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The Magician (1909) by W. Somerset Maugham - First US Edition
The Magician (1909), first US edition - W. Somerset MaughamThe Magician (New York: Duffield & Company, 1909)
Yet again, I am going to talk about a book that no one seems to like, not even W. Somerset Maugham himself, but then often the creator is his own hardest critic.
I do have an excuse to go over this book once more. I recently purchased another copy of it (I had two already), which is the first American edition with a wicked decoration on the cover.
I will not talk about the story i…
Maugham Quiz
And now, something completely different.Fun stuff. How much do you know about Maugham? Ready for the challenge?
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Analysis: Some Historical, Cultural, and Literary References in Mrs. Craddock (1902) by W. Somerset Maugham
Miss Ley (Portrait-statue of Agrippina) in Mrs. Craddock (1902)W. Somerset Maugham
As Mrs.Craddock (1902) was written over a hundred years ago, some of the references that W. Somerset Maugham made in the novel may not be so obvious, and it is interesting to find them out, as I have been doing with some of his other works.
The picture for this post is most probably the portrait-statue that Maugham mentions as the model of his fictitious Miss Ley. For more discussion on this character, please re…
Analysis: Bertha's Tragedy: Mrs. Craddock (1902) by W. Somerset Maugham
Mrs Craddock, 1955, New and RevisedW. Somerset Maugham
Mrs. Craddock (London: Heinemann, 1955)
I am very glad that finally I get to Mrs. Craddock. Note that my reference is not to the first edition. I do possess a first edition, which I will talk about and provide photo shortly. The reason why I put the 1955 edition is simply because it is the copy that I just finished reading, and thus the page numbers will be referring to it. It was some time since I bought this edition and hadn't got time…
"I didn't do it!" – Mr. W. Somerset Maugham
Mr. W. Somerset Maugham by QuizAnother interesting find. This cartoon, by Quiz, published in 1925, most certainly is referring to The Painted Veil, which were first serialized in the November 1924 to March 1925 issues of Cosmopolitan, in between the transition of the merging of the two magazines, Cosmopolitan and Hearst's International; in Nash's Pall Mall Magazine from December 1924 to July 1925; and then finally published in book form on 20 March by George H. Doran.
For the controve…
Analysis: I Love Me - I Kill Me: From W. Somerset Maugham to James Ward Byrkit
"The Best Ever" by W. Somerset MaughamThis post is going to be a little bit different from the habitual. Instead of focussing on W. Somerset Maugham's works or books that talk about Maugham, it is about thoughts triggered by one of his stories, "The Treasure," which I analysed in a previous post.
"The Treasure" was written as "The Best Ever" in 1933. In it, Maugham portrays a self-absorbed man. Reading it as a modern fairy tale, I bring out the narc…