of "The Maugham Effect": "This quality is one of force, of swiftness, of the dramatic leap". 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. [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'". He drew upon his experiences as an obstetrician in his first novel, Liza of Lambeth (1897), and its success, though small, encouraged him to abandon medicine. [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". [88][n 9], In 1930 Maugham published the novel Cakes and Ale, regarded by Connon as the most likely of the author's works to survive. It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it . Presented by Lady John Hope 1951 Provenance: Commissioned by Somerset Maugham 1949 and given by him to his daughter, Lady Joan Hope Exhibited: Graham Sutherland 1924-51 . 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. [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. Syrie Wellcome. [n 16] His aspiration to become a concert pianist ends in failure and suicide. He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest-paid author during the 1930s. 75 Copy quote. 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. Suffering from a bad stammer, he received a classic public school education at King's school in . While he is roaming around the London street in a distressed mood he tries to buy . [129] Maugham's literary style was plain and functional; he disclaimed any pretence of being a prose stylist. 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. [5][n 6], After the birth of his daughter, Maugham moved to Switzerland. angol regnyr, elbeszl s drmar; munkit a vilgos stlus, a vltozatos helysznek s az emberi termszet alapos ismerete jellemzi. [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". [139] The critic J. C. Trewin writes, "His dialogue, unlike that of many of his contemporaries, is designed to be spoken Maugham does not write elaborately visual prose: that is, it does not make a fussy pattern on the page". Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German university. He died at the age of 91. Scott thought the style more effective in narrative than in suggestion and nuance. [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. [1] [193] Lee Wilson Dodd wrote, "Mr Maugham knows how to plan a story and carry it through. These often convey the emotional toll that isolation exacts from the characters. [28], The book received mixed reviews. [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. He traveled in Spain and Italy and in 1908 achieved a theatrical triumphfour plays running in London at oncethat brought him financial security. Authors. Childhood and education. The possibility became a certainty when in November 1944, after a six-month illness initially diagnosed as pleurisy, Haxton died of tuberculosis. 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. ENVOI William Somerset Maugham 25 January 1874 - 16 December 1965) was a British playwright, novelist and short story writer. "Mr Somerset Maugham's Library for School", Lyttelton and Hart-Davis (1984), pp. Though he wore nothing but an exiguous loincloth he looked neat, very clean and almost dapper. He was born at the British Embassy in Paris. [77] When in Britain, Maugham lived with his wife at their house in Marylebone, but the couple were temperamentally incompatible, and their relationship grew increasingly fractious. His daily routine was to write between an early breakfast and lunchtime, after which he entertained himself. (1874-1965), Novelist, playwright and spy. I saw how they bore pain. The "two important critics" Maugham referred to were probably Desmond MacCarthy and Raymond Mortimer;[190] the former particularly praised the short stories, tracing their roots in French naturalism, and the latter reviewed Maugham's books carefully and on the whole favourably in the New Statesman. William Somerset Maugham was one of the most popular writers of his time, and reputedly the highest paid author of the 1930s. She began posting to Twitch in June 2019. Corrections? In the US they spent time in Hollywood, which Maugham despised from the first, but found highly remunerative. I knew too a little later, for my guest, going on with her conversation, absent-mindedly took one. His style is without a trace of imaginative beauty. 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. If you like W. Somerset Maugham, you might also like: E.M. Forster, D.H. Lawrence, and John Fowles. [99], Throughout the decade Maugham, with Haxton in attendance, lived and entertained lavishly at his house on Cap Ferrat, the Villa La Mauresque. Namnteckning. [73] There was hostile comment in the press that the central figure seemed to be a tasteless parody of Thomas Hardy, who had died in 1928. The critic John Sutherland says of it: According to some of Maugham's intimates, the main female character, the manipulative Mildred, was based on "a youth, probably a rent boy, with whom he became infatuated". This was Alan Searle, whom Maugham had known since 1928, when Searle was twenty-three. [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". [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. [21] Brooks encouraged Maugham's ambitions to be a writer and introduced him to the works of Schopenhauer and Spinoza. THE LUNCHEON - Famous Short Story by William Somerset Maugham Ur Learning Bucket 9.1K subscribers Subscribe 898 55K views 1 year ago UNITED STATES The Luncheon' is a famous short english story of. 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. Graham Sutherland 1903-80 Portrait of Somerset Maugham 1949 N06034 Oil on canvas 1373 x 637 (54 1/16 x 25 1/16) Inscribed in black paint with pale highlights 'Sutherland 1949'over another inscription 'Suther[. Morgan describes him: Maugham's biographers have differed considerably about Searle's character and his influence for better or worse on his employer. Born in the British Embassy in Paris, France (legally considered British soil), Maugham endured a traumatic childhood, orphaned at ten when his mother died from tuberculosis and his father died from cancer. After all, he has only one life. William Somerset Maugham [n 2] CH ( / mm / MAWM; 25 January 1874 - 16 December 1965) [n 1] was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. . About. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Number of Pages: . Competence is the word. The W. Somerset Maugham Collection features: The Moon And Sixpence Of Human Bondage I saw what hope looked like, fear and relief; I saw the dark lines that despair drew on a face. Maugham wrote that he followed no master, and acknowledged none, but he named Guy de Maupassant as an early influence. Rain by W. Somerset Maugham Analysis. E.M. Forster. [27] In 1897 he published his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, a tale of working-class adultery and its consequences. Explain how this statement is relevant to "Mr. Know-All". Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Plays; Volume 1 by W Somerset 1874-1965 Maugham at the best online prices at eBay! It drew its details from his obstetric duties in South London slums. This happens in the end to most dramatists, and they are wise to accept the warning. Maugham considered himself a better writer than. [58] The baby was legally the daughter of Henry Wellcome, although he had not seen his wife for many years. [25] The local physician in Whitstable suggested the medical profession, and Maugham's uncle agreed. He later said that for him her loss was "a wound that never entirely healed" and even in old age he kept her photograph at his bedside. [90] Few believed Maugham's denial and he eventually admitted it was a lie. He was an 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. Most viewed. 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. [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. [8] The two younger sons became writers: Henry (18681904) wrote poetry, essays and travel books. "[26], Maugham took rooms in Westminster, across the Thames from the hospital. [145], A few of Maugham's plays have been revived occasionally. As a result, they undergo many trials and change as a result or they don't, if it's a tragedy. [76], After the war Maugham had to choose between living in Britain or being with Haxton, because the latter was refused admission to the country. Publisher: Franklin Classics. He entered the marriage from a sense of duty rather than from personal inclination, and the two quickly began to grow apart. 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 . [188], In The Summing Up (1938), Maugham wrote of his non-dramatic work, "I have no illusions about my literary position. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Of Human Bondage is certainly one; Cakes and Ale probably; The Moon and Sixpence possibly. MR. KNOW-ALL / Somerset Maugham () Bridging Text and Context: Write 80 - 100 words. [n 8], During the 1920s Maugham published one novel (The Painted Veil, (1925)), three books of short stories (The Trembling of a Leaf (1921), The Casuarina Tree (1926) and Ashenden (1928)) and a travel book (On a Chinese Screen, (1922)) but much of his work was for the theatre.
David Luner, Articles H