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W. Somerset Maugham: Five Novels
In the novels of W. Somerset Maugham, outsiders dissatisfied with society and their prescribed roles in it seek fulfillment in the deeply personal quests. Though their travels take them to settings as different as the inner-city slums of London and the lush tropical island and Tahiti, ultimately their journeys are internal searches for self-understanding. The five works collected in t his omnibus - Liza of Lambeth, Mrs. Craddock, The Explorer, Of Human Bondage, and The Moon and the Sixpence - represent the best and most provocative of Maugham's early novels.
Through his tales of solitary individuals striving to find their place in the world, Maugham expressed emotional and spiritual concerns that still speak to readers today.
W. Somerset Maugham: Five Novels is part of Barnes & Noble's Library of Essential Writers. Each title in the series presents the finest works - complete and unabridged - from one of the greatest writers in literature in magnificent, elegantly designed hard-back editions. Every volume also includes an original introduction that provides the reader with enlightening information on the writer's life and works.
- GenresClassics
1275 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
About the author
W. Somerset Maugham
1,810 books6,183 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 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 27, 2011
Contains:
Liza of Lambeth (**)
Mrs Craddock (***)
The Explorer (***)
Of Human Bondage (*****)
The Moon And Sixpence (****)
The magnificent Of Human Bondage alone would earn this collection five stars, and of the remaining four novels, Moon and Sixpence is a classic as well, and the others range from decent to excellent. The fact that you can get this volume from Barnes and Noble for about 12 bucks, when each of the five individual novels would cost you about $10 in paperback, makes it an insanely good value.
For ratings and reviews of the individual novels, please see my book list.
Liza of Lambeth (**)
Mrs Craddock (***)
The Explorer (***)
Of Human Bondage (*****)
The Moon And Sixpence (****)
The magnificent Of Human Bondage alone would earn this collection five stars, and of the remaining four novels, Moon and Sixpence is a classic as well, and the others range from decent to excellent. The fact that you can get this volume from Barnes and Noble for about 12 bucks, when each of the five individual novels would cost you about $10 in paperback, makes it an insanely good value.
For ratings and reviews of the individual novels, please see my book list.
February 5, 2016
Liza of Lambeth:-
About a young girl from slums - decidedly lower middle if not lower classes - from London, and her choices or lack thereof, her travails.
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Mrs. Craddock:-
..........................................
The Explorer:-
...........................................
Of Human Bondage:-
Love is not always sweet or fun, if it is indeed love, and not a pleasant social connection one has cranked up into thinking of as love so one might feel proper about going ahead into intimacy or marriage. Love can be heart wrenching and painful, and one can be helpless in love with someone one might not approve of, someone who despises one in spite of the lover's superiority and the inferiority of the object of love. Life and love do not follow convenient patterns of paths to happiness, one has to hack out one's path and climb up with difficulty.
This is somewhat a sense of what Maughm describes far more beautifully.
............................................
The Moon and the Sixpence:-
About Gaugin.
(12092008)
Unlike his other contemporaries Gauguin was not young when he took to painting but middle aged, with a family that he abandoned for the purpose of being free to paint. From there to his life in South Pacific islands where he spent his last years and did some of his most astounding paintings, his life story is the base of this book.
(13092010)
The story by Maugham goes into a crescendo after the artist leaves for Pacific islands, and the last part where the protagonist sees the ultimate artistic achievement of the artist in his final abode is unforgettable, with his realisation that those final works of the artist are neither possible to transport to elsewhere where they would create sensation and fetch tremendous price, nor would it be appropriate for the simple reason that they belong where they are, where they stem from and live, are a part of the life the artist found - and that he did this, intentionally, having realised as much, paying his tribute to to place where he found the greatest expression of his talent possible due to the place so full of life and peace.
Looking at some of the works of Gauguin after reading this brings one shivers, not in the smallest part due to the sheer beauty and life of the work.
(22092010)
..................................................................................
About a young girl from slums - decidedly lower middle if not lower classes - from London, and her choices or lack thereof, her travails.
.........................................
Mrs. Craddock:-
..........................................
The Explorer:-
...........................................
Of Human Bondage:-
Love is not always sweet or fun, if it is indeed love, and not a pleasant social connection one has cranked up into thinking of as love so one might feel proper about going ahead into intimacy or marriage. Love can be heart wrenching and painful, and one can be helpless in love with someone one might not approve of, someone who despises one in spite of the lover's superiority and the inferiority of the object of love. Life and love do not follow convenient patterns of paths to happiness, one has to hack out one's path and climb up with difficulty.
This is somewhat a sense of what Maughm describes far more beautifully.
............................................
The Moon and the Sixpence:-
About Gaugin.
(12092008)
Unlike his other contemporaries Gauguin was not young when he took to painting but middle aged, with a family that he abandoned for the purpose of being free to paint. From there to his life in South Pacific islands where he spent his last years and did some of his most astounding paintings, his life story is the base of this book.
(13092010)
The story by Maugham goes into a crescendo after the artist leaves for Pacific islands, and the last part where the protagonist sees the ultimate artistic achievement of the artist in his final abode is unforgettable, with his realisation that those final works of the artist are neither possible to transport to elsewhere where they would create sensation and fetch tremendous price, nor would it be appropriate for the simple reason that they belong where they are, where they stem from and live, are a part of the life the artist found - and that he did this, intentionally, having realised as much, paying his tribute to to place where he found the greatest expression of his talent possible due to the place so full of life and peace.
Looking at some of the works of Gauguin after reading this brings one shivers, not in the smallest part due to the sheer beauty and life of the work.
(22092010)
..................................................................................
April 29, 2011
I read two novels in this collection about five years ago, and came away with the impression that Maughm was one of the more interesting authors of this time period.
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June 29, 2015How to get the whole book
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews