Posts
Tell Him To Go To The Devil - W. Somerset Maugham
This post is about W. Somerset Maugham's letters to an anxious mother, which later Maugham incorporated in one of his lectures at Kingsway Hall. The lecture was published as The Writer's Point of View (1951).Novelist or Bond Salesman (1925)
Today I read something that first made me roll about with laughter, later calmed me down, subsequently disposed me to listen to good sense and a writer's advice on the art of writing novels.
This article was published in The Bookman, issue Febr…
Maugham's Cocktail - Even Gods of Olympus Would Fall!
This post is going to have an unusual bend. As the title suggests, it's about a cocktail; one that Maugham mentions in The Razor's Edge. No name is given, and from my un-whole-heartedly-search (meaning not thoroughly unto the third or fourth pages of Google search results), no reference has been rendered.The Razor's Edge (1944) And Booze
Interestingly, alcohol plays quite an important role in this story of Larry Darrell, an American (supposedly materialist) turned mystic, when the…
Purely for My Pleasure - W. Somerset Maugham
Purely For My Pleasure (London: Heinemann, 1962)I will talk about the last book that Maugham published in this post, which is an essay on his collection of paintings, with very good quality illustrations.
Maugham's Art Collection: Purely for My Pleasure
This is truly a delightful book, content-wise and presentation-wise. In it, Maugham writes a short essay, intercalated with the colour reproductions, about the circumstances in which he acquired the paintings shown in this book, including…
Ten Novels and Their Authors - W. Somerset Maugham
Ten Novels and Their Authors (London: Heinemann, 1954)In this post, I will look at the first edition of this collection of essays that W. Somerset Maugham has written about ten authors of his choice. A most remarkable study by Maugham and a very enjoyable read.
Great Novelists and Their Novels (Philadelphia: The John C. Winston Company, 1948)
This is the title of the first American edition of the collection of the essays on the ten authors, later revised into a much better and extended version …
The Judgement Seat by W. Somerset Maugham
The Judgement Seat (London: The Centaur Press, 1934)This post will look at what I would call a collector copy of a short story "The Judgement Seat."
The Judgement Seat - the Story
This is a strange book, in the sense that I am not quite sure why it was published by itself. So far I have not been able to locate its publication history. I stumbled upon it when I was browsing the catalogues.
There is not too much information about it in Stott. It is not listed as published in a magazi…
Review of W. Somerset Maugham & The Quest for Freedom by Robert Lorin Calder
Calder, Robert Lorin. W. Somerset Maugham and the Quest for Freedom. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1973.This post reviews Robert Lorin Calder's W. Somerset Maugham & the Quest for Freedom, a book length criticism on Maugham's novels, short stories, drama, travel books, and essays.
The Quest for Freedom
The title of this book is telling of Calder's main thesis. Through the examination of Maugham's life and work, the author argues that for Maugham, freedom, both physical an…
Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham - First Edition (Second Issue)
Of Human Bondage. New York: George H. Doran Company, 1915[1919]This post is about the first edition of Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham, probably (as they say in the commercials) his most famous novel, and some things one should be aware of when purchasing a copy. Some time later I will talk more about the content in another post.
Of Human Bondage - First Edition
The first edition of this semi-autobiographical novel was published by George Doran in 1915. It was the first book that Maugha…