In 1951, Katherine Cornell was a great success playing the lead in Maugham's comedy The Constant Wife. William Somerset Maugham (n. 25 ianuarie 1874, Paris, Franța – d. 16 decembrie 1965, Nisa, Franța) a fost un dramaturg și prozator englez, a cărui operă s-a bucurat de notorietate internațională.. Proza sa se caracterizează prin soliditatea construcției, observația ascuțită asupra mediilor și … When I look at the misery of the world and its bitterness I think that no belief can be more ignoble.” –, “The evidence adduced to prove the truth of one religion is of very much the same sort as that adduced to prove the truth of another. I once had the book in my hands, a handsome volume bound in calf, but I never read it and I have not been able to get hold of a copy since. It was his home for most of the rest of his life. "The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham" – A Biography of Somerset Maugham by Selina Hastings. He became known as a writer who portrayed the last days of European colonialism in India, Southeast Asia, China and the Pacific, although the books on which this reputation rests represent only a fraction of his output. Both Maugham's parents died before he was 10, and the orphaned boy was raised by a paternal uncle, who was emotionally cold. by William Somerset Maugham. [citation needed]. On this and all subsequent journeys, he was accompanied by Haxton, whom he regarded as indispensable to his success as a writer. 0. The British novelist William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965), one of the most popular writers in English in the 20th century, is noted for his clarity of style and skill in storytelling. 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.... What was Arthur Conan Doyle’s actual profession? Dr. Macphail lit his pipe and, leaning over the rail, searched the heavens for the Southern Cross. Skip to main content.us. In that period, Maugham began a relationship with Alan Searle, whom he had first met in 1928. He kept his mother's photograph at his bedside for the rest of his life. This character is considered to have influenced Ian Fleming's later series of James Bond novels. He proved a devoted (if not a stimulating) companion. [4] Maugham refers to this grandfather's writings in chapter 6 of his literary memoir The Summing Up:[5]. Maugham subsequently said that if he had been able to get there six months earlier, he might have succeeded. [55][56], Maugham's masterpiece is generally agreed to be Of Human Bondage, a semi-autobiographical novel that deals with the life of the main character Philip Carey, who, like Maugham, was orphaned and brought up by his pious uncle. Updates? I wish I had, for I might have learnt from it something of the kind of man he was. In May 1917, following the decree absolute, Syrie Wellcome and Maugham were married. [41][page needed], In 1926, Maugham bought the Villa La Mauresque, on 9 acres (3.6 hectares) at Cap Ferrat on the French Riviera. Maugham's short fable An Appointment in Samarra (1933) is based on an ancient Babylonian myth: Death is both the narrator and a central character. Who invented the historical novel? The memoir cost him several friends and exposed him to much public ridicule. [42][43] The American writer John O'Hara credited Maugham's tale as the inspiration for the title of his novel Appointment in Samarra. During his year in Heidelberg, Maugham met and had a sexual affair with John Ellingham Brooks, an Englishman ten years his senior. It drew its details from Maugham's experiences as a medical student doing midwifery work in Lambeth, a South London slum. [33][34] It was part of an attempt to keep the Provisional Government in power and Russia in the war, by countering German pacifist propaganda. [3] His grandfather, another Robert, was a prominent lawyer and co-founder of the Law Society of England and Wales. 4.3 out of 5 stars 15. William Somerset Maugham is probably one of the most commercially successful but least critically appreciated writers of the twentieth century. After a year at Heidelberg, he entered St. Thomas’ medical school, London, and qualified as a doctor in 1897. He is made up of a dozen people and the greater part of him is myself"—yet in an introduction written for the 1950 Modern Library edition of the work, he plainly states that Walpole was the inspiration for Kear (while denying that Thomas Hardy was the inspiration for the novelist Driffield). W. Somerset Maugham, in full William Somerset Maugham, (born Jan. 25, 1874, Paris, France—died 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. Maugham had begun collecting theatrical paintings before the First World War; he continued to the point where his collection was second only to that of the Garrick Club. William Somerset Maugham eddig megjelent könyvei online kedvezménnyel, William Somerset Maugham akciós könyvei, előrendelhető könyvek. William Somerset Maugham was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. Maugham said that he remained agnostic to the questions concerning the existence of God. His reputation as a novelist rests primarily on four books: Of Human Bondage (1915), a semi-autobiographical account of a young medical student’s 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 Razor’s Edge (1944), the story of a young American war veteran’s quest for a satisfying way of life. The Painted Veil book. Quotations by W. Somerset Maugham, British Playwright, Born January 25, 1874. Maugham responded: "I am not yet too old to learn. Maugham's supernatural thriller The Magician (1908) based its principal character on the well-known and somewhat disreputable Aleister Crowley. He drew from those experiences in his later short stories and novels. [33] In September 1915, Maugham began work in Switzerland, as one of the network of British agents who operated against the Berlin Committee, whose members included Virendranath Chattopadhyay, an Indian revolutionary trying to resist colonial Britain's rule of India. Somerset Maugham is believed to be the first author of spy books who actually was a spy. Honolulu is featured in Maugham's short story collection, The Trembling of a Leaf: Little Stories of the South Seas Islands (1921). https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Somerset_Maugham&oldid=1022458185, 20th-century British dramatists and playwrights, Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour, People educated at The King's School, Canterbury, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2017, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from March 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2014, Articles needing additional references from January 2011, All articles needing additional references, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2014, Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers, Wikipedia articles with CANTIC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers, Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers, Wikipedia articles with RKDartists identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with Trove identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with multiple identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. His elder brother, Viscount Maugham, did become a lawyer, enjoying a distinguished legal career and serving as Lord Chancellor from 1938 to 1939. Orphaned at the age of ten and raised by an emotionally cold uncle, Maugham decided to become a doctor, bucking the trend of the men in … As he was unable to return to his ambulance unit, Syrie arranged for him to be introduced to a high-ranking intelligence officer known as "R"; he was recruited by John Wallinger. [citation needed] He did not want to become a lawyer like other men in his family, so he trained and qualified as a physician. Collier's Guide, Surfing at Waikiki, Diamond Head, 1921 Collier's Guide, Surfing at Waikiki, Diamond Head, 1921. Though his spy life provided ample fodder for his writing, he never had much enthusiasm for the work. He considered notions of future punishment or reward to be outrageous.[32]. During World War I he worked as a secret agent. They typically express the emotional toll the colonists bear by their isolation. From 1951, about 14 years before his death, his paintings began their exhibition life. Haxton appears as Tony Paxton in Maugham's 1917 play, Her birth name is recorded as Mary Elizabeth Wellcome in the immigration and naturalization files of, sfn error: no target: CITEREFMeyers2010 (, “I remain an agnostic, and the practical outcome of agnosticism is that you act as though God did not exist”, Maugham wrote in his memoir, “I'm glad I don't believe in God. This ability is sometimes reflected in Maugham's literary characters. W. Somerset Maugham (1874 – 1965) was a British playwright, novelist and short story … Maugham gave Philip Carey a club foot (rather than his stammer); the vicar of Blackstable appears derived from the vicar of Whitstable; and Carey is a medic. During this time he met Frederick Gerald Haxton, a young San Franciscan, who became his companion and lover until Haxton's death in 1944. Maugham was orphaned at the age of 10; he was brought up by an uncle and educated at King’s School, Canterbury. W. Somerset Maugham, in full William Somerset Maugham, (born Jan. 25, 1874, Paris, France—died 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. Of Human Bondage is considered to have many autobiographical elements. By the time Maugham was three, his older brothers were all away at boarding school. … Maugham's mother, Edith Mary (née Snell), contracted tuberculosis, a condition for which her physician prescribed childbirth. Crowley took some offence at the treatment of the protagonist, Oliver Haddo. Settle in for this novel-length quiz and find out what you know. He later lived in the South. In 1934 the American journalist and radio personality Alexander Woollcott offered Maugham some language advice: "The female implies, and from that the male infers." [28][29] He considered that the misery and bitterness of the world suggested that God did not exist. He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest-paid author during the 1930s. His family assumed that Maugham and his brothers would be lawyers. Share with your friends. After a month Maugham gave it up and returned to Whitstable. The move was emotionally damaging, as Henry Maugham was cold and emotionally cruel. Maugham’s plays, mainly Edwardian social comedies, soon became dated, but his short stories have increased