He lived there until his death, with time away for frequent and long travels. Maugham publicly disowned her; by that time his mental health had deteriorated and been brought into question by his family. I saw how they bore pain. In 1897, he published his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, a tale of working-class adultery and its consequences. If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it … [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. [62] In his novel Misery, Stephen King places a rich collection of Maugham's books in the house where most of the plot is set, and incidentally praises Maugham's mastery of storytelling. [20] Henry Wellcome sued his wife for divorce, naming Maugham as co-respondent.[21]. Maugham: A Biography. He had adapted it for the stage from a story published in 1924 in Hearst's International; it was reprinted in his collection The Casuarina Tree (1926). I find the notion of future punishment outrageous and of future reward extravagant. William Somerset Maugham CH was a British playwright, novelist and short story writer, He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest-paid author during the 1930s, After losing both his parents by the age of 10, Maugham was raised by a paternal uncle who was emotionally cold, Not wanting to become a lawyer like other men in his family, Maugham eventually trained and qualified as a physician, The initial run of his first novel, Liza of Lambeth (1897), sold out so rapidly that Maugham gave up medicine to write full-time, During the First World War, he served with the Red Cross and in the ambulance corps, before being recruited in 1916 into the British Secret Intelligence Service, for which he worked in Switzerland and Russia before the October Revolution of 1917, During and after the war, he travelled in India and Southeast Asia; all of these experiences were reflected in later short stories and novels. They had a daughter named Mary Elizabeth (1915–1998). She sued her father and won a judgment of £230,000. The real-life inhabitants of these locations were frankly shocked at being portrayed as so trivial, parochial and vacuous creatures. Towards the end of his career he described himself as "in the very first row of the second-raters". She was familiarly called Liza, and her surname was changed to Maugham. W. Somerset Maugham information Birth date: January 25, 1874 Death date: 1965-12-16 Birth place: UK Embassy, Paris, France Profession:Writer, Actor Education:Kings College London Spouse:Syrie Wellcome Children:Alan Searle. 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. [50], For a public man of Maugham's generation, being openly gay was impossible. 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. 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". 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. 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. His family assumed that Maugham and his brothers would be lawyers. Deetsember 1965 uun Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat bi Nizza) wiar en ingels skriiwer an dramaatiker.. Leewent. 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. An error occurred. In his sixties, Maugham lived for most of the Second World War in the United States, first in Los Angeles, where he worked on many screenplays, and was one of the first authors to make significant money from film adaptations. He kept his mother's photograph at his bedside for the rest of his life. 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. He was a jocular character, always engaging but could be mischievous. [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". [35] Two and a half months later, the Bolsheviks took control. W. Somerset Maugham, Writer: Quartet. Maugham subsequently said that if he had been able to get there six months earlier, he might have succeeded. 1 Childhood and education; 2 Career. W. Somerset Maugham, an eminent British playwright, novelist and short story writer is better known as a master of short and concise novels. [citation needed] The boy attended The King's School, Canterbury, which was also difficult for him. [4] Maugham refers to this grandfather's writings in chapter 6 of his literary memoir The Summing Up:[5]. William Somerset Maugham, CH (January 25, 1874 – December 16, 1965) was an English playwright, novelist, and theatre writer. [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). Whether his own orientation disgusted him (as it did many at a time when homosexuality was widely considered a moral failing, as well as illegal) or whether he was trying to disguise his leanings, Maugham wrote disparagingly of the gay artist. 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. In later life Maugham was exclusively homosexual and lived successively with two men. During World War I he worked as a secret agent and in 1928 settled in Cap Ferrat in France, from where he made journeys all over the world. 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. I saw what hope looked like, fear and relief..."