- In full:
- William Somerset Maugham
- Died:
- December 16?, 1965, Nice
W. Somerset Maugham
What is W. Somerset Maugham known for in his writing style?
How did W. Somerset Maugham die?
Which four novels are central to W. Somerset Maughamâs reputation as a novelist?
W. Somerset Maugham (born January 25, 1874, Paris, Franceâdied December 16?, 1965, Nice) was an 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.
Maughamâs official death date is December 16, 1965, although some biographers state that he died on December 15. Several days before his death, he fell at his villa in Cape Ferrat, near Nice, suffered a stroke, and lapsed into a coma. He was taken to a hospital in Nice, where he died. However, in order to circumvent a French law requiring an autopsy for any death occurring in a hospital, Maughamâs body was taken back to Cape Ferrat. His death was then announced by his secretary and companion, Alan Searle, who told reporters that Maugham had died at home.
Maughamâs father, Robert Ormond Maugham, was a wealthy lawyer employed by the British Embassy in Paris. His mother, Edith Mary Maugham (nĂ©e Snell), had been born in India and raised mostly in France, where her widowed mother supported the family by writing novels and childrenâs books. W. Somerset Maugham was born at the embassy, which ensured that he would be a British citizen from birth.
Maugham was orphaned at the age of 10; he was brought up by an uncle and educated at Kingâs School, a public school in Canterbury, England. After a year at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, he entered St. Thomasâs Hospital Medical School in London and qualified as a doctor in 1897. He drew upon his experiences as an obstetrician in his first novel, Liza of Lambeth (1897), and its success, though small, encouraged him to abandon medicine. He traveled in Spain and Italy and in 1908 achieved a theatrical triumphâfour plays running in London at onceâthat brought him financial security. During World War I he worked as a secret agent. After the war he resumed his interrupted travels and, in 1928, bought a villa on Cape Ferrat in the south of France, which became his permanent home.
Maughamâs reputation as a novelist rests primarily on four books: Of Human Bondage (1915), a semi-autobiographical account of a young medical studentâs painful progress toward maturity; The Moon and Sixpence (1919), an account of an unconventional artist, suggested by the life of Paul Gauguin; Cakes and Ale (1930), the story of a famous novelist, which is thought to contain caricatures of Thomas Hardy and Hugh Walpole; and The Razorâs Edge (1944), the story of a young American war veteranâs quest for a satisfying way of life.
Maughamâs plays, mainly Edwardian social comedies, soon became dated, but his short stories have increased in popularity. Like most of his novels and plays, his stories were adapted for film and television. Many portray the conflict of Europeans in alien surroundings that provoke strong emotions, and Maughamâs skill in handling plot, in the manner of Guy de Maupassant, is distinguished by economy and suspense. In The Summing Up (1938) and A Writerâs Notebook (1949) Maugham explains his philosophy of life as a resigned atheism and a certain skepticism about the extent of manâs innate goodness and intelligence; it is this that gives his work its astringent cynicism.