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The Complete Short Stories of W. Somerset Maugham
1953 Doubleday hardcover. Too early for ISBN. W. Somerset Maugham (Of Human Bondage).
The complete collection of the authors' short stories.
The complete collection of the authors' short stories.
1636 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1951
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116 people want to read
About the author
W. Somerset Maugham
2,131 books6,116 followersWilliam Somerset Maugham was born in Paris in 1874. He spoke French even before he spoke a word of English, a fact to which some critics attribute the purity of his style.
His parents died early and, after an unhappy boyhood, which he recorded poignantly in Of Human Bondage, Maugham became a qualified physician. But writing was his true vocation. For ten years before his first success, he almost literally starved while pouring out novels and plays.
Maugham wrote at a time when experimental modernist literature such as that of William Faulkner, Thomas Mann, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf was gaining increasing popularity and winning critical acclaim. In this context, his plain prose style was criticized as 'such a tissue of clichés' that one's wonder is finally aroused at the writer's ability to assemble so many and at his unfailing inability to put anything in an individual way.
During World War I, Maugham worked for the British Secret Service . He travelled all over the world, and made many visits to America. After World War II, Maugham made his home in south of France and continued to move between England and Nice till his death in 1965.
At the time of Maugham's birth, French law was such that all foreign boys born in France became liable for conscription. Thus, Maugham was born within the Embassy, legally recognized as UK territory.
His parents died early and, after an unhappy boyhood, which he recorded poignantly in Of Human Bondage, Maugham became a qualified physician. But writing was his true vocation. For ten years before his first success, he almost literally starved while pouring out novels and plays.
Maugham wrote at a time when experimental modernist literature such as that of William Faulkner, Thomas Mann, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf was gaining increasing popularity and winning critical acclaim. In this context, his plain prose style was criticized as 'such a tissue of clichés' that one's wonder is finally aroused at the writer's ability to assemble so many and at his unfailing inability to put anything in an individual way.
During World War I, Maugham worked for the British Secret Service . He travelled all over the world, and made many visits to America. After World War II, Maugham made his home in south of France and continued to move between England and Nice till his death in 1965.
At the time of Maugham's birth, French law was such that all foreign boys born in France became liable for conscription. Thus, Maugham was born within the Embassy, legally recognized as UK territory.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 12, 2014
These stories are so good, you can read them again and again. I am biased because my Father was English, very much the same generation as Maugham, and I recognize these people. Maugham's short stories are complete - there is a plot, there are characters, and they satisfy. They don't leave you wondering what the writer meant, because there is no doubt what he meant. Of course you can read layers of meaning into these stories: betrayal, morale dilemmas, disillusionment. I am reminded of Noah Cross in Chinatown: " You see, Mr. Gittes, most people never have to face the fact that at the right time and the right place, they're capable of ANYTHING." Maugham's characters surprise you again and again. They also seem capable of ANYTHING.I first read these stories 25 years ago and here I am reading them again, and loving them just as much.
February 16, 2019
If you've followed me on Goodreads for any amount of time, you know that I have a dislike of the Saul Bellow/John Updike/John Cheever style of writing, in which a middle-aged man leaves his midtown Manhattan office in the rain, has a drink at the Grand Central Bar, catches the 6:22 to Westport, and ruminates about an affair he has with his secretary.
I dislike those stories because to my simpleminded mind, nothing ever happens in them. They don't have a beginning, middle, and end. They are, at best, just sketches -- still images of a moment in time. They're probably very advanced and intellectual, and I'm not.
W. Somerset Maugham, on the other hand, wrote stories. Somewhat contrived stories, true, somewhat obvious, perhaps, but they were stories in the way human psychology is built to understand stories. To my benighted mind, that's what makes them great.
Now, of course, Maugham was born in 1874, and was incredibly successful in the 1910s through the 1940s, and his stories are of their time. He wrote during the height of the British Empire, and he didn't write about its heroes. He wrote of the plantation owner in Malaya who couldn't make his rubber operation pay because the natives were such children and wouldn't give him a good day's work. He wrote of the missionaries in Samoa, driven almost to despair because the natives were such children they wouldn't accept that they were living in sin.
He wrote about the English wives brought out to the Empire, and how civilization died in the hot climates because... you guessed it, the natives are such children. In addition, all of his women are in their late 40s -- but they still retain their looks. All of his men are in their 50s -- and buffoons.
But by heaven -- Maugham's characters are all real people, and they all do things, instead of sitting around ruminating like Cheever/Updike/Bellow anti-heroes.
I dislike those stories because to my simpleminded mind, nothing ever happens in them. They don't have a beginning, middle, and end. They are, at best, just sketches -- still images of a moment in time. They're probably very advanced and intellectual, and I'm not.
W. Somerset Maugham, on the other hand, wrote stories. Somewhat contrived stories, true, somewhat obvious, perhaps, but they were stories in the way human psychology is built to understand stories. To my benighted mind, that's what makes them great.
Now, of course, Maugham was born in 1874, and was incredibly successful in the 1910s through the 1940s, and his stories are of their time. He wrote during the height of the British Empire, and he didn't write about its heroes. He wrote of the plantation owner in Malaya who couldn't make his rubber operation pay because the natives were such children and wouldn't give him a good day's work. He wrote of the missionaries in Samoa, driven almost to despair because the natives were such children they wouldn't accept that they were living in sin.
He wrote about the English wives brought out to the Empire, and how civilization died in the hot climates because... you guessed it, the natives are such children. In addition, all of his women are in their late 40s -- but they still retain their looks. All of his men are in their 50s -- and buffoons.
But by heaven -- Maugham's characters are all real people, and they all do things, instead of sitting around ruminating like Cheever/Updike/Bellow anti-heroes.
January 14, 2020
First read once upon a starry-eyed time, was it early 2014? Those first short story readings cemented my adoration of almost anything by Maugham. The goods came in the form of old paperbacks, volumes 1 to 3 (or perhaps it was 4). This rereading has been compiled into two full-bodied hardbound books, a boxed set. First edition, no less. Although the box fell part upon opening, I intend to fix it one day.
This rereading cements my love for Maugham's storytelling oeuvre. Like a seasoned chef, he seems to be able to whip up stories of different flavours based on the same basic recipe, all made from scratch, of course.
Unlike the first, this second volume contains the longer short stories, and features Maugham's fictional alter ego Ashenden. Excellent storytelling abounds here, and practically every story stands out. But among the collection of standouts, The Alien Corn still intrigues me most for its plot about self-serving, sham parenting.
This rereading cements my love for Maugham's storytelling oeuvre. Like a seasoned chef, he seems to be able to whip up stories of different flavours based on the same basic recipe, all made from scratch, of course.
Unlike the first, this second volume contains the longer short stories, and features Maugham's fictional alter ego Ashenden. Excellent storytelling abounds here, and practically every story stands out. But among the collection of standouts, The Alien Corn still intrigues me most for its plot about self-serving, sham parenting.
October 10, 2011
I found this two volume set at the library's used book store. It was labeled $3, but I paid $5, since they didn't have change and I still considered it a bargain!
I haven't read all the stories. Thus far I have read "Rain", "The Fall of Edward Barnard", "Mackintosh", "Red", "Honolulu" and "The Pool."
I love Maugham's prose, his descriptions, his straight-forward style.
I will return to these volumes again and again.
"We are foolish and sentimental and melodramatic at twenty-five, but if we weren't perhaps we should be less wise at fifty." (Red - 110)
"Moreover he was unable to frame a sentence without an oath, though a good-natured one, and his speech, albeit offensive only to prudish ears, in print would seem coarse." (Honolulu - 133)
I haven't read all the stories. Thus far I have read "Rain", "The Fall of Edward Barnard", "Mackintosh", "Red", "Honolulu" and "The Pool."
I love Maugham's prose, his descriptions, his straight-forward style.
I will return to these volumes again and again.
"We are foolish and sentimental and melodramatic at twenty-five, but if we weren't perhaps we should be less wise at fifty." (Red - 110)
"Moreover he was unable to frame a sentence without an oath, though a good-natured one, and his speech, albeit offensive only to prudish ears, in print would seem coarse." (Honolulu - 133)
Read
July 23, 2023I haven't read this book, but another volume of Maugham short stories, called Vintage Maugham.
Excellent. The Letter, in which a Singapore based English lawyer, Mr Joyce, is hired to defend his friend, Mrs Leslie Crosbie, the wife of a planter. Leslie was accused of murdering a neighbouring planter, Geoffrey Hammond. Leslie claimed Hammond attacked her in her home one night while her husband was away, and she shot him in self defence.
It looked like this would get her off, but then a letter emerges..
The vessel of Wrath, where a reprobate living on an Asian island, Ginger Ted, is attended to by a missionary woman.
The Outstation. Warburton, a Resident (like a Mayor) of an outpost of the British empire, was a formerly wealthy man who was forced to take the job after he ran through his money and ruined his privileged life in London. He is very proper about social customs but resents being thought a snob. He receives an assistant, Cooper, of colonial background. Cooper is efficient at his job, but does not respect Warburton and sees his snobbery. He doesn't share Warburton's wisdom and compassion in dealing with the native people of the administered territory.
The Four Fat Dutchmen. A 'trollop' comes between 4 men, lifelong friends who run a freighter in the Dutch East Indies. The shortest and least likable story.
Yellow Streak, Izzart, who keeps his mixed Malay-English race secret, and is terrified that his companion Campion who survives a near-tragedy with him will reveal it.
Masterton, who has been abandoned by his Malay de fact0 wife and mother of his children because he refused to marry her.
Excellent. The Letter, in which a Singapore based English lawyer, Mr Joyce, is hired to defend his friend, Mrs Leslie Crosbie, the wife of a planter. Leslie was accused of murdering a neighbouring planter, Geoffrey Hammond. Leslie claimed Hammond attacked her in her home one night while her husband was away, and she shot him in self defence.
It looked like this would get her off, but then a letter emerges..
The vessel of Wrath, where a reprobate living on an Asian island, Ginger Ted, is attended to by a missionary woman.
The Outstation. Warburton, a Resident (like a Mayor) of an outpost of the British empire, was a formerly wealthy man who was forced to take the job after he ran through his money and ruined his privileged life in London. He is very proper about social customs but resents being thought a snob. He receives an assistant, Cooper, of colonial background. Cooper is efficient at his job, but does not respect Warburton and sees his snobbery. He doesn't share Warburton's wisdom and compassion in dealing with the native people of the administered territory.
The Four Fat Dutchmen. A 'trollop' comes between 4 men, lifelong friends who run a freighter in the Dutch East Indies. The shortest and least likable story.
Yellow Streak, Izzart, who keeps his mixed Malay-English race secret, and is terrified that his companion Campion who survives a near-tragedy with him will reveal it.
Masterton, who has been abandoned by his Malay de fact0 wife and mother of his children because he refused to marry her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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December 19, 2019Some white dude who's in trouble in England or the United States shows up in Samoa and falls in love with a beautiful girl, but that ends up being the dumbest mistake of his life. The end.
Every single fucking story.
Every single fucking story.
March 16, 2020
Somerset Maugham is capable of exceptional story telling. His ability to narrate common place individuals and events to weave a profound story has left me spellbound. Meaningful and filled with charm!
January 17, 2012
Most of the stories I would give a 5, but there are a couple that I didn't like for obvious endings.
Want to read
March 2, 2013read it
December 2, 2013
a master
December 20, 2014
I have enjoyed reading selections of Maugham's stories, some with fun intriguing twists.
November 18, 2015
Crisply incisive, brutally honest yet gentle and sympathetic. Brilliant acerbic wit. Absolute mastery of the keenly observed short story.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews