William Somerset Maugham
Born	January 25, 1874(1874-01-25) Paris, France
Died	December 16, 1965 (Aged 91) Nice, France
Occupation	Playwright, novelist, short story writer

William Somerset Maugham, CH (January 25, 1874 – December 16, 1965) was an English playwright, novelist, and short story writer. He was one of the most popular authors of his era, and reputedly the highest paid of his profession during the 1930s.^[1] Image File history File links Maugham. ... is the 25th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1874 (MDCCCLXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link with display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... is the 350th day of the year (351st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. ... Night view along the Promenade des Anglais This article is about the city. ... This article is about work. ... The Order of the Companions of Honour is a British and Commonwealth Order. ... is the 25th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1874 (MDCCCLXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link with display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 350th day of the year (351st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... The word author has several meanings: The author of a book, story, article or the like, is the person who has written it (or is writing it). ...

Childhood and education

Maugham's father was an English lawyer handling the legal affairs of the British embassy in Paris.^[2] Since French law declared that all children born on French soil could be conscripted for military service, Robert Ormond Maugham arranged for William to be born at the embassy, technically on British soil, saving him from conscription into any future French wars.^[3] His grandfather, another Robert, had also been a prominent lawyer and cofounder of the English Law Society,^[4] and it was taken for granted that William would follow in their footsteps. Events were to ensure this was not to be, but his older brother Viscount Maugham did enjoy a distinguished legal career, and served as Lord Chancellor between 1938–39. The Law Society of England and Wales is the professional association that represents the solicitors profession in England and Wales. ... Frederic Herbert Maugham, 1st Viscount Maugham [1] [2] (1866-March 23, 1958) was a British lawyer and judge who served as Lord Chancellor from 1938 until 1939 despite having virtually no political career at all. ... The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor and prior to the Union the Chancellor of England and the Lord Chancellor of Scotland, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom, and its predecessor states. ...

Maugham's mother Edith Mary (née Snell) was consumptive, a condition for which the doctors of the time prescribed childbirth. As a result Maugham had three older brothers, already enrolled in boarding school by the time he was three and Maugham was effectively raised as an only child. Sadly, childbirth proved no cure for tuberculosis, and Edith Mary Maugham died at the age of 41, six days after the stillbirth of her final son. The death of his mother left Maugham traumatized for life, and he kept his mother's photograph by his bedside until his own death^[5] at the age of 91 in Nice, France. Two years after Maugham's mother's death, his father died of cancer. William was sent back to England to be cared for by his uncle, Henry MacDonald Maugham, the Vicar of Whitstable, in Kent. The move was catastrophic. Henry Maugham proved cold and emotionally cruel. The King's School, Canterbury, where William was a boarder during school terms, proved merely another version of purgatory, where he was teased for his bad English (French had been his first language) and his short stature, which he inherited from his father. It is at this time that Maugham developed the stammer that would stay with him all his life, although it was sporadic and subject to mood and circumstance.^[6] Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or Tuberculosis) is a common and deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis. ... Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Coordinates Administration Country Region Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur Department Alpes-Maritimes (06) Intercommunality Community of Agglomeration Nice Côte dAzur Mayor Jacques Peyrat (UMP) (since 1995) Statistics Land area¹ 71. ... Cancer is a class of diseases or disorders characterized by uncontrolled division of cells and the ability of these to spread, either by direct growth into adjacent tissue through invasion, or by implantation into distant sites by metastasis (where cancer cells are transported through the bloodstream or lymphatic system). ... Whitstable is a town in Kent, England with a population of 30,000. ... For other uses, see Kent (disambiguation). ... The Kings School is a British independent school situated in Canterbury, Kent. ... “Stutter” redirects here. ...

Life at the vicarage was tame, and emotions were tightly circumscribed. Maugham was forbidden to lose his temper, or to make emotional displays of any kind — and he was denied the chance to see others express their own emotions. He was a quiet, private but very curious child, and this denial of the emotion of others was at least as hard on him as the denial of his own emotions.

Maugham was miserable both at the vicarage and at school. As a result, he developed a talent for applying a wounding remark to those who displeased him. This ability is sometimes reflected in the characters that populate his writings. At sixteen, Maugham refused to continue at The King's School and his uncle allowed him to travel to Germany, where he studied literature, philosophy and German at Heidelberg University. It was during his year in Heidelberg that he met John Ellingham Brooks, an Englishman ten years his senior, and with whom he had his first sexual experience.^[7] On his return to England his uncle found Maugham a position in an accountant's office, but after a month Maugham gave it up and returned to Whitstable. His uncle was not pleased, and set about finding Maugham a new profession. Maugham's father and three older brothers were all distinguished lawyers and Maugham asked to be excused from the duty of following in their footsteps. For other uses, see Literature (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Philosophy (disambiguation). ... The Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (German Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; also known as simply University of Heidelberg) was established in the town of Heidelberg in the Rhineland in 1386. ...

