The Moon and Sixpence is a short novel of 1919 by William Somerset Maugham based on the life of the painter Paul Gauguin. The story is told in episodic form by the first-person narrator as a series of glimpses into the mind and soul of the central character, Charles Strickland, a middle-aged English stockbroker who abandons his wife and children abruptly to pursue his desire to become an artist.
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Book in English, First vintage international edition, December 2000, 94 p. Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham tells the story of author William Ashenden's series of contracts over decades with a greatly renowned novelist, and the need of his would-be biographer for details that William alone can provide. The novel deals with the craft of writing and the foibles of those who...
It is very difficult for a writer of my generation, if he is honest, to pretend indifference to the work of Somerset Maugham,' wrote Gore Vidal. 'He was always so entirely there.' Originally published in 1915, Of Human Bondage is a potent expression of the power of sexual obsession and of modern man's yearning for freedom. This classic bildungsroman tells the story of Philip...
London, Heinemann\Octopus, 1988. The book includes 65 short stories by W. S. Maugham (The Fall of Edward Barnard, Rain, Honololu). Rain. The Fall of Edward Barnard. Honolulu. The Ant and the Grasshopper. The Pool. Mackintosh. The Three Fat Women of Antibes. The Facts of Life. Gigolo and Gigolette. The Voice of the Turtle. The Unconquered. The Escape. Mr Know-All. The Romantic...
The Magician is a novel by British author W. Somerset Maugham, originally published in 1908; In this tale, the magician Oliver Haddo, a caricature of Aleister Crowley, attempts to create life. Crowley wrote a critique of this book under the pen name Oliver Haddo, where he accused Maugham of plagiarism. Maugham wrote The Magician in London, after he had spent some time living in...
In Theatre, W. Somerset Maugham–the author of the classic novels Of Human Bondage and Up at the Villa–introduces us to Julia Lambert, a woman of breathtaking poise and talent whose looks have stood by her forty-six years. She is one of the greatest actresses England–so good, in fact, that perhaps she never stops acting. It seems that noting can ruffle her satin feathers, until...
In Up at the Villa, W. Somerset Maugham portrays a wealthy young English woman who finds herself confronted rather brutally by the repercussions of whimsy. On the day her older and prosperous friend asks her to marry him, Mary Leonard demurs and decides to postpone her reply a few days. But driving into the hills above Florence alone that evening, Mary offers a ride to a...
