W. Somerset Maugham

Categories: Books | Books & Authors
    • Birth Name: William Somerset Maugham
    • Born: January 25, 1874
    • Birthplace: British Embassy, Paris, France
    • Parents died when very young
    • Was a stutterer
    • Once had four of his plays run simultaneously in London
    • Attended medical school for five years
    • [http: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Human_Bondage Of Human Bondage] semi-autobiographical
    • Served in WW1 as an ambulance driver
    • Gathered and passed on Intelligence during the war
    • Died: December 16, 1965, Nice, France
    • His ashes were scattered near Maugham library, Canterbury, England
  • W. Somerset Maugham was a highly successful author, whose career spanned from 1914 to 1939. He wrote many publicly well-received novels and plays, including his best known work Of Human Bondage. He never quite received the respect he would have liked from his peers and critics, which believed to be the result of a lack of vocabulary skill and the inability to excite with through imagery in his writing.

  • Medical School

    Maugham's parents both died when he was very young. This left him in the care of guardians that were indifferent to him, thus leaving emotional scars that remained his entire life. His father, grandfather and brother were all successful lawyers, and it was expected that he would follow in the family footsteps. By the time he reached college age, however, he had been writing for quite some time, and longed to become an author. He was too young to decide his own fate, and was forced to follow his guardian's wishes that he attend medical school.
  • Experiences serve Maugham

    His medical training, and service for the British Red Cross during World War l, all served the author well, supplying subject matter from which to draw in his writings. During this time of service, he was also able to observe his fellow man and to see first hand how pain and suffering can ravage the human spirit. The effect these experiences had on him is seen in many of his works. He died at the age of 91.
  • Quotations

    1. Do you know that conversation is one of the greatest pleasures in life? But it wants leisure
    2. You can do anything in this world if you are prepared to take the consequences
    3. It was such a lovely day I thought it was a pity to get up
    4. Marriage is a very good thing, but I think it's a mistake to make a habit out of it
    5. If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom, and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that too

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