A career in the church was rejected because a stammering minister might make the family seem ridiculous. Likewise, the civil service was rejected — not out of consideration for Maugham's own feelings or interests, but because the recent law requiring civil servants to qualify by passing an examination made Maugham's uncle conclude that the civil service was no longer a career for gentlemen. The local doctor suggested the profession of medicine and Maugham's uncle reluctantly approved this. Maugham had been writing steadily since the age of 20 and fervently intended to become an author, but because Maugham was not of age, he could not confess this to his guardian. So he spent the next five years as a medical student at St Thomas' Hospital, London.

Career

Early works

Many readers and some critics have assumed that the years Maugham spent studying medicine were a creative dead end, but Maugham himself felt quite the contrary. He was able to live in the lively city of London, to meet people of a "low" sort that he would never have met in one of the other professions, and to see them in a time of heightened anxiety and meaning in their lives. In maturity, he recalled the literary value of what he saw as a medical student: "I saw how men died. I saw how they bore pain. I saw what hope looked like, fear and relief..." Maugham saw how corrosive to human values suffering was, how bitter and hostile sickness made people, and never forgot it. Here, finally, was "life in the raw" and the chance to observe a range of human emotions.

Maugham kept his own lodgings, took pleasure in furnishing them, filled many notebooks with literary ideas, and continued writing nightly while at the same time studying for his degree in medicine. In 1897, he presented his second book for consideration. (The first was a biography of opera composer Giacomo Meyerbeer written by the 16-year-old Maugham in Heidelberg.) Giacomo Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer (September 5, 1791 – May 2, 1864) was a noted German-born opera composer, and the first great exponent of Grand Opera. ...

Liza of Lambeth, a tale of working-class adultery and its consequences, drew its details from Maugham's experiences as a medical student doing midwifery work in the London slum of Lambeth. The novel is of the school of social-realist "slum writers" such as George Gissing and Arthur Morrison. Frank as it is, Maugham still felt obliged to write near the opening of the novel: "...it is impossible always to give the exact unexpurgated words of Liza and the other personages of the story; the reader is therefore entreated with his thoughts to piece out the necessary imperfections of the dialogue." Liza of Lambeth (1897) was William Somerset Maughams first novel, which he wrote while working as a doctor at a hospital in Lambeth, then a working class district of London. ... George Gissing (November 22, 1857 – December 28, 1903) was a British novelist. ... Arthur Morrison was a famous author during 19th century England Arthur George Morrison (1863-1945) was an English author and journalist, known for his realistic novels about Londons East End and for his detective stories. ...

Liza of Lambeth proved popular with both reviewers and the public, and the first print run sold out in a matter of weeks. This was enough to convince Maugham, who had qualified as a doctor, to drop medicine and embark on his sixty-five year career as a man of letters. Of his entry into the profession of writing he later said, "I took to it as a duck takes to water."

The writer's life allowed Maugham to travel and 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. This changed dramatically in 1907 with the phenomenal success of his play Lady Frederick; by the next year he had four plays running simultaneously in London, and Punch published a cartoon of Shakespeare biting his fingernails nervously as he looked at the billboards. For other uses, see Capri (disambiguation). ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Punch was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire published from 1841 to 1992 and from 1996 to 2002. ... Shakespeare redirects here. ...

Popular success, 1914–1939

By 1914 Maugham was famous, with 10 plays produced and 10 novels published. Too old to enlist when World War I broke out, Maugham served in France as a member of the British Red Cross's so-called "Literary Ambulance Drivers", a group of some 23 well-known writers including Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, and E. E. Cummings. During this time he met Frederick Gerald Haxton, a young San Franciscan who became his companion and lover until Haxton's death in 1944 (Haxton appears as Tony Paxton in Maugham's 1917 play, Our Betters). Throughout this period Maugham continued to write; indeed, he proof-read Of Human Bondage at a location near Dunkirk during a lull in his ambulance duties.^[8] However, Maugham is also known to have worked for British Intelligence in mainland Europe during the war, having been recruited by John Wallinger, and was one of the network of British agents who operated in Switzerland against the Berlin Committee, notably Virendranath Chattopadhyay. Maugham was later recruited by William Wiseman to work in Russia.^[9][10] “The Great War ” redirects here. ... The British Red Cross Society is a prominent part of the largest impartial humanitarian organisation in the world – the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. ... Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 — July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. ... John Roderigo Dos Passos (January 14, 1896 — September 28, 1970) was an American novelist and artist. ... Cummings in 1953 Edward Estlin Cummings (October 14, 1894 – September 3, 1962), popularly known as E. E. Cummings, was an American poet, painter, essayist, and playwright. ... Frederick Gerald Haxton (1892 – 1944) a native of San Franciso was the long term secretary and lover of the famous novelist and playwright W. Somerset Maugham. ... San Francisco redirects here. ... Of Human Bondage (1915) is a novel by William Somerset Maugham. ... For other uses of Dunkirk or Dunkerque, see Dunkirk (disambiguation). ... The Berlin Committee, known as the The Indian Independence Committee (German: ) after 1915, was an organisation formed in Germany in 1914 during World War I by Indian students and political activists residing in the country. ... Virendranath Chattopadhyaya Virendranath Chattopadhyaya alias Chatto (1880-1937 ?) was a prominent Bengali Indian revolutionary with a vast and varied international career directed against British imperialism. ...

