The Novels of W. Somerset Maugham

Waldstein: 1944-04-18; limited edition signed by the author; trade edition published two days later. Last major novel. Epic in scope and often wrongly considered to be mainly about Larry. It is, in fact, as much about Isabel and Elliott. They all seek salvation. They all find this is as hard to achieve as the razor's edge is sharp.

Waldstein: 1930-09-29. WSM's favourite book by his own admission. A devastating satire of the literary world and the most explicit romance (in the traditional sense of the word) in all of Maugham. Masterful first-person narrative. Possibly even more autobiographical than Of Human Bondage.

Waldstein: 1919-04. First "exotic" novel, partly set in Tahiti. Penetrating study of artistic genius and social hypocrisy.

Waldstein: 1897-09. A slum tale in London.

Waldstein: 1898-05-31. A violent tale of seduction and sedition set in Renaissance Italy.

Waldstein: 1901-07-03. The tragic story of a war veteran who returns home to his insufferable family. Broadly the same plot used in the play The Unknown (1920).

Waldstein: 1902-11. Written third but published fourth, and mutilated, due to censorship. Restored and revised edition, with a new preface, 1928. Later reprinted in The Collected Edition (1937). Preface expanded as late as 1955. The story of a passionate and independent woman. Way ahead of its time.

Waldstein: 1904-09-19. Three subplots flimsily weaved together around the character of Mrs Ley. One of them derives from the play A Man of Honour (1903).

Waldstein: 1906-02. Novelised version of the play Loaves and Fishes, unproduced at the time.

Waldstein: 1907-12. Novelised version of the eponymous play, unproduced at the time.

Waldstein: 1908-11. A bizarre exercise in black magic. Protagonist Oliver Haddo notoriously based on Aleister Crowley. When it was published in November 1908, WSM was already famous as a playwright and couldn't care less about the novel. He finally decided, in 1956, after years of wondering, to include it in The Collected Edition. The new "A Fragment of Autobiography" he wrote for the occasion is more important than the novel.

Waldstein: 1915-08-12. Sweeping semi-autobiographical novel that announces the arrival of the mature Maugham.

Waldstein: 1925-03-20. Second "exotic" novel, mostly set in Hong Kong and China. Vaguely similar to the much more conventional film with Edward Norton and Naomi Watts.

Waldstein: 1932-11-07. Third and last "exotic" novel, set far in the Far East. Unusually slow pace is redeemed by superbly atmospheric writing and unforgettable characters.

Waldstein: 1937-03-03. An incisive and candid farewell to the stage from which WSM had retired in 1933.

Waldstein: 1939-02-06. Harrowing tale about dysfunctional humanity in Paris. Unusually strong political overtones, not unexpected considering the Zeitgeist of the late 1930s.

Waldstein: 1941-04-05. More like a longish short story. One of the most abused works in WSM's entire oeuvre. One wonders why.

Waldstein: 1942. A piece of pure propaganda that started as a script and proved very tiresome to novelise. Suppressed by WSM in England.

Waldstein: 1946-05-13. Naughty tale set in Renaissance Italy and starring Cesare Borgia and Machiavelli.

Waldstein: 1948-08-19. WSM's last novel and last work of fiction. Subtitled, significantly, "A Romance" (in the Maughamian sense of romance).

Waldstein: 1953-11-30. Nine novels in three volumes. New prefaces by the author. The preface to the last volume is unique in WSM's oeuvre; the other two prefaces are rehash from those written for The Collected Edition some 20 years earlier.

Waldstein : 1950. Abridged edition. New preface by WSM. It remains unclear who did the abridgement, but this is certainly a different novel than the original. Much too much - almost one half - is missing. Not recommended.