[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". During World War I he worked as a secret agent. His American publishers estimated that four and a half million copies of his books were bought in the US during his lifetime.[127]. He told Nol Coward in 1933: Maugham's thirty-second and last play was Sheppey (1933). [n 12] There is some suggestion that his known homosexuality may have militated against his receiving the higher honour.[119]. [73] He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Fellow of the Library of Congress, Washington, an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and an honorary senator of Heidelberg University. [21] Brooks encouraged Maugham's ambitions to be a writer and introduced him to the works of Schopenhauer and Spinoza. It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it . 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. 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". Morgan describes him: Maugham's biographers have differed considerably about Searle's character and his influence for better or worse on his employer. [139] Trewin quoted with approval Maugham's observation, "Words have weight, sound, and appearance; it is only by considering these that you can write a sentence that is good to look at and good to listen to". 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. What are synonyms for Somerset Maugham? [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". [106], Haxton was holding down a responsible job in Washington and enjoying his new independence and self-reliance. He was acquitted, but was nonetheless registered as an "undesirable alien". He lived from 1874-1965. [90] Few believed Maugham's denial and he eventually admitted it was a lie. He did not use them, like, There are times when one thinks that British television and radio would have to shut up shop if there were not an apparently inexhaustible supply of stories by Maugham to turn into 30-minute plays. Leonard Nimoy has said that when he was creating a voice for Star Trek's Mr. Spock, he listened to hours of recordings of the English writer reading his works. He studied in Dune and qualified as a doctor, but found his calling in writing. 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. . Sitter associated with 115 portraits. [187] Nonetheless, Maugham is recognised as an influence on Coward, Lawrence, Kingsley Amis, Graham Greene, Christopher Isherwood, V. S. Naipaul and George Orwell. [26] In maturity, he recalled the value of his experiences: "I saw how men died. She began posting to Twitch in June 2019. [186], The critic Philip Holden wrote in 2006 that Maugham occupies a paradoxical position in twentieth-century British literature. Today's crossword puzzle clue is a general knowledge one: W Somerset Maugham's 1915 novel; the subject of several films. [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. Authors. [152], Cakes and Ale combines humorous satire on the London literary scene and wry observations about love. 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. [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. 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. About. He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest-paid author during the 1930s. [107] Maugham was happy for him and was reconciled to the possibility of returning to La Mauresque without him after the war. He is never boring or clumsy, he never gives a false impression; he is never shocking; but this very diplomatic polish makes impossible for him any of those sudden transcendent flashes of passion and beauty which less competent novelists occasionally attain. Description: Portrait of William Somerset Maugham: Date: 26 May 1934: Source (293) $6.19. Used; Condition Used - Good ISBN 13 9780140185232 [73] He saw little of Haxton, who undertook war work in Washington DC. I am done with playwriting. Postscript on 5/13 : I thought the name Joo Cezar de Castro Rocha sounded familiar - he's one of Ren Girard . [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. [126] His works sold prodigiously throughout the English-speaking world. S omerset M augham is a singular figure in twentieth-century English literature. 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. [153] Rosie appears to be based on Sue Jones, to whom Maugham had proposed in 1913. Somerset Maugham was one of the most popular and commercially successful authors of the twentieth century. [5], In his work as a medical student Maugham met the poorest working-class people: "I was in contact with what I most wanted, life in the raw". 1 Childhood and education; 2 Career. 27, 59, 143 and 295, Mander and Mitchenson, p. 15; and Richards, pp. Omissions? [5] Maugham's father, Robert Ormond Maugham (18231884), was a prosperous solicitor, based in Paris;[6] his wife, Edith Mary, ne Snell, lived most of her life in France, where all the couple's children were born. 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. While there he wrote a farce, Home and Beauty, which was presented at the Playhouse Theatre in August 1919 starring Gladys Cooper and Charles Hawtrey. [193] Lee Wilson Dodd wrote, "Mr Maugham knows how to plan a story and carry it through. "Hulloa! The marriage lasted for twelve years, but before, during and after it, Maugham's principal partner was a younger man, Gerald Haxton. [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. He told his nephew Robin, "I tried to persuade myself that I was three-quarters normal and that only a quarter of me was queer whereas really it was the other way round". His work was popular for his simple style of writing, as well as his sharp and accurate understanding and judgment of human nature. [73] He was a prolific writer: between 1902 and 1933 he had 32 plays staged, and between 1897 and 1962 he published 19 novels, nine volumes of short stories, and non-fiction books covering travel, reminiscences, essays and extracts from his notebooks. 'Mr. Know-All' is a heart-rending story of a big talker who saved the marriage of a modest woman. [40] It ran for 422 performances at five different West End theatres. Born in the British Embassy in Paris, where his father worked, Maugham was an orphan by the age of ten. [71], By that time Maugham was ill with tuberculosis. Download Pdf. [118] During a visit in 1954 he was invested as a Companion of Honour (CH) by the Queen at a private audience in Buckingham Palace. [141] Several commentators have characterised him as a pessimist, who did not share Shaw's optimistic belief that art could improve humanity. [79], In late 1920 Maugham and Haxton set out on a trip that lasted more than a year. This happens in the end to most dramatists, and they are wise to accept the warning. [69] She returned to England and he continued with his work as a secret agent. [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. But at first glance, Maugham's progression to worldwide fame and great wealth seems relatively straightforward. [110] He came from Bermondsey, a poor district of London. When W. SOMERSET MAUGH AM was asked to select and edit the ten best novels in world literature, he thought at once of Balzac. Raised by an uncle, the remainder of . Syrie Wellcome. [5][n 6], After the birth of his daughter, Maugham moved to Switzerland. His daily routine was to write between an early breakfast and lunchtime, after which he entertained himself. The length of his literary career alone makes him a special case. It is the kind of book that an author can only write once. It drew its details from his obstetric duties in South London slums. [24] His uncle ruled out the civil service, believing that it was no longer a career for gentlemen after reforms requiring applicants to pass an entrance examination. . Authors. Find The Judgment Seat by W. Somerset Maugham - 1934. His aunt, who was German, arranged accommodation for him, and aged sixteen he travelled to Germany. [62] In his overt capacity as an author he wrote Caroline, a three-act comedy, which opened in February 1916 at the New Theatre, London, with Irene Vanbrugh in the title role.