Of Human Bondage (1915) initially received adverse criticism both in England and America, with the New York World describing the romantic obsession of the main protagonist Philip Carey as the sentimental servitude of a poor fool. However the influential critic, and novelist, Theodore Dreiser rescued the novel referring to it as a work of genius, and comparing it to a Beethoven symphony. This review gave the book the lift it needed and it has since never been out of print.^[11] Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser (August 27, 1871 – December 28, 1945) was an American author of the naturalist school, known for dealing with the gritty reality of life. ... Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptized December 17, 1770 – March 26, 1827) was a German composer of Classical music, the predominant musical figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras. ...

The book appeared to be closely autobiographical (Maugham's stammer is transformed into Philip Carey's club foot, the vicar of Whitstable becomes the vicar of Blackstable, and Philip Carey is a doctor) although Maugham himself insisted it was more invention than fact. Nevertheless, the close relationship between fictional and non-fictional became Maugham's trademark, despite the legal requirement to state that "the characters in [this or that publication] are entirely imaginary". In 1938 he wrote: "Fact and fiction are so intermingled in my work that now, looking back on it, I can hardly distinguish one from the other."

Although Maugham's first and many other sexual relationships were with men, he also had sexual relationships with a number of women. Specifically his affair with Syrie Wellcome, daughter of orphanage founder Thomas John Barnardo and wife of American-born English pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome, produced a daughter named Liza (born Mary Elizabeth Wellcome, 1915–1998).^[12] Henry Wellcome then sued his wife for divorce, naming Maugham as co-respondent. In May 1917, following the decree absolute, Syrie and Maugham were married. Syrie became a noted interior decorator who popularized the all-white room in the 1920s. Gwendoline Maud Syrie Barnardo (10 July 1879 - 25 July 1955), born in Hackney, England, was a daughter of Thomas John Barnardo the founder of the Barnardos charity for destitute children. ... Thomas John Barnardo (4 July 1845 — 19 September 1905), Irish philanthropist, and founder and director of homes for destitute children, was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1845. ... Pharmacology (in Greek: pharmacon is drug, and logos is science) is the study of how chemical substances interfere with living systems. ... Polish Magnate (17th century) Magnate, from the Late Latin magnas, a great man, itself from Latin magnus great, designates a noble or other man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or other qualities. ... Sir Henry Solomon Wellcome (born 1853 in Wisconsin, died July 25, 1936 in London) was an American-British pharmaceutical entrepreneur. ... Mary Elizabeth Maugham (born Mary Elizabeth Wellcome, 1915 - 1998)[1] known as Liza, was the only child of English playwright, novelist, and short story writer William Somerset Maugham and his then mistress, Syrie Wellcome. ... A decree nisi is a ruling by a court that does not have any force until such time that a particular condition is met. ... Interior decoration is the art of decorating a room so it looks good, is easy to use, and functions well with the existing architecture. ... The 1920s they were sexy referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ...

Maugham returned to England from his ambulance unit duties to promote Of Human Bondage but once that was finalised, he became eager to assist the war effort once more. As he was unable to return to his ambulance unit, Syrie arranged for him to be introduced to a high ranking intelligence officer known only as "R", and in September 1915 he began work in Switzerland, secretly gathering and passing on intelligence while posing as himself — that is, as a writer.

In 1916, Maugham travelled to the Pacific to research his novel The Moon And Sixpence, based on the life of Paul Gauguin. This was the first of those journeys through the late-Imperial world of the 1920s and 1930s which were to establish Maugham forever in the popular imagination as the chronicler of the last days of colonialism in India, Southeast Asia, China and the Pacific, although the books on which this reputation rests represent only a fraction of his output. On this and all subsequent journeys he was accompanied by Haxton, whom he regarded as indispensable to his success as a writer. Maugham himself was painfully shy, and Haxton the extrovert gathered human material that Maugham steadily turned into fiction. Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a leading Post-Impressionist painter. ...

In June, 1917 he was asked by Sir William Wiseman, chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service (later named MI6), to undertake a special mission in Russia^[13] to keep the Provisional Government in power and Russia in the war by countering German pacifist propaganda.^[14] Two and a half months later the Bolsheviks took control. The job was probably always impossible, but Maugham subsequently claimed that if he had been able to get there six months earlier, he might have succeeded. Quiet and observant, Maugham had a good temperament for intelligence work; he believed he had inherited from his lawyer father a gift for cool judgement and the ability to be undeceived by facile appearances. Sir William George Eden Wiseman, 10th Baronet (1885 - 1962) was an English intelligence agent and banker. ... The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 (Military Intelligence, Section 6)[1] is the United Kingdoms external intelligence agency. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Bolshevik Party Meeting. ...

Never losing the chance to turn real life into a story, Maugham made his spying experiences into a collection of short stories about a gentlemanly, sophisticated, aloof spy, Ashenden, a volume that influenced the Ian Fleming James Bond series.^[15] In 1922, Maugham dedicated On A Chinese Screen, a book of 58 ultra-short story sketches collected during his 1920 travels through China and Hong Kong, to Syrie, with the intention of later turning the sketches into a book.^[16] This article is about the author. ... This article is about the spy series. ...

Dramatised from a story which first appeared in his collection The Casuarina Tree published in 1924, Maugham's play The Letter, starring Gladys Cooper, had its premiere in London in 1927. The play was later adapted for film in 1929 and again in 1940. The Letter is a play by W. Somerset Maugham dramatised from a story which first appeared in his collection entitled The Casuarina Tree published in 1924. ... Dame Gladys Constance Cooper DBE (18 December 1888 – 17 November 1971) was an Oscar-nominated English actress. ... The Letter is a 1929 talkie film which tells the story of a woman who commits murder and tries to convince the court at her trial that she is innocent. ... The Letter is a 1940 film noir which tells the story of a woman who murders her lover, and then must face his widow and her husband. ...

Syrie and Maugham divorced in 1927–8 after a tempestuous marriage complicated by Maugham's frequent travels abroad and strained by his relationship with Haxton.

In 1928, Maugham bought Villa Mauresque on twelve acres at Cap Ferrat on the French Riviera, which would be his home for most of the rest of his life, and one of the great literary and social salons of the 1920s and 30s. His output continued to be prodigious, including plays, short stories, novels, essays and travel books. By 1940, when the collapse of France forced Maugham to leave the French Riviera and become a well-heeled refugee, he was already one of the most famous writers in the English-speaking world, and one of the wealthiest. Distant view of Cap Ferrat View from Èze to Cap Ferrat Cap Ferrat (Cape Ferrat) is situated in Alpes-Maritimes département, in southeastern France. ... The Quai des États-Unis in Nice on the French Riviera at night. ...

Grand Old Man of letters

Maugham, by now in his sixties, spent most of World War II in the United States, first in Hollywood (he worked on many scripts, and was one of the first authors to make significant money from film adaptations) and later in the South. While in the US he was asked by the British government to make patriotic speeches to induce the US to aid Britain, if not necessarily become an allied combatant. Gerald Haxton died in 1944, and Maugham moved back to England, then in 1946 to his villa in France, where he lived, interrupted by frequent and long travels, until his death. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

The gap left by Haxton's death in 1944 was filled by Alan Searle. Maugham had first met Searle in 1928. Searle was a young man from the London slum area of Bermondsey and he had already been kept by older men. He proved a devoted if not a stimulating companion. Indeed one of Maugham's friends, describing the difference between Searle and Haxton, said simply: "Gerald was vintage, Alan was vin ordinaire."^[17] , Bermondsey is an area of south London in the London Borough of Southwark. ...

Maugham's love life was almost never smooth. He once confessed: "I have most loved people who cared little or nothing for me and when people have loved me I have been embarrassed... In order not to hurt their feelings, I have often acted a passion I did not feel." A bitter attack on the deceased Syrie in his 1962 volume of memoirs, Looking Back lost him several friends. In his last years Maugham adopted Searle as his son in order to ensure that he would inherit his estate, a move hotly contested by his daughter Liza and her husband, Lord Glendevon, and which exposed Maugham to much public ridicule. There is no grave for Maugham. His ashes were scattered near the Maugham Library, The King's School, Canterbury. The Kings School is a British independent school situated in Canterbury, Kent. ...

Achievements

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. Small and weak as a boy, Maugham had been proud even then of his stamina, and as an adult he kept churning out the books, proud that he could. Yet, despite his triumphs, he never attracted the highest respect from the critics or his peers. Maugham himself attributed this to his lack of "lyrical quality", his small vocabulary and failure to make expert use of metaphor in his work.

Maugham wrote in 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. In this context, his plain prose style was criticized 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".^[18] This article focuses on the cultural movement labeled modernism or the modern movement. See also: Modernism (Roman Catholicism) or Modernist Christianity; Modernismo for specific art movement(s) in Spain and Catalonia. ... William Cuthbert Faulkner (born William Falkner), (September 25, 1897–July 6, 1962) was an American author. ... For other persons named Thomas Mann, see Thomas Mann (disambiguation). ... This article is about the writer and poet. ... For the American writer, see Virginia Euwer Wolff. ...