in popularity. Some at least of the broad and typical human emotions he can never experience. He wrote only one book that was not of this character. In 1962 Maugham sold a collection of paintings, some of which had already been assigned by deed to his daughter Liza. “I do not believe in God. Maugham's father and three older brothers were distinguished lawyers, but Maugham was not interested in this profession. His best efforts in this line include The Gentleman in the Parlour, dealing with a journey through Burma, Siam, Cambodia and Vietnam, and On a Chinese Screen, a series of very brief vignettes that might have been sketches for stories left unwritten. Maugham returned to Britain from his ambulance unit duties in order to promote Of Human Bondage. I saw how they bore pain. His uncle allowed him to travel to Germany, where he studied literature, philosophy and German at Heidelberg University. This changed in 1907 with the success of his play Lady Frederick. The protagonist is a disillusioned veteran of the First World War, who abandons his wealthy friends and lifestyle, travelling to India seeking enlightenment. He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest-paid author during the 1930s.[1]. Maugham publicly disowned her; by that time his mental health had deteriorated and been brought into question by his family. Share on Facebook. William Somerset Maugham was considered to be the popular English fiction writer of the 20th century. "[45], Maugham's love life was almost never smooth. 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. It is incredible to me that there should be an after-life. At age 16, Maugham refused to continue at The King's School. In order to break all ties, he claimed that Liza was not his biological daughter, and he adopted Searle as his son and heir, but the adoption was annulled. Later, he asked that Katharine Cornell play the lead in the 1927 Broadway version. His mother died of tuberculosis while he was young, a death which traumatized him for life. Somerset Maugham's irony and cool detachment make him an acknowledged master of the short story. In this context, his plain prose style was criticised as "such a tissue of clichés that one's wonder is finally aroused at the writer's ability to assemble so many and at his unfailing inability to put anything in an individual way". Corrections? Saul Jay Singer - 1 Tevet 5781 – December 16, 2020. By 1940, when the collapse of France and its occupation by the German Third Reich forced Maugham to leave the French Riviera, he was a refugee—but one of the wealthiest and most famous writers in the English-speaking world. This is a reflective and humorous story by the author William Somerset Maugham about the incorrigible behavior of a middle-aged women out to eat up his meagre earnings as a writer. He attended King’s School in Canterbury. [16] Throughout this period, Maugham continued to write. [7] The early death of his mother left Maugham traumatized. Born in Paris, he was the sixth and youngest son of the solicitor to the British Embassy. "Rain", in particular, which charts the moral disintegration of a missionary attempting to convert prostitute Sadie Thompson, has kept its reputation. The writer's life allowed Maugham to travel and to live in places such as Spain and Capri for the next decade, but his next ten works never came close to rivalling the success of Liza. But writing was his true vocation. He next lived with Alan Searle until his own death in 1965. William Somerset Maugham. Edith's sixth and final son died on 25 January 1882, one day after his birth. If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it … Hi wiar dring faan en afkoot, diar för det britisk ambasaad uun Pariis werket. It was adapted into a major motion picture, released in 1946, starring Tyrone Power as Larry Darrell, with Herbert Marshall as W. Somerset Maugham. His uncle tried to find Maugham a new profession. After two years at the front and a wound that had taken longer to heal than it should, he was glad In later life Maugham was exclusively homosexual and lived successively with two men. [61] George Orwell said that Maugham was "the modern writer who has influenced me the most, whom I admire immensely for his power of telling a story straightforwardly and without frills". During and after the war, he travelled in India, Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Maugham developed a stammer that stayed with him all his life. [46] Liza Maugham, Lady Glendevon, died aged 83 in 1998, survived by her four children (a son and a daughter by her first marriage to Vincent Paravicini, and two more sons to Lord Glendevon). Ted Morgan. Among her grandchildren is Derek Paravicini, who is a musical prodigy and autistic savant. One of Maugham's friends, describing the difference between Haxton and Searle, said simply: "Gerald was vintage, Alan was vin ordinaire. She sued her father and won a judgment of £230,000. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. After Maugham's return to Britain, his uncle found him a position in an accountant's office. His uncle rejected the Civil Service, believing that it was no longer a career for gentlemen after a new law requiring applicants to pass an entrance examination. "[49], Maugham wrote at a time when experimental modernist literature such as that of William Faulkner, Thomas Mann, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf was gaining increasing popularity and winning critical acclaim. [37] In 1922, Maugham dedicated his book On A Chinese Screen to Syrie. William Somerset Maugham was born in Paris, France, January 25, 1874, the youngest of four children born to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ormond Maugham. [47][48], Commercial success with high book sales, successful theatre productions and a string of film adaptations, backed by astute stock market investments, allowed Maugham to live a very comfortable life. [54] In 1948 he announced that he would bequeath this collection to the Trustees of the National Theatre. They changed their daughter's surname, originally registered as Wellcome and reflecting Syrie's marriage. Ian Fleming noted that he wrote the short story "Quantum of Solace" as an homage to Maugham's writing style. His first novel Liza of Lambeth (1897) sold out so rapidly that Maugham gave up medicine to write full-time. Buy now with 1-Click ® After his companion Gerald Haxton died in 1944, Maugham returned to England. Venkataramiah, Munagala, 15 October 1938, This page was last edited on 10 May 2021, at 16:38. Philip's clubfoot causes him endless self-consciousness and embarrassment, echoing Maugham's struggles with his stutter and, as his biographer Ted Morgan notes, his homosexuality.[57]. [9] Miserable both at his uncle's vicarage and at school, the young Maugham developed a talent for making wounding remarks to those who displeased him. In 1897, he published his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, a tale of working-class adultery and its consequences. On his death, Maugham donated his royalties to the Royal Literary Fund.[60]. [18], Maugham indicates in his foreword that he derived the title from a passage in Baruch Spinoza's Ethics:[19]. [52] In 1948 he wrote Great Novelists and Their Novels (also known as Ten Novels and Their Authors and The Art of Fiction), in which he listed the ten best novels of world literature in his view.[53]. But writing was his true vocation. There is not much recorded about his early childhood years, but at the time of his birth his father was was a lawyer attached to British Embassy, his mother apparently a homemaker. [59], Maugham was one of the most significant travel writers of the inter-war years and can be compared with contemporaries such as Evelyn Waugh and Freya Stark. His ashes were scattered near the Maugham Library, The King's School, Canterbury. Quiet and observant, Maugham had a good temperament for intelligence work; he believed that he had inherited from his lawyer father a gift for cool judgment and the ability to avoid being deceived by facile appearances. "[12], Maugham entered into a relationship with Syrie Wellcome, the wife of Henry Wellcome, an American-born English pharmaceutical magnate. At the age of 10, having lost his parents he was raised by his paternal uncle. [35] Two and a half months later, the Bolsheviks took control. I find the notion of future punishment outrageous and of future reward extravagant. By 1914, Maugham was famous, with 10 plays produced and 10 novels published. Simon and Schuster, 1984. sfn error: no target: CITEREFChancellor2005 (, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Painting the Century: 101 Portrait Masterpieces 1900–2000, List of ambulance drivers during World War I, "Camilla's nephew, the tortured musical genius", "Somerset Maugham'S Ten Best Novels Of The World", "Maugham Collection of Theatrical Paintings", Caxton Club Biography (Archived October 26, 2014), 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, W. S. Maugham: correspondence, contracts, and manuscripts in Indiana University. In 1994 they were placed on loan to the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden. The influential American novelist and critic Theodore Dreiser rescued the novel, referring to it as a work of genius and comparing it to a Beethoven symphony. Among his short stories, some of the most memorable are those dealing with the lives of Western, mostly British, colonists in the Pacific Islands and Asia. William Somerset Maugham was born in Paris in 1874. Sutherland's portrait was included in the exhibition Painting the Century: 101 Portrait Masterpieces 1900–2000 at the National Portrait Gallery. Surrounded by gardens and terraces, this villa has received numerous writers and celebrities. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. 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. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. [20] Henry Wellcome sued his wife for divorce, naming Maugham as co-respondent.[21]. William Somerset Maugham was born on 25 January 1874 at the British Embassy in Paris. He proofread Of Human Bondage at a location near Dunkirk during a lull in his ambulance duties. She was familiarly called Liza, and her surname was changed to Maugham. William Somerset Maugham was born in Paris in 1874. [6] She had Maugham several years after the last of his three elder brothers was born. "Rain", "Footprints in the Jungle", and "The Outstation" are considered especially notable. [25] In addition to his 13-year marriage to Syrie Wellcome, he had affairs with other women in his youth.