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Selected plays [of] W. Somerset Maugham
A collection of Somerset Maugham`s plays, including THE CONSTANT WIFE, OUR BETTERS, SHEPPEY, THE SACRED FLAME and THE CIRCLE. Last published in 1991.
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1963
About the author
W. Somerset Maugham
1,812 books6,330 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 - 1 of 1 review
September 3, 2015
Sheppey was good, but I thought Maugham was trespassing beyond his comfort zone and it showed, all the rest of them are centred on upper-tier social misadventures and infidelity and he is clearly most at home describing their moral dilemmas, the moral premise getting more hedonistic with each of these four, and getting better as plays too. The last play of the selection was the best, and the penultimate the second best. I think I liked the Sacred Flame better than the Circle, not necessarily an indication of their respective quality. The setting for the Sacred Flame is a bit cliché, the Circle's is quite original, though it gives up the climax with the name, but both have very strong honest messages.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review