Somerset Maugham: A Life
by Jeffrey Meyers
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An instinctive and magnificent storyteller, Somerset Maugham was one of the most popular and successful writers of his time. He published seventy-eight books -- including the undisputed classics Of Human Bondage and The Razor’s Edge -- which sold over 40 million copies in his lifetime. Born in Paris to sophisticated parents, Willie Maugham was orphaned at the age of ten and brought up in a small English coastal town by narrow-minded relatives. He was trained as a doctor, but never show more practiced medicine. His novel Ashenden, based on his own espionage for Britain in World War I, influenced writers from Eric Ambler to John le Carr?. After a failed affair with an actress, he married another man’s mistress, but reserved his greatest love for a man who shared his life for nearly thirty years. He traveled the world and spoke several languages. Despite a debilitating stutter, and an acerbic and formal manner, he entertained literary celebrities and royalty at his villa in the south of France. He made a fortune from his writing--the short story “Rain” alone earned him a million dollars–yet true critical recognition, and the esteem of his literary peers, eluded him. The life of Somerset Maugham, as told by acclaimed biographer Jeffrey Meyers, is an intriguing, glamorous, complex, and extraordinary account of one of the twentieth century’s most enduring writers. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
One of Meyers' many literary biographies. I found this to be a useful adjunct to my collection of Maugham's oeuvre.
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ThingScore 75
Poor Somerset Maugham: Not only did he not get his due from critics in his lifetime, but he also hasn't attracted the right biographer in the nearly four decades since his death.
For all of Meyers' obviously sincere advocacy of Maugham, he does not seem to be on his subject's wavelength, either as a person or as an author, and it is perhaps this poor match that makes this one of the most show more dissapointing of his more than a dozen biographies, many if not most of which I have admired and enjoyed. There is a hurried quality to the narrative, even a hint of impatience at times show less
For all of Meyers' obviously sincere advocacy of Maugham, he does not seem to be on his subject's wavelength, either as a person or as an author, and it is perhaps this poor match that makes this one of the most show more dissapointing of his more than a dozen biographies, many if not most of which I have admired and enjoyed. There is a hurried quality to the narrative, even a hint of impatience at times show less
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Lists
Works concerning W. Somerset Maugham
62 works; 2 members
Author Information
42+ Works 1,649 Members
Jeffrey Meyers, a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, has written biographies of such literary greats as D.H. Lawrence, Robert Frost, Ernest Hemingway, & F. Scott Fitzgerald. (Bowker Author Biography)
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Somerset Maugham: A Life
- Original title
- Somerset Maugham: A Life
- Original publication date
- 2004
- People/Characters
- W. Somerset Maugham
- Original language
- English
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 89
- Popularity
- 359,905
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.10)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 2
- ASINs
- 1
