Filmed at Somerset Maugham's villa at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat on the Mediterranean, this program features the author and playwright in a far-ranging 1955 conve. [153] Rosie appears to be based on Sue Jones, to whom Maugham had proposed in 1913. Description: Portrait of William Somerset Maugham: Date: 26 May 1934: Source Maugham considered himself a better writer than. Maugham wants the readers to draw their own conclusion about the characters and events described in his novels. Maugham wrote of Haxton: After the South Seas trip Maugham visited the US and was joined by Syrie. . 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. Somerset Maugham felt that his stories had to have a moral and teach people tolerance, wisdom and compassion. [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. Last edit on Apr 05, 2021. His work was popular for his simple style of writing, as well as his sharp and accurate understanding and judgment of human nature. [84] By 1925, Maugham, learning that his wife was spreading scandal about his private life and had taken lovers of her own, was reconsidering his future. [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. There are but two important critics in my own country who have troubled to take me seriously and when clever young men write essays about contemporary fiction they never think of considering me. But at first glance, Maugham's progression to worldwide fame and great wealth seems relatively straightforward. [114][n 11] After returning to Cap Ferrat he completed his last full-length work of fiction, the historical novel Catalina. He said that lacking any great powers of imagination he wrote about what he saw, and that although he could see more than most people could, "the greatest writers can see through a brick wall my vision is not so penetrating".[202]. Here are the possible solutions for "W Somerset Maugham's 1915 novel; the subject of several films" clue. [94] Maugham later wrote, "I grew conscious that I was no longer in touch with the public that patronises the theatre. [129] Maugham's literary style was plain and functional; he disclaimed any pretence of being a prose stylist. 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. [132] Morgan comments: In his 1926 short story "The Creative Impulse" Maugham made fun of self-conscious stylists whose books appealed only to a literary clique: "It was indeed a scandal that so distinguished an author, with an imagination so delicate and a style so exquisite, should remain neglected of the vulgar". [73] He saw little of Haxton, who undertook war work in Washington DC. It was written in 1915 and staged in New York in 1917, for a satisfactory but not unusual 112 performances, but when produced in the West End in 1923 it was played 548 times. [126] His works sold prodigiously throughout the English-speaking world. [108] Maugham was distraught; he told his nephew, Robin, "You'll never know how great a grief this has been to me. 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. Maugham usually published his works under the name of W. Somerset Maugham. When W. SOMERSET MAUGH AM was asked to select and edit the ten best novels in world literature, he thought at once of Balzac. Part one of two of four stories from Somerset's Quartet film. The story is penned by one of my favorite short story writers, William Somerset Maugham. [5] Nevertheless he had a wish to marry, which he later greatly regretted. [1] 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. [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. W. Somerset Maugham (Of Human Bondage) " If a man hasn't what's necessary to make a woman love him, it's his fault, not hers. He was selected by Sir William Wiseman of British Intelligence to go to Russia, where the overthrow of the monarchy threatened to lead to a Russian withdrawal from the war. [73], As in his novels and short stories, Maugham's plots are clear and his dialogue naturalistic. Two days later his ashes were interred in the grounds of The King's School, Canterbury, beside the wall of the Maugham Library, which he had endowed in 1961. Author dvdnt [pro] 132. I cannot tell you how I loathe the theatre. The Internet Broadway Database in 2022 records three productions since the author's death: The Constant Wife directed by Gielgud and starring Ingrid Bergman in 1975; The Circle, starring Rex Harrison, Stewart Granger and Glynis Johns in 198990; and another production of The Constant Wife, with Kate Burton in the title role. William Somerset Maugham. His fellow author Cyril Connolly wrote, "there will remain a story-teller's world from Singapore to the Marquesas that is exclusively and forever Maugham". Author: w Somerset 1874-1965 Maugham. [15] Maugham's biographer Selina Hastings describes as "the first step in Maugham's loss of faith" his disillusion when the God in whom he had been taught to believe failed to answer his prayers for relief from his troubles. Somerset Maugham. Corrections? [5] He attempted to disinherit his daughter and to make Searle his adopted son, but the courts prevented it.[124]. We will update W. Somerset Maugham's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible. [170] In the 1928 volume Ashenden features in sixteen stories; two years later he reappeared, in his peacetime role of writer, as the narrator of Cakes and Ale. [n 16] His aspiration to become a concert pianist ends in failure and suicide. He became a medical student in London and qualified as a physician in 1897. William Somerset Maugham (25 January 1874- 16 December 1965) was an English novelist, short story writer and playwright. W. Somerset Maugham; April 1948 Issue; The Brothers Karamazov. Contents. He had a slight limp, and he walked slowly, leant on a stick. I am done with playwriting. More like this. Biography of William Somerset Maugham (excerpt) William Somerset Maugham, CH (January 25, 1874 - December 16, 1965) was an English playwright, novelist, and theatre writer. Culture; Somerset Maugham; Reuse this content. This was Maugham's longest-running original play, but a dramatisation of his short story. [71], By that time Maugham was ill with tuberculosis. Wilson later admitted that he had not read, Meyers, p. 9; Maugham (1975), p. 15; Coward, pp. "[33], Before the publication of his next novel, The Making of a Saint (1898), Maugham travelled to Spain. [152], Cakes and Ale combines humorous satire on the London literary scene and wry observations about love. [5] This book, described by Raphael as "an elegant piece of literary malice",[73] is a satire on the literary world and a humorously cynical observation of human mating. His aunt, who was German, arranged accommodation for him, and aged sixteen he travelled to Germany. He was, by his own account, not a particularly imaginative or inventive person, but he studied people and places and used them, sometimes with minimal alteration or disguise, in his stories. Though he wore nothing but an exiguous loincloth he looked neat, very clean and almost dapper. "[26], Maugham took rooms in Westminster, across the Thames from the hospital. He achieved fame initially as a dramatist with plays such as Lady Frederick (1912) and The Circle (1921). RAIN VIII. Maugham based his characters upon people whom he had known or whose lives he had somehow come to know; their actions are presented with consummate realism. [151], Of Human Bondage, influenced by Goethe and Samuel Butler,[52] is a serious, partly autobiographical work, depicting a young man's struggles and emotional turmoil. 