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Somerset Maugham: A Life
An instinctive and magnificent storyteller, Somerset Maugham was one of the most popular and successful writers of his time. He published seventy-eight books -- including the undisputed classics Of Human Bondage and The Razor’s Edge -- which sold over 40 million copies in his lifetime.
Born in Paris to sophisticated parents, Willie Maugham was orphaned at the age of ten and brought up in a small English coastal town by narrow-minded relatives. He was trained as a doctor, but never practiced medicine. His novel Ashenden , based on his own espionage for Britain in World War I, influenced writers from Eric Ambler to John le Carr?. After a failed affair with an actress, he married another man’s mistress, but reserved his greatest love for a man who shared his life for nearly thirty years. He traveled the world and spoke several languages. Despite a debilitating stutter, and an acerbic and formal manner, he entertained literary celebrities and royalty at his villa in the south of France. He made a fortune from his writing--the short story “Rain” alone earned him a million dollars–yet true critical recognition, and the esteem of his literary peers, eluded him. The life of Somerset Maugham, as told by acclaimed biographer Jeffrey Meyers, is an intriguing, glamorous, complex, and extraordinary account of one of the twentieth century’s most enduring writers.
Born in Paris to sophisticated parents, Willie Maugham was orphaned at the age of ten and brought up in a small English coastal town by narrow-minded relatives. He was trained as a doctor, but never practiced medicine. His novel Ashenden , based on his own espionage for Britain in World War I, influenced writers from Eric Ambler to John le Carr?. After a failed affair with an actress, he married another man’s mistress, but reserved his greatest love for a man who shared his life for nearly thirty years. He traveled the world and spoke several languages. Despite a debilitating stutter, and an acerbic and formal manner, he entertained literary celebrities and royalty at his villa in the south of France. He made a fortune from his writing--the short story “Rain” alone earned him a million dollars–yet true critical recognition, and the esteem of his literary peers, eluded him. The life of Somerset Maugham, as told by acclaimed biographer Jeffrey Meyers, is an intriguing, glamorous, complex, and extraordinary account of one of the twentieth century’s most enduring writers.
- GenresBiographyNonfiction
432 pages, Paperback
First published February 17, 2004
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About the author
Jeffrey Meyers
111 books26 followersJeffrey Meyers, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, has recently been given an Award in Literature by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Thirty of his books have been translated into fourteen languages and seven alphabets, and published on six continents. He lives in Berkeley, California.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 1, 2022
Maughamiana : Here's a superb storyteller whose life is endlessly fascinating. And for serious sleuths : Why did he marry Syrie? The critical years, 1914-1917 : W1, MOM "dates" Syrie, the married playmate of many, meets Gerald Haxton (22), becomes a spy, then marries Syrie, but finds true ID w Haxton...and : publishes "Bondage." Well! A grand smashup of personal and professional events. Worthy of contemplation.~~ Hence Maughamiana.
Most bios aren't clear (re above) as to what happened & when. I wanted to know. Author delivers. Maugham, who'd already had same-sex "alliances," was meantime "dating" various women, only natural - then and now - and incorrectly thinking he might be het. MOM (1874-1965) grew up amid the horror of Wilde scandal, which scarred English chaps into the late 20thC and created many bogus marriages, then and now. He was, by 1909, a hit playwright - w high visibilty. In 33 years he wrote 30 plays, can you imagine? 10 were whopper intl hits. Many were filmed.
MOM wanted "acceptance." His conventional side led him to feel a "home" would be settling (many fools still believe this) and a glammy wife would add to his image. (Ah, yes) ~~ Syrie, an experienced thing, was married to a hugely rich man (Wellcome) and kept by department store twit (Selfridge). She set her hat on MOM, he was flattered..o, their arrivals at Lady This, Duchess That salons ! (Gee, who's the cute young butler?, he surely considered).
W1. In France, he meets Haxton, an American w an ambulance unit. Kaboom ! Hax was more experienced, in more ways, than Syrie - and without a sixpence in his wallet. Raffish, charming, butch. In search of a Daddy, Gerald makes himself..The Most Wanted. Syrie (1915-16) gets preggers...MOM starts to do Secret Service stuff. His spy "cover" is playwright. But he, suddenly famous w pub of "Bondage," needs a sexual cover, too. 1917, he marries Syrie after she births their daughter and thus begins 10 years of marital bosherie.
It's hard to pinpoint certain dates...but can you appreciate the combustion of the years & timing? Some bio writers say MOM married Syrie as a Good Deed. She was preg. I've always had trouble with this. Hax had a run-in w Brit law, 1915 (a sexual indiscretion..) A trial and deportation ensued. Author Meyers suggests that (maybe) Syrie used Hax's deportation as blackmail, ie, getting MOM to marry her. If she told what she knew abt Willie... It makes sense.
Some GRs dislike this book. I disagree. It opens many new reflections, here and there, then and now, for the curious who admire MOM. Besides, there's a wonderful story of Patrick Leigh Fermor having a disastrous visit to the Villa Mauresque and, say it isnt so, the odious Famous Wives Escort Jerome Zipkin (armpiece for the odious Nancy Reagan, Betsy Bloomingdale) snooping and sniffing around MOM in his last years.
"Ashenden," a fine work, includes a portrait of a diplomat who married to further his career. MOM, within his fiction, confesses: "It was a comedy he was playing ... and it seemed intolerable to live forever behind a mask...."
Most bios aren't clear (re above) as to what happened & when. I wanted to know. Author delivers. Maugham, who'd already had same-sex "alliances," was meantime "dating" various women, only natural - then and now - and incorrectly thinking he might be het. MOM (1874-1965) grew up amid the horror of Wilde scandal, which scarred English chaps into the late 20thC and created many bogus marriages, then and now. He was, by 1909, a hit playwright - w high visibilty. In 33 years he wrote 30 plays, can you imagine? 10 were whopper intl hits. Many were filmed.
MOM wanted "acceptance." His conventional side led him to feel a "home" would be settling (many fools still believe this) and a glammy wife would add to his image. (Ah, yes) ~~ Syrie, an experienced thing, was married to a hugely rich man (Wellcome) and kept by department store twit (Selfridge). She set her hat on MOM, he was flattered..o, their arrivals at Lady This, Duchess That salons ! (Gee, who's the cute young butler?, he surely considered).
W1. In France, he meets Haxton, an American w an ambulance unit. Kaboom ! Hax was more experienced, in more ways, than Syrie - and without a sixpence in his wallet. Raffish, charming, butch. In search of a Daddy, Gerald makes himself..The Most Wanted. Syrie (1915-16) gets preggers...MOM starts to do Secret Service stuff. His spy "cover" is playwright. But he, suddenly famous w pub of "Bondage," needs a sexual cover, too. 1917, he marries Syrie after she births their daughter and thus begins 10 years of marital bosherie.
It's hard to pinpoint certain dates...but can you appreciate the combustion of the years & timing? Some bio writers say MOM married Syrie as a Good Deed. She was preg. I've always had trouble with this. Hax had a run-in w Brit law, 1915 (a sexual indiscretion..) A trial and deportation ensued. Author Meyers suggests that (maybe) Syrie used Hax's deportation as blackmail, ie, getting MOM to marry her. If she told what she knew abt Willie... It makes sense.
Some GRs dislike this book. I disagree. It opens many new reflections, here and there, then and now, for the curious who admire MOM. Besides, there's a wonderful story of Patrick Leigh Fermor having a disastrous visit to the Villa Mauresque and, say it isnt so, the odious Famous Wives Escort Jerome Zipkin (armpiece for the odious Nancy Reagan, Betsy Bloomingdale) snooping and sniffing around MOM in his last years.
"Ashenden," a fine work, includes a portrait of a diplomat who married to further his career. MOM, within his fiction, confesses: "It was a comedy he was playing ... and it seemed intolerable to live forever behind a mask...."
April 13, 2020
This was a sad book in many ways. It's a story of a successful but sad man who never felt loved and was very critical of other authors of his day. It was interesting to me to see how his life connected with many artists who painted his portrait or who sold their works to him. He made a lot of money selling books but also film scripts. I may re-read Ashenden and finish The Moon and Sixpence. I may also re-read the Bernie Gunther mystery in which he plays a prominent role from his villa in southern France in 1956.
August 23, 2014
The second casualty of my new policy of not finishing books that don't grab me. Maugham is one of my favorite authors, although I recognize that he is not necessarily the greatest of his generation. I was very interested in the life that gave rise to his writing. I wasn't so interested in an unending chronicle of his sex life. While his uncertain sexuality undoubtedly contributed a great deal to his character and life experiences, I really don't think it needs quite the emphasis this author gave it. Maybe because of this, or maybe just because biographies are by nature not as gripping as fiction, I kept putting this book down and then forgetting to pick it back up again. Eventually I gave up. I did gain some insight into Maugham from reading as much as I did, but I'm not sure how much more than I would have gained reading the wikipedia entry.
April 23, 2011
I thought this had too many summaries of his book's plots to be really good. I agree with my prof that it seems rushed. Eg the Somerville thing...
February 11, 2008
Very interesting read. The flow was not as good as it could have been, I felt. The author may have took for granted how much knowledge the reader had about the turn of the century and it's politics, social life and literary culture. I would have liked more information about the events surrounding Maugham and his cohorts.
Also, many of the statements made by the author are seemingly contradicted by the author himself, sometimes within a page or two, without any explanation or clarification.
Also, many of the statements made by the author are seemingly contradicted by the author himself, sometimes within a page or two, without any explanation or clarification.
November 5, 2008
Well, I have considered myself a Maugham fan for a long time and just learned I have read a very small percentage of his work. I wish this book were better written. The awkward structure offers chapters with definite years and then ends each chapter on a tangent that takes you many years in the future. Lots of repetition, confusing sentences, and naked boys. I learned that Maugham destroyed all his diaries and letters received, which must have been challenging for this biographer.
November 19, 2019
I tend to agree with what others have said; this book is seems to be written more for a serious scholar of Somerset Maugham (and his contemporaries) rather than a casual reader. While I appreciated the author's thoughtful literary analysis and his telling of Maugham's life, on more than one occasion I had to do some pretty aggressive google to properly understand the context.
August 26, 2007
More time is spent describing what happens in his books than looking at the man himself.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews