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Showing posts from October, 2013

"The Sorrows of Autobiography. Somerset Maugham's The Summing Up" by Roger J. Porter

Porter, Roger J. "The Sorrows of Autobiography. Somerset Maugham's The Summing Up." Self-same Songs: Autobiographical Performances and Reflections
. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 2002. 67-80.
In this post, I will look at the chapter on Maugham's The Summing Up in this book on autobiographic writings. I dived straightly into the chapter I was interested in without knowing much about the book itself, taking it as a regular academic criticism. The result, I am sorry to say, is dista…

A Distinguished Author Reading From His Works - W. Somerset Maugham

A Distinguished Author Reading From His Works - "The Wash Tub" and "The Happy Couple"
This post will look at a recording made by the Columbia Records of W. Somerset Maugham reading two of his short stories: "The Wash Tub" (1929) and "The Happy Couple" (1943). The text of these short stories is available on the free ebook - short stories page.

I have uploaded one of the stories, "The Happy Couple," which you can listen to now.



Somerset Maugham …

Looking Back - W. Somerset Maugham

"Looking Back." Show 2.6 - 2.8 (June, July, August, 1962)
I have finally got all the issues of the Show Magazine, in which W. Somerset Maugham's last memoirs "Looking Back" was published. This post will be about this very controversial piece of writing.

Looking Back at Eighty-Eight Years Old
It was with apprehension that I opened the magazines... It was truly quite an experience. Maugham left instructions that they were not to be re-published again, after its two serial…

The Tenth Man - W. Somerset Maugham

The Tenth Man (London: Heinemann, 1913)
This post will be about one of W. Somerset Maugham’s plays, The Tenth Man. A Tragic Comedy, first produced in 1910. We will look at the story and the first edition. At the end of the post, you will find a link to an ebook copy of the play.

The Tenth Man: A Political Plot
Though termed as a “tragic comedy, ” The Tenth Man does not have too much comedy in it, but then it is not all tragic either. The term "the tenth man" has since World War Z becom…

A Man of Honour - W. Somerset Maugham

A Man of Honour (London: Heinemann, 1912)
This post is about W. Somerset Maugham's first published play, A Man of Honour. We will look briefly at its content and the different editions, and a link to the free ebook version is provided at the end of the post.

A Man of Honour: A Tragedy
Besides being Maugham's first published play, it is also his first full-length play that was produced (by The Stage Society); it disappointed the author with its limited success: not exactly in the way he …

More On The First Edition of Of Human Bondage - W. Somerset Maugham

Of Human Bondage (New York: Doran, 1915[1919])
A few months ago I wrote about the first edition of Of Human Bondage. I would like to update some information on the copy that I bought and described. I believe that collecting is an art, and it is a process that one learns to pick up more and more details.

As can be observed in the photo, my copy has the title and the author's name blocked in black, and on the spine at the bottom the publisher's name, "DORAN." This is in fact a b…