The Quintessential W. Somerset Maugham

W. Somerset Maugham, was an influential British playwright, novelist and short story writer who lived from 1874 to 1965. Maugham was one of the most popular authors of his time and his works continue to be widely read today.

Early Life

William Somerset Maugham was born to British parents in the French capital and spent his early years in Paris. Tragedy struck when he lost both his parents by the age of 10, after which he was sent to live with his uncle in England. Maugham struggled to adapt to life in England, and his stammer and introverted nature made it difficult for him to fit in at school. Despite these challenges, he excelled academically and went on to study medicine at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London.

“The only important thing in a book is the meaning that it has for you.”
― W Somerset Maugham

Literary Career

Maugham’s literary career began while he was still a medical student. His first novel, Liza of Lambeth, was published in 1897 and drew upon his experiences in the medical field. The novel’s success convinced Maugham to abandon medicine and pursue writing full-time. Over the next six decades, he would produce a vast body of work, including novels, plays, and short stories.

It was as a playwright that Maugham achieved much of his early fame. His first success was Lady Frederick in 1907. A year later, he had four plays running simultaneously in the West End. Maugham’s days of relative poverty were over forever. He was 33 and was to remain extremely rich for the rest of his life.

The biggest theatrical success of Maugham’s career was an adaptation, by others, of his short story Rain, which opened on Broadway in 1921 and ran for 648 performances. The majority of his original plays were comedies, but of his serious dramas East of Suez (1922), The Letter (1927) and The Sacred Flame (1929) ran for more than 200 performances. Among his longest-running comedies were Lady Frederick (1907), Jack Straw (1908), Our Betters (1923) and The Constant Wife (1926), which ran in the West End or on Broadway, each for nearly a year or longer

Of course nowadays it is his novels and short stories that gain him his renown.

Maugham’s most famous novel, Of Human Bondage (1915), is a semi-autobiographical work that follows the life of Philip Carey, an orphan with a clubfoot who dreams of becoming an artist.

The Moon and Sixpence (1919) is another notable novel, inspired by the life of French painter Paul Gauguin. It tells the story of Charles Strickland, a stockbroker who abandons his family and career to pursue his passion for painting.

Maugham’s short stories are also wonderful, particularly those set in exotic locations. He travelled extensively to places such as the South Pacific and South Asia. Among the best-known examples are Rain (1921), charting the moral disintegration of a missionary attempting to convert the sexual sinner Sadie Thompson; The Letter (1924), dealing with domestic murder and its implications; The Book Bag (1932), a story of the tragic result of an incestuous relationship; and Flotsam and Jetsam (1947), set in a rubber plantation in Borneo, where a dreadful shared secret binds a husband and wife to a mutually abhorrent relationship.

Personal Life

Maugham lived a life as unconventional as his writing. He was gay at a time when homosexuality was taboo and illegal in Britain. Attempting to conform to society and mindful of the fate of his compatriot Oscar Wilde, he entered in doomed marriage with Syrie Wellcome. Although the marriage lasted for some years, and they had a daughter Liza together, the love of his life was Gerald Haxton with whom he spent 30 years together.

He travelling extensively, living in places like Nice and the South Pacific, and closely observing the lives of others along the way.

Though controversial in his time, Maugham’s works have endured. He helped make writing a viable career and pave the way for later authors. His cynical and unflinching perspectives on life have assured him an important place in 20th century literature. Maugham’s unique and distinctive voice continues to resonate with readers today, nearly 60 years after his death. Overall, W Somerset Maugham was a groundbreaking author whose memorable and oft-quoted works have secured his legacy.

W. Somerset Maugham Best Books

Of Human Bondage

W. Somerset Maugham’s masterwork is the coming-of-age story of Philip Carey, a sensitive young man consumed by an unrequited and self-destructive love.

Born with a clubfoot, Philip is orphaned as a child and raised by unsympathetic relatives. Sent to a boarding school where he has difficulty fitting in, he grows up with an intense longing for love, art, and experience. After failing to become an artist in Paris, he begins medical studies in London, where he meets Mildred, a cold-hearted waitress with whom he falls into a powerful, tortured, life-altering love affair.

This is the most autobiographical of Maugham’s works, with Philip’s malformed foot standing in for Maugham’s stutter, and the character’s painful romantic struggles inspired by the author’s own intense love affairs with both men and women. A brilliant and deeply moving portrayal of the price of passion and the universal desire for connection, Of Human Bondage stands as one of the most accomplished novels in English literature.

The Painted Veil

Published as a complete novel in 1925, The Painted Veil is a powerful novel of transgression and redemption. Maugham tells the story of the lovely and superficial Kitty Garstin and her unhappy marriage to Walter Fane, a quiet and honorable man. Kitty agrees to marry Walter not because she loves him, but because she fears being upstaged by her younger sister.

Kitty travels to Tching-Yen (Hong Kong) with her new husband, where he is posted as a government scientist, and Kitty soon falls in love with her husband’s colleague, the handsome and charming Charlie Townsend.

Walter is not as clueless about her behavior as Kitty would like to believe, and eventually rejected by her selfish lover, he has her travel with him to mainland China to help during a dangerous cholera epidemic. The experience utterly transforms Kitty and she begins to take responsibility for her mistakes and understand her shortcomings. Beautiful and deeply affecting, The Painted Veil is a thought-provoking study of the ability of people to change, grow, and learn how to love deeply.

The Moon and the Sixpence

Gripped by an overwhelming obsession, Charles Strickland, a conventional London stockbroker, decides in midlife to desert his wife, family, business, and civilization for his art. One of Maugham’s most popular works, The Moon and Sixpence is a riveting story about an uncompromising and self-destructive man who forsakes wealth and comfort to pursue the life of a painter.

Drifting from Paris to Marseilles, Strickland eventually settles in Tahiti, takes a mistress, and in spite of poverty and a long, terminal illness, produces his most passionate and mysterious works of art.
Loosely based on the life of Paul Gauguin, Maugham’s timeless masterpiece is storytelling at its best — an insightful work focusing on artistic fixation that propels the artist beyond the commonplace into the selfish realm of genius.

The Magician

Maugham’s enchanting tale of secrets and fatal attraction The Magician is one of Somerset Maugham’s most complex and perceptive novels. Running through it is the theme of evil, deftly woven into a story as memorable for its action as for its astonishingly vivid set of characters. In end of the 20th Century Paris, Arthur and Margaret are engaged to be married. Everyone approves and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves — until the menacing and repulsive Oliver Haddo appears.

Collected Stories

Though W. Somerset Maugham was also famous for his novels and plays, it has been argued that in the short story he reached the pinnacle of his art.

These expertly told tales, with their addictive plot twists and vividly drawn characters, are both galvanizing as literature and wonderfully entertaining. In the adventures of his alter ego Ashenden, a writer who (like Maugham himself) turned secret agent in World War I, as well as in stories set in such far-flung locales as South Pacific islands and colonial outposts in Southeast Asia, Maugham brings his characters vividly to life, and their humanity is more convincing for the author’s merciless exposure of their flaws and failures.

You can also check out our reading list of the 20 Best British Books of the 20th Century