Maugham's homosexual leanings also shaped his fiction, in two ways. Since, in life, he tended to see attractive women as sexual rivals, he often gave the women of his fiction sexual needs and appetites, in a way quite unusual for authors of his time. "Liza of Lambeth," Cakes and Ale and "The Razor's Edge" all featured women determined to service their strong sexual appetites, heedless of the result. Also, the fact that Maugham's own sexual appetites were highly disapproved of, or even criminal, in nearly all of the countries in which he travelled, made Maugham unusually tolerant of the vices of others. Readers and critics often complained that Maugham did not clearly enough condemn what was bad in the villains of his fiction and plays. Maugham replied in 1938: "It must be a fault in me that I am not gravely shocked at the sins of others unless they personally affect me." Cakes and Ale: or, the Skeleton in the Cupboard (1930) is a novel by British author William Somerset Maugham. ...

Maugham's public view of his abilities remained modest; towards the end of his career he described himself as "in the very first row of the second-raters". In 1954, he was made a Companion of Honour. The Order of the Companions of Honour is a British and Commonwealth Order (decoration). ...

Maugham had begun collecting theatrical paintings before the First World War and continued to the point where his collection was second only to that of the Garrick Club.^[19] In 1948 he announced that he would bequeath this collection to the Trustees of the National Theatre, and from 1951, some 14 years before his death, his paintings began their exhibition life. In 1994 they were placed on loan to the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden.^[20][21] Year 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) The year 1994 was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by the United Nations. ...

Significant works

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. Philip's clubfoot causes him endless self-consciousness and embarrassment, echoing Maugham's struggles with his stutter. Later successful novels were also based on real-life characters: The Moon and Sixpence fictionalizes the life of Paul Gauguin; and Cakes and Ale contains thinly veiled characterizations of authors Thomas Hardy and Hugh Walpole. Maugham's last major novel, The Razor's Edge, published in 1944, was a departure for him in many ways. While much of the novel takes place in Europe, its main characters are American, not British. The protagonist is a disillusioned veteran of World War I who abandons his wealthy friends and lifestyle, travelling to India seeking enlightenment. The story's themes of Eastern mysticism and war-weariness struck a chord with readers as World War II waned, and a movie adaptation quickly followed. Of Human Bondage (1915) is a novel by William Somerset Maugham. ... Talipes equinovarus, otherwise known as clubfoot, is a congenital disorder where the foot is turned inward (inversion) and in plantar flexion. ... Stuttering is a speech disorder in which pronunciation of the (usually) first letter or syllable of a word is repeated involuntarily. ... The Moon and Sixpence (1919) is a book by William Somerset Maugham based on the life of the painter Paul Gauguin. ... Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a leading Post-Impressionist painter. ... Cakes and Ale: or, the Skeleton in the Cupboard (1930) is a novel by British author William Somerset Maugham. ... Thomas Hardy redirects here. ... Sir Hugh Walpole, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1934 Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole (March 13, 1884 - June 1, 1941) was an English novelist. ... For other uses, see The Razors Edge (disambiguation). ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

Among his short stories, some of the most memorable are those dealing with the lives of Western, mostly British, colonists in the Far East, and are typically concerned with the emotional toll exacted on the colonists by their isolation. Some of his more outstanding works in this genre include Rain, Footprints In The Jungle, and The Outstation. Rain, in particular, which charts the moral disintegration of a missionary attempting to convert the Pacific island prostitute Sadie Thompson, has kept its fame and been made into a movie several times. Maugham said that many of his short stories presented themselves to him in the stories he heard during his travels in the outposts of the Empire. He left behind a long string of angry former hosts, and a contemporary anti-Maugham writer retraced his footsteps and wrote a record of his journeys called "Gin And Bitters". Maugham's restrained prose allows him to explore the resulting tensions and passions without appearing melodramatic. His The Magician (1908) is based on British occultist Aleister Crowley. The Magician is an early W. Somerset Maugham novel. ... For other uses of this term, see occult (disambiguation). ... Aleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley, (12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947, pronounced ) was a British occultist, writer, mountaineer, philosopher, poet, and mystic. ...

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 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 which might almost be notes for short stories that were never written. Evelyn Waugh, as photographed in 1940 by Carl Van Vechten Arthur Evelyn St. ... Freya Madeleine Stark (1893-1993) was famous for writing of her travels in the Middle East. ...

Influenced by the published journals of the French writer Jules Renard, which Maugham had often enjoyed for their conscientiousness, wisdom and wit, Maugham published in 1949 selections from his own journals under the title "A Writer's Notebook". Although these journal selections are, by nature, episodic and of varying quality, they range over more than 50 years of the writer's life and contain much that Maugham scholars and admirers find of interest. Pierre-Jules Renard or Jules Renard (February 22, 1864- May 22, 1910) was a French author and member of the Académie Goncourt, most famous for the works Poil de Carotte (Carrot hair) (1894) and Les Histoires Naturelles (Natural Histories) (1896). ...

Influence

In 1947, Maugham instituted the Somerset Maugham Award, awarded to the best British writer or writers under the age of thirty-five of a work of fiction published in the past year. Notable winners include V.S. Naipaul, Kingsley Amis, Martin Amis and Thom Gunn. On his death, Maugham donated his copyrights to the Royal Literary Fund. The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each May by the Society of Authors. ... Sir V.S. Naipaul Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul (born August 17, 1932), better known as V. S. Naipaul, is a British novelist of Hindu heritage and East Indian ethnicity from Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean, which was then a British colony. ... Sir Kingsley William Amis (April 16, 1922 – October 22, 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. ... Photo of Martin Amis by Robert Birnbaum Martin Amis (born August 25, 1949) is an English novelist. ... Thom Gunn (August 29, 1929 - April 25, 2004) was a British poet. ... The Royal Literary Fund is a benevolent fund set up to help published British writers in financial difficulties. ...

One of very few later writers to praise his influence was Anthony Burgess, who included a complex fictional portrait of Maugham in the novel Earthly Powers. George Orwell also stated that Maugham was "the modern writer who has influenced me the most". The American writer Paul Theroux, in his short story collection The Consul's File, updated Maugham's colonial world in an outstation of expatriates in modern Malaysia. Holden Caulfield, in J.D. Salinger's 1951 The Catcher in the Rye, mentions that although he read Of Human Bondage the previous summer and liked it, he wouldn't want to call Somerset Maugham up on the phone. Anthony Burgess (February 25, 1917 – November 22, 1993) was a British novelist, critic and composer. ... Earthly Powers is a panoramic saga of the 20th century by Anthony Burgess first published in 1980. ... George Orwell is the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903[1][2] – 21 January 1950) who was an English writer and journalist well-noted as a novelist, critic, and commentator on politics and culture. ... Paul Edward Theroux (born April 10, 1941) is an American travel writer and novelist, whose best known work is The Great Railway Bazaar (1975), a travelogue about a trip he made by train from Great Britain through Europe and South Asia, then South-East Asia, up through East Asia, as... For the band, see Expatriate (band). ... Jerome David Salinger (born January 1, 1919) is an American author best known for The Catcher in the Rye, a classic coming-of-age story that has enjoyed enduring popularity since its publication in 1951. ... The Catcher in the Rye is a novel by J. D. Salinger. ...

Portraits of Somerset Maugham

There are many portraits of Somerset Maugham, including that by Graham Sutherland^[22] in the Tate Gallery and several by Sir Gerald Kelly. Sutherland's portrait was included in Painting the Century 101 Portrait Masterpieces 1900-2000 at the National Portrait Gallery. Graham Vivian Sutherland (August 24, 1903 – February 17, 1980) was an English artist. ... The Tate Gallery in the United Kingdom is a network of four galleries: Tate Britain (opened 1897), Tate Liverpool (1988), Tate St Ives (1993), Tate Modern (2000), with a complementary website Tate Online (1998). ... Sir Gerald Festus Kelly (1879 – 1972) was a British painter. ... Painting The Century 101 Portrait Masterpieces 1900-2000 was a major international exhibition held at the National Portrait Gallery in London in 2000-2001 that exhibited a work for each year of the Twentieth Century. ... The National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery in central London which was opened in 1856. ...