[64]. 75 Copy quote. W. Somerset Maugham. 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. [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. "[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. [25] From 1892 until he qualified in 1897, he studied medicine at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School in Lambeth. His style is without a trace of imaginative beauty. [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. Item Weight: 717g. 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". [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. [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. The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham. After all, he has only one life. Together they made extended visits to Asia, the South Seas and other destinations; Maugham gathered material for his fiction wherever they went. [73], As in his novels and short stories, Maugham's plots are clear and his dialogue naturalistic. [94] Maugham later wrote, "I grew conscious that I was no longer in touch with the public that patronises the theatre. The protagonist of the story is Roger Charing, a tall, handsome, rich, experienced middle-aged man. Part 2 also available on my channel as well as all parts from his other films Trio and Encore. [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". Updates? By Jeffrey Meyers. 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. Check out our w. somerset maugham selection for the very best in unique or custom, handmade pieces from our literary fiction shops. He was born at the British Embassy in Paris. [191] Virginia Woolf was friendly though a little patronising;[192] Lytton Strachey disparaged one of his books as "Class II, Division I". [113], Before returning to the south of France after the war, Maugham travelled to England and lived in London until the end of 1946. [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. If you like W. Somerset Maugham, you might also like: E.M. Forster, D.H. Lawrence, and John Fowles. He had an amiability of disposition that enabled him in a very short time to make friends with people in ships, clubs, bar-rooms, and hotels, so that through him I was able to get into easy contact with an immense number of persons whom otherwise I should have known only from a distance. [173], In a study published thirteen years after Maugham's death, Robert L. Calder notes that the writer's works had been made into forty films and hundreds of radio and television plays, and he suggests "it would be fair to say that no other serious writer's work has been so often presented in other media". Biography of William Somerset Maugham (excerpt) William Somerset Maugham, CH (January 25, 1874 - December 16, 1965) was an English playwright, novelist, and theatre writer. [20] A modest legacy from his father enabled him to go to Heidelberg University to study. 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. [108] Maugham was distraught; he told his nephew, Robin, "You'll never know how great a grief this has been to me. They visited the Far East together in 191920, keeping Maugham away from home for six months. He would rather have misery with one than happiness with the other. [158] In 2014 Robert McCrum concluded an article about Of Human Bondage which he said "shows the author's savage honesty and gift for storytelling at their best": The hero, Philip Carey, suffers the same childhood misfortunes as Maugham himself: the loss of his mother, the breakup of his family home, and his emotionally straitened upbringing by elderly relatives. He shared . [120] Morgan observes: Although most of Maugham's early successes were as a dramatist, it is for his novels and short stories that he has been best known since the 1930s. [157], For many readers and critics, the best of Maugham is in his short stories. Gamer who has gained fame for her Sommerset Twitch channel. He became a medical student in London and . It is very natural". Looking back, he described his early attempts to be heterosexual as the greatest mistake in his life. Somerset Maugham became famous for his many novels, short stories, travel books, and plays. "Mr Somerset Maugham's Library for School", Lyttelton and Hart-Davis (1984), pp. William Somerset Maugham was an English author and playwright. [190] A rising critic of a younger generation, Cyril Connolly, praised Maugham for his lucidity and called him "the last of the great professional writers",[190] but Connolly's contemporary Edmund Wilson insisted that Maugham was second-rate and "disappointing". [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. W. Somerset Maugham. [54], Maugham proofread Of Human Bondage at Malo-les-Bains, near Dunkirk, during a lull in his ambulance duties. 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. MR. KNOW-ALL / Somerset Maugham () Bridging Text and Context: Write 80 - 100 words. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. 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. He remained covert in his life and in his writings. He qualified as a doctor in 1897, but pursued his passion for writing following the publication of his . Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German university. [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. [189] Some biographers have doubted Maugham's claim to be unresentful at being overlooked or dismissed by literary critics, but there is little doubt that he was right about it. 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. "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. Of their seven children, three died in infancy. [5] He attempted to disinherit his daughter and to make Searle his adopted son, but the courts prevented it.[124]. [188], In The Summing Up (1938), Maugham wrote of his non-dramatic work, "I have no illusions about my literary position. [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. Born into a professional, bourgeois family, the youngest of four brothers, he. 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