[12], 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 medical degree. It was his home for most of the rest of his life. He attended King’s School in Canterbury. In 1934 the American journalist and radio personality Alexander Woollcott offered Maugham some language advice: "The female implies, and from that the male infers." The novel was first published in serialised form in five issues of … One of Maugham's friends, describing the difference between Haxton and Searle, said simply: "Gerald was vintage, Alan was vin ordinaire. [54] In 1948 he announced that he would bequeath this collection to the Trustees of the National Theatre. His work was popular for his simple style of writing, as well as his sharp and accurate understanding and judgment of human nature. https://literariness.org/2019/05/24/analysis-of-w-somerset-maughams-novels 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). This character is considered to have influenced Ian Fleming's later series of James Bond novels. He was one of the most popular authors of his era, and reputedly the highest paid of his profession during the 1930s. But after Maugham's death, in 1965 Searle inherited £50,000, the contents of the Villa La Mauresque, Maugham's manuscripts, and his revenue from copyrights for 30 years. In Don Fernando, a non-fiction book about his years living in Spain, Maugham pondered a (perhaps fanciful) suggestion that the painter El Greco was homosexual:[51]. [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]. 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. William Somerset Maugham, British playwright and novelist, was one of the most reputed and well-known writers of his era, and one of the highest-paid authors of his time. After Maugham's return to Britain, his uncle found him a position in an accountant's office. In certain respects the natural responses of the species are denied to him. Somerset Maugham CountryUnited Kingdom PublisherHeinemann George H. Doran Publication date 1925 The Painted Veil is a 1925 novel by British author W. Somerset Maugham. [3] His grandfather, another Robert, was a prominent lawyer and co-founder of the Law Society of England and Wales. Jeanne Eagels had the lead. Maugham insisted that the book was more invention than fact. His hands were large, rather finely shaped, with long fingers, and his naturally pale skin was deeply burned by the Pacific sun. By Jessica Krass June 11, 2018. Maugham responded: "I am not yet too old to learn. This ability is sometimes reflected in Maugham's literary characters. 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. He proved a devoted (if not a stimulating) companion. (Playback ID: 1FK46-vpR_0Y8e9m) Learn More. It is incredible to me that there should be an after-life. He next lived with Alan Searle until his own death in 1965. Maugham’s father, Robert Ormond Maugham, was a lawyer who handled the legal affairs of the British embassy in Paris. Maugham’s short story “The Verger” is a tale about a simple man Albert Edward Foreman. The move was emotionally damaging, as Henry Maugham was cold and emotionally cruel. 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. He had a cadaverous look, and a look of suppressed fire. [citation needed], In 1947 Maugham instituted the Somerset Maugham Award,[60] awarded to the best British writer or writers under the age of 35 for a work of fiction published in the past year. [38], In 1916, Maugham travelled to the Pacific to research his novel The Moon and Sixpence, based on the life of Paul Gauguin. Il fut l'un des écrivains britanniques les plus populaires de son époque. Another film adaptation was issued in 1984, starring Bill Murray. [18], Maugham indicates in his foreword that he derived the title from a passage in Baruch Spinoza's Ethics:[19]. By Somerset Maugham There had been a christening that afternoon at St Peter's, Neville Square, and Albert Edward Foreman still wore his verger's gown. subscribe.theepochtimes.com. “I do not believe in God. He later said: "I took to it as a duck takes to water."[14]. Some at least of the broad and typical human emotions he can never experience. [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. [33][36], Maugham used his spying experiences as the basis for Ashenden: Or the British Agent, a collection of short stories about a gentlemanly, sophisticated, aloof spy. There he hosted one of the great literary and social salons of the 1920s and 1930s. 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. During his year in Heidelberg, Maugham met and had a sexual affair with John Ellingham Brooks, an Englishman ten years his senior. Childhood and education. Sutherland's portrait was included in the exhibition Painting the Century: 101 Portrait Masterpieces 1900–2000 at the National Portrait Gallery. 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". His uncle allowed him to travel to Germany, where he studied literature, philosophy and German at Heidelberg University. It cannot be denied that the homosexual has a narrower outlook on the world than the normal man. [6], Maugham has been described both as bisexual[22][23][24] Syrie Maugham became a noted interior decorator, who in the 1920s popularized "the all-white room". W. Somerset Maugham Wiki 2021, Height, Age, Net Worth 2021, Family - Find facts and details about W. Somerset Maugham on wikiFame.org They changed their daughter's surname, originally registered as Wellcome and reflecting Syrie's marriage. It drew its details from Maugham's experiences as a medical student doing midwifery work in Lambeth, a South London slum. [41][page needed], In 1926, Maugham bought the Villa La Mauresque, on 9 acres (3.6 hectares) at Cap Ferrat on the French Riviera. Some of what has been presented has been accurate, some basically fabricated, some just plain wrong or untrue. Anthony Burgess praised his influence. W. Somerset Maugham (1874 – 1965) was a British playwright, novelist and short story writer. His uncle tried to find Maugham a new profession. [6] She had Maugham several years after the last of his three elder brothers was born. Contents. In that period, Maugham began a relationship with Alan Searle, whom he had first met in 1928. "Rain", in particular, which charts the moral disintegration of a missionary attempting to convert prostitute Sadie Thompson, has kept its reputation. Maugham described himself as being "three quarters normal, one quarter queer". 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. Among her grandchildren is Derek Paravicini, who is a musical prodigy and autistic savant. For the next five years, he studied medicine at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School in Lambeth. The close relationship between fictional and non-fictional became Maugham's trademark. His uniqueness inspired several other writers like Ian Fleming and George Orwell. Maugham, who had qualified as a medic, dropped medicine and embarked on his 65-year career as a man of letters. In his 1962 volume of memoirs Looking Back, he attacked the late Syrie Maugham and wrote that Liza had been born before they married. 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. He wrote in 1938: "Fact and fiction are so intermingled in my work that now, looking back on it, I can hardly distinguish one from the other. The vicar feels that … When Maugham, now 50, found the Villa Mauresque in the South of France, Syrie finally agreed to a divorce. Maugham was the fourth of six sons born in his family. This was the first of his journeys through the late-Imperial world of the 1920s and 1930s that inspired his novels. During the First World War, he served with the Red Cross and in the ambulance corps before being recruited in 1916 into the British Secret Intelligence Service. William Somerset Maugham (uk bekäänd üüs W. Somerset Maugham [ˈsʌməsɪt mɔːm]; * 25.Janewoore 1874 uun Pariis; † 16. He drew from those experiences in his later short stories and novels. It was quite by accident that I completed Somerset Maugham's The Gentleman in the Parlour while sitting at a tropical resort Maugham himself would have recognized. William Somerset Maugham CH (/mɔːm/ MAWM; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English playwright, novelist, and short-story writer. 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. Standing like sentries around me are a number of interchangeably sleek and beautiful Thai waitresses attending to sunburned and portly Europeans, who are busy sucking up chicken salads and Singha beer. ...in the catalogue of the Library at the British Museum there is a long list of his legal works. In 1994 they were placed on loan to the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden. 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. 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. His routine work is disturbed with the arrival of new vicar in the church. Later, he asked that Katharine Cornell play the lead in the 1927 Broadway version. Both Maugham's parents died before he was 10, and the orphaned boy was raised by a paternal uncle, who was emotionally cold. He wants everything to be perfect and when he comes to know that Foreman is an illiterate he immediately takes action. If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device. 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]. a tall, long-armed girl, full grown, elastic as to tread; with a slight figure that looked queenly in her best dresses, but loose and boyish when she slouched over the moors, whistling the dogs, and taking long strides over the rough earth. He was a tall thin man, with long limbs loosely jointed, hollow cheeks and high cheek-bones; his fine, large dark eyes were deep in their sockets, and he had full sensual lips; he wore his hair rather long. [31], Maugham did not believe in God or an afterlife. He was sexually promiscuous and … This post is a summary of W. Somerset Maugham‘s book The Summing Up, in which he writes in an essay-like fashion on a number of topics related to writing and his life. Too old to enlist when the First World War broke out, he served in France as a member of the British Red Cross's so-called "Literary Ambulance Drivers", a group of 24 well-known writers, including the Americans John Dos Passos, E. E. Cummings, and Ernest Hemingway. Notable winners include V. S. Naipaul, Kingsley Amis, Martin Amis and Thom Gunn. 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.