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. Although primarily homosexual, he attempted to conform to some extent with the norms of his day. [5], Shortly before the birth of the Maughams' fourth son the government of France proposed a new law under which all boys born on French soil to foreign parents would automatically be French citizens and liable to conscription for military service. [188], In The Summing Up (1938), Maugham wrote of his non-dramatic work, "I have no illusions about my literary position. William Somerset Maugham, bedst kendt som bare W. Somerset Maugham, (fdt 25. januar 1874 i Paris, dd 16. december 1965 i Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat nr Nice) var en betydningsfuld engelsk forfatter.. [83], In Maugham's absence his wife found an occupation, becoming a sought-after interior designer. Maugham's plain prose style became known for its lucidity, but his reliance on clichs attracted adverse critical comment. He was the highest paid author of the 1930s. Subject: History. [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. [160], The stories range from the short sketches of On a Chinese Screen, which he had written during his 1920 travels through China and Hong Kong, to many, mostly serious, short stories dealing with the lives of British and other colonial expatriates in the Pacific Islands and Asia. To order The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham for 23 with free UK p&p call Guardian book service on 0330 333 6846. Synonyms for Somerset Maugham in Free Thesaurus. Gosselyn was a tall, stoutish, elderly woman, much taller than her husband, who gave you the impression that she was always trying to diminish her height. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German university. [176] Some of his stories were judged too improper for the cinema; Calder cites an adaptation of the historical novel Then and Now which the Hays Office rejected for thirty-seven separate reasons. [147] Other London productions have included The Circle (1976), For Services Rendered (1993), The Constant Wife (2000) and Home and Beauty (2002). Somerset Maugham was one of the most popular and commercially successful authors of the twentieth century. Although he was an important influence on many well-known writers, "Maugham's critical stock has remained low". The Razor's Edge, the author's last major novel,[5] is described by Sutherland as "Maugham's twentieth-century manifesto for human fulfilment", satirising Western materialism and drawing on Eastern spiritualism as a way to find meaning in existence. First published in 1989, Mr Calder's attempt to encompass Maugham's life and work in one volume fits nicely between Ted Morgan's Maugham: A Biography (1980) and Jeffrey Meyers' Somerset Maugham: A Life (2004); as far as I know the only other detailed biography is the very recently (2009) published The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham by Selina . 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". In The Summing Up (1938) and A Writers Notebook (1949) Maugham explains his philosophy of life as a resigned atheism and a certain skepticism about the extent of mans innate goodness and intelligence; it is this that gives his work its astringent cynicism. [21] Brooks encouraged Maugham's ambitions to be a writer and introduced him to the works of Schopenhauer and Spinoza. He traveled in Spain and Italy and in 1908 achieved a theatrical triumphfour plays running in London at oncethat brought him financial security. He successfully sued for divorce in 1916, citing Maugham as co-respondent. He wrote his 32nd and last play in 1933, after which he abandoned the theatre and concentrated on novels and short stories. During World War I he worked as a secret agent. Born in Paris, of Irish ancestry, Somerset Maugham was to lead a fascinating life and would become famous for his mastery of short evocative stories that were often set in the more obscure and remote areas of the British Empire. Hastings comments that for the young Maugham the hardest thing to accept in abandoning religious faith was "the knowledge that with no expectation of an afterlife he would never see his mother again". He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest paid author during the 1930s. In addition, Carey has a. The possibility became a certainty when in November 1944, after a six-month illness initially diagnosed as pleurisy, Haxton died of tuberculosis. His lifestyle was modest: he felt that despite his considerable wealth he should not live luxuriously while Britain was enduring wartime privations. During his time in Heidelberg he had his first sexual affair; it was with John Ellingham Brooks, an Englishman ten years his senior. [19] He left as soon as he could, although he later developed an affection for the school, and became a generous benefactor. [12], Maugham's mother died of tuberculosis in January 1882, a few days after his eighth birthday. [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". W. Somerset Maugham, in full William Somerset Maugham, (born Jan. 25, 1874, Paris, Francedied 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. It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it . 22. After all, he has only one life. [145], A few of Maugham's plays have been revived occasionally. The marriage lasted for twelve years, but before, during and after it, Maugham's principal partner was a younger man, Gerald Haxton. Somerset Maugham . He did not wish to follow his brothers to Cambridge University,[23] and his stammer precluded a career in the church or the law even if either had attracted him. Before Fame. Childhood and education. It was a departure from his previous style; its moral ambiguity and equivocal ending puzzled the critics and the public. [187] Nonetheless, Maugham is recognised as an influence on Coward, Lawrence, Kingsley Amis, Graham Greene, Christopher Isherwood, V. S. Naipaul and George Orwell. Maugham is a British writer of great repute and has had one of the most successful literary careers in the twentieth century. He was plump rather than stout. Morgan describes him: Maugham's biographers have differed considerably about Searle's character and his influence for better or worse on his employer. [56] The tide of opinion was turned by the influential American novelist and critic Theodore Dreiser, who called Maugham a great artist and the book a work of genius, of the utmost importance, comparable to a Beethoven symphony. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Loincloth he looked neat, very clean and almost dapper his sharp and understanding... Frederick ( 1912 ) and the public how tall was somerset maugham he later greatly regretted not tell you how I loathe the.! 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