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The Human Element
Unknown Binding
Published January 1, 1930
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About the author
W. Somerset Maugham
2,128 books6,097 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 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 28, 2022
A jilted writer's solace ends in a terrific story
Somerset Maugham wrote excellent plays with an impressive ability to capture nuance and emotion in his dialogue, and the best of his short stories demonstrate this also.
Here is one of the best, a little longer than most, but easily read in 30 minutes. It details the story of a "celebrity", a debutante, who's both a genuinely fun and happy person, and the man who assiduously courts her with reptilian attributes.
He goes to stay with her some time after she's retired to a life on Rhodes as a respectable widow, still clutching onto his wistful hopes. The denouement, however, does not go to his satisfaction and he spirals into an alternative sphere of feeling, which he discloses to the uncomfortable protagonist.
Recommended for all who like tension, nuance, evocative prose and an entertaining twist in the ending.
4.5 scintillating 🌟
Somerset Maugham wrote excellent plays with an impressive ability to capture nuance and emotion in his dialogue, and the best of his short stories demonstrate this also.
Here is one of the best, a little longer than most, but easily read in 30 minutes. It details the story of a "celebrity", a debutante, who's both a genuinely fun and happy person, and the man who assiduously courts her with reptilian attributes.
He goes to stay with her some time after she's retired to a life on Rhodes as a respectable widow, still clutching onto his wistful hopes. The denouement, however, does not go to his satisfaction and he spirals into an alternative sphere of feeling, which he discloses to the uncomfortable protagonist.
Recommended for all who like tension, nuance, evocative prose and an entertaining twist in the ending.
4.5 scintillating 🌟
September 8, 2021
One Interested thing which is added in my course.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews