January 25th, 2002
Anglo-Irish playwright, short story writer, and novelist W. Somerset Maugham (Of Human Bondage, 1915) is born in 1874 at the British Embassy in Paris.
W. Somerset Maugham, b. January 25, 1874, d. 1965
During his long lifetime, Maugham was criticized for the “popular” nature of his novels and stories and also lionized by many of his fellow authors as a master. A prolific writer, he excelled at all types of fiction, short and long, was a potent essayist, and had more plays in simultaneous production in London than any other playwright except Shaw.
Suggested Reading Novels Mrs Craddock, 1902. Of Human Bondage, 1915. The Moon and Sixpence, 1919. Cakes and Ale, 1930. The Razor’s Edge, 1944. Short stories The Complete Short Stories of W. Somerset Maugham, 1951. Essays & Memoirs The Summing Up, 1938. Books and You, 1940. Strictly Personal, 1941 Great Novelists and Their Novels, 1948. A Writer’s Notebook, 1949. The Partial View, 1954. Points of View, 1958. Essays on Literature, 1987. Travel On a Chinese Screen, 1922. The Gentleman in the Parlour. A record of a journey from Rangoon to Haiphong, 1930. Don Fernando, or, Variations on some Spanish themes, 1935.
Posted by: The Editors
Category: A Week in Literary History, Books and Authors | Link to this Entry