Bibliography

Main article: Bibliography of works by W. Somerset Maugham

Film adaptations

• Sadie Thompson (1928), a silent movie starring Gloria Swanson and Lionel Barrymore. Based on the short story Miss Thompson which was later retitled as Rain.
• The Letter (1929) starring Jeanne Eagels, O.P. Heggie, Reginald Owen and Herbert Marshall. Based on the play of the same name.
• Rain (1932), the first sound version of the story, starring Joan Crawford and Walter Huston.
• Of Human Bondage (1934) starring Leslie Howard and Bette Davis. Based on the book of the same name.
• The Painted Veil (1934) starring Greta Garbo and Herbert Marshall. Based on the novel of the same name.
• The Vessel of Wrath (1938) starring Charles Laughton; released in the USA as The Beachcomber. Based on the novella of the same name.
• The Letter (1940) starring Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson, Frieda Inescort and Gale Sondergaard. Based on the play of the same name.
• The Moon and Sixpence (1942) starring George Sanders. Based on the novella of the same name.
• The Razor's Edge (1946) starring Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney. Based on the book of the same name.
• Of Human Bondage (1946) version starring Eleanor Parker.
• Quartet (1948) Maugham appears as himself in introductions. Based on some of his short stories.
• Trio (1950) Maugham appears as himself in introductions. Another collection based on short stories.
• Encore (1952) Maugham appears as himself in introductions. A third collection of Maugham short stories.
• Miss Sadie Thompson (1953), a semi-musical version, starring Rita Hayworth and José Ferrer.
• The Seventh Sin (1957) starring Eleanor Parker. Based on the novel The Painted Veil.
• The Beachcomber (1958). Based on the novella The Vessel of Wrath; not to be confused with the 1938 film.
• Julia, du bist zauberhaft (1962) starring Lilli Palmer and Charles Boyer. Based on the novel Theatre.
• Of Human Bondage (1964) version starring Laurence Harvey and Kim Novak.
• The Letter (1969) starring Eileen Atkins. Based on play of the same name. (Made for Television)
• The Letter (1982) starring Lee Remick, Jack Thompson (actor), and Ronald Pickup. Based on play of the same name. (Made for Television)
• The Razor's Edge (1984) starring Bill Murray. Based on the novel by the same name.
• Up at the Villa (2000) starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Sean Penn, directed by Philip Haas. Based on the novella of the same name.
• Being Julia (2004) starring Annette Bening. Based on the novel Theatre.
• The Painted Veil (2006) starring Naomi Watts and Edward Norton. Based on the novel of the same name.

Sadie Thompson is a 1928 film which tells the story of a fallen woman who comes to Pago Pago on the island of Tutuila to start a new life, but encounters a zealous missionary who wants to force her back to her former life in San Francisco. ... Gloria Swanson (March 27, 1899 – April 4, 1983) was an Academy Award-nominated, Golden Globe-winning American Hollywood actress. ... Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe on April 28, 1878 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – November 15, 1954 in Van Nuys, California) was an American Academy Award Winning actor of stage, radio and film. ... The Letter is a 1929 talkie film which tells the story of a woman who commits murder and tries to convince the court at her trial that she is innocent. ... Jeanne Eagels (born June 26, 1890; died October 3, 1929) was an actress on Broadway and in several motion pictures. ... Reginald Owen, or John Reginald Owen, (August 5, 1887–November 5, 1972) was a British character actor known for playing in many film roles in British and American movies and later in television programs. ... Herbert Marshall (1890-1966) was a popular English cinema and theatre actor who overcame the loss of a leg during World War I, to enjoy a long career, initially as a romantic lead and then in character roles. ... Rain DVD cover Rain is a 1932 Pre-Code film directed by Lewis Milestone. ... For other persons named Joan Crawford, see Joan Crawford (disambiguation). ... Walter Huston (April 6, 1884 – April 7, 1950) was a Canadian-born American actor. ... Leslie Howard (April 3, 1893 - June 1, 1943) was an English stage and Academy Award nominated film actor. ... This article is about the actress. ... The Painted Veil is a 1934 drama film made by MGM. It was directed by Ryszard BolesÅ‚awski and produced by Hunt Stromberg from a screenplay by John Meehan, Salka Viertel, and Edith Fitzgerald, adapted from the 1925 W. Somerset Maugham novel The Painted Veil. ... Greta redirects here. ... Herbert Marshall (1890-1966) was a popular English cinema and theatre actor who overcame the loss of a leg during World War I, to enjoy a long career, initially as a romantic lead and then in character roles. ... The Vessel of Wrath is a novella, published in 1931 by W. Somerset Maugham. ... Charles Laughton (1 July 1899 – 15 December 1962) was an English stage and film actor. ... The Vessel of Wrath is a novella, published in 1931 by W. Somerset Maugham. ... The Letter is a 1940 film noir which tells the story of a woman who murders her lover, and then must face his widow and her husband. ... This article is about the actress. ... Herbert Marshall (1890-1966) was a popular English cinema and theatre actor who overcame the loss of a leg during World War I, to enjoy a long career, initially as a romantic lead and then in character roles. ... James Stephenson (April 14, 1889 – July 29, 1941) is an actor. ... Frieda Inescort (June 29, 1901 – February 26, 1976) was British actress. ... Gale Sondergaard (February 15, 1899–August 14, 1985) was an Academy Award-winning U.S. film actress. ... The Moon and Sixpence (1919) is a book by William Somerset Maugham based on the life of the painter Paul Gauguin. ... Do you mean: George Sanders (1906-1972), the British actor George Sanders, who was awarded the Victoria Cross on the first day of the Battle of the Somme This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Razors Edge is the first film version of W. Somerset Maughams 1944 novel. ... Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr. ... Gene Tierney (November 19, 1920 – November 6, 1991) was an American film and stage actress. ... Eleanor Jean Parker (born June 26, 1922) is an American film and television actress. ... Quartet is the title of a 1948 film based on stories by W. Somerset Maugham. ... Year 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Miss Sadie Thompson is a musical drama 3-d film starring Rita Hayworth, Aldo Ray, Jose Ferrer released in 1953. ... The musical film is a film genre in which several songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative. ... Rita Hayworth (October 17, 1918 – May 14, 1987), was an American actress who attained fame during the 1940s as the eras leading sex symbol. ... José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón (January 8, 1909 – January 26, 1992), was an Academy Award-winning Puerto Rican actor and film director, born in the Santurce district of San Juan, Puerto Rico. ... The Vessel of Wrath is a novella, published in 1931 by W. Somerset Maugham. ... Lilli Palmer (born Lillie Marie Peiser on May 24, 1914 in Posen, Prussia, Germany (then - after WW I - PoznaÅ„, Poland) - January 27, 1986 in Los Angeles) was an international actress. ... Charles Boyer (August 28, 1899 – August 26, 1978) was a French-American actor who starred in several classic Hollywood films, TV director and TV producer. ... Laurence Harvey (October 1, 1928 – November 25, 1973) was an Academy Award-nominated Lithuanian-born actor who achieved fame in British and American films. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Dame Eileen June Atkins, DBE (born June 16, 1934 in London, England) is a British writer and an award-winning film and theatre actress. ... Lee Remick Lee Remick (December 14, 1935 - July 2, 1991), was an American actress admired for her versality and her great beauty. ... Jack Thompson AM (born August 31, 1940) is an Australian actor and one of the major figures of Australian cinema. ... Sir Ronald Pickup (born 7 June 1940) is a well-established English actor. ... The Razors Edge is the second film version of W. Somerset Maughams 1944 novel. ... William James Bill Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an Academy Award-nominated, Emmy-, Golden Globe-, and BAFTA-winning American comedian and actor. ... Up at the Villa is a 1941 novella by William Somerset Maugham about a young widow caught between three men: her suitor, her one-night stand, and her confidant. ... Kristin Scott Thomas OBE (born 24 May 1960) is an Academy Award-nominated English actress. ... Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) // Penn was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Leo Penn, an actor and director, and Eileen Ryan (née Annucci), an actress. ... Being Julia is a 2004 film directed by István Szabó. // Cast Annette Bening – Julia Lambert Shaun Evans – Tom Fennel Jeremy Irons – Michael Gosselyn Lucy Punch – Avice Crichton Plot Spoiler warning: Set in the world of the London stage in the late 1930s, reigning diva Julia Lamberts success and... Annette Bening (born May 29, 1958) is an American Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning actress. ... For other uses, see The Painted Veil. ... Naomi Ellen Watts (born September 28, 1968) is a British actress, raised predominately raised in Australia. ... Ed Norton redirects here. ...

References and notes

Edmund Wilson (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer, noted chiefly for his literary criticism. ...

Sources

• Mander, Raymond & Mitchenson, Joe, 1955 The Artist and the Theatre. William Heinemann Ltd
• Mander, Raymond & Mitchenson, Joe, 1980 Guide to the Maugham Collection of Theatrical Paintings. Heinemann & the National Theatre
• Maugham, Robin, 1977, Somerset and all the Maughams. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-8371-8236-0
• Maugham, W. Somerset, 1938, The Summing Up. Garden City Publishing Company.
• Maugham, W. Somerset, 1962, Looking Back. As serialised in Show, June, July & August.
• Morgan, Ted, 1980, Somerset Maugham Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0-224-01813-2
• Morgan, Ted, 1984, Maugham Touchstone Books. ISBN 0-671-50581-5.
• Vidal, Gore, February 1, 1990, The New York Review of Books.
• Popplewell, Richard J (1995), Intelligence and Imperial Defence: British Intelligence and the Defence of the Indian Empire 1904-1924., Routledge, ISBN 071464580X, <http://www.routledge.com/shopping_cart/products/product_detail.asp?sku=&isbn=071464580X&parent_id=&pc=>.
• Woods, B.F (2007), Neutral Ground: A Political History of Espionage Fiction., Algora Publishing, ISBN 0-8758-6535-6.

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

William Somerset Maugham

Wikisource has original works written by or about:

William Somerset Maugham

• The British Library
• Caxton Club Biography
• The British Empire, Biographies, Authors
• Works by W. Somerset Maugham at Project Gutenberg
• W. Somerset Maugham at the Internet Movie Database
• W. Somerset Maugham at the Internet Broadway Database
• National Theatre, Maugham's Theatrical Collection
• National Theatre, Shakespearean Characters
• Maugham's The Razor's Edge
• William Somerset Maugham's stories on Malaya, Borneo and Singapore
• W.S. Maugham: correspondence, contracts & manuscripts in Indiana University
• W. Somerset Maugham at the Internet Book List
• W. Somerset Maugham and Beaufort County, South Carolina -- Beaufort County Library
• Grand Hotel du Cap - Cap Ferrat, Maugham´s social life on the Cote d´Azur
• About "The Force of Circumstance" Interpretations of and more background information on the short story.