[26]. He was among the most popular writers of his era, and reputedly, the highest paid author during the 1930s. He rejected a career in the Church because of his stutter. Right from his childhood days he has special interest towards writing. In certain respects the natural responses of the species are denied to him. Maugham himself denied any intention of doing this in a long letter to Walpole:[58] "I certainly never intended Alroy Kear to be a portrait of you. Towards the end of his career he described himself as "in the very first row of the second-raters". Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). 95 $12.58 $12.58. In his 1962 volume of memoirs Looking Back, he attacked the late Syrie Maugham and wrote that Liza had been born before they married. For the next five years, he studied medicine at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School in Lambeth. The story's themes of Eastern mysticism and war-weariness struck a chord with readers during the Second World War. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. [17], Of Human Bondage (1915) initially was criticized in both England and the United States; the New York World described the romantic obsession of the protagonist Philip Carey as "the sentimental servitude of a poor fool". I am convinced that when I die, I shall cease entirely to live; I shall return to the earth I came from.” — W. Somerset Maugham. He lived there until his death, with time away for frequent and long travels. Thereafter the copyrights passed to the Royal Literary Fund. Other writers acknowledged his work. William Somerset Maugham was born on 25th January 1874 in Paris. A second film adaptation was released in 1940, starring American actress Bette Davis, who was nominated for an Oscar as Best Actress for her performance. Maugham's play The Letter, starring Gladys Cooper, had its premiere in London in 1927. It cannot be denied that the homosexual has a narrower outlook on the world than the normal man. Another film adaptation was issued in 1984, starring Bill Murray. The marriage was unhappy, and the couple separated. With that completed, he was eager to assist the war effort again. Liza and her husband Lord Glendevon contested the change in Maugham's will in the French courts, and it was overturned. A younger man from the London slum area of Bermondsey, Searle had previously embarked upon an affair with the writer Lytton Strachey. [30] He said that "the evidence adduced to prove the truth of one religion is of very much the same sort as that adduced to prove the truth of another". In June 1917, Maugham was asked by Sir William Wiseman, an officer of the British Secret Intelligence Service (later named MI6), to undertake a special mission in Russia. Maugham was appointed a Companion of Honour in the 1954 Birthday Honours. It has been adapted as a play and as several films. This was a collection of 58 ultra-short story sketches, which he had written during his 1920 travels through China and Hong Kong, intending to expand the sketches later as a book. They had a daughter named Mary Elizabeth (1915–1998). [44] After the war, in 1946 Maugham returned to his villa in France. I see no need of such idea. William Somerset Maugham was one of the most popular and successful British writers of his time. [6], Maugham has been described both as bisexual[22][23][24] and as homosexual. Many portraits were painted of Somerset Maugham, including that by Graham Sutherland[63] in the Tate Gallery, and several by Sir Gerald Kelly. [2] Since French law declared that all children born on French soil could be conscripted for military service, his father arranged for Maugham to be born at the embassy, diplomatically considered British soil. Is sometimes reflected in Maugham 's irony and cool detachment make him an acknowledged master of the solicitor the... 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Was almost never smooth had qualified as a writer experiences in his.! Adaptation was issued in 1984, starring Bill Murray world 's largest community for readers of! And non-fictional became Maugham 's supernatural thriller the Magician ( 1908 ) based its character! He worked as a doctor in 1897 william somerset maugham has a narrower outlook on the well-known and somewhat disreputable Crowley... Been in and determine whether to revise the article she was familiarly called Liza, and short-story writer fourth six... Among her grandchildren is Derek Paravicini, who had qualified as a medical student ``... Dring faan en afkoot, diar för det britisk ambasaad uun Pariis ; † 16 of Honour in British. France of cancer royalties to the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden plays, Edwardian. Suggestions to improve this article ( requires login ) deed to his villa in France of.. Spoke a word of English, a death which traumatized him for.... Dropped medicine and embarked on his 65-year career as a medical student: `` I saw how died. Grandfather 's writings in chapter 6 of his life 's uncle agreed or his peers brothers! Biography of Somerset Maugham was born in God or an afterlife in popularity her father and won judgment...

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