Somerset Maugham biography. Maugham, William Somerset

William Somerset Maugham (eng. William Somerset Maugham, born January 25, 1874, Paris - December 16, 1965, Nice) - British writer, one of the most successful prose writers of the 1930s, author of 78 books, British intelligence agent.

Somerset Maugham was born on January 25, 1874 in Paris, the son of a lawyer at the British Embassy in France.

Parents specially prepared the birth on the territory of the embassy so that the child had legal grounds to say that he was born in the territory of the UK: a law was expected to be passed according to which all children born in French territory automatically became French citizens and, thus, upon reaching the age of majority, were subject to be sent to front in case of war.

His grandfather, Robert Maugham, was at one time a well-known lawyer, one of the co-organizers of the English legal society. Both grandfather and father of William Maugham predicted their fate as a lawyer. And although William Maugham himself did not become a lawyer, his older brother Frederick, later Viscount Maugham, was pleased with his legal career and served as Lord Chancellor (1938-1939).

As a child, Maugham spoke only French, mastering English only after he was orphaned at the age of 10 (his mother died of consumption in February 1882, his father (Robert Ormond Maugham) died of stomach cancer in June 1884) and was sent to relatives in the English city of Whitstable in Kent, six miles from Canterbury.

Upon arrival in England, Maugham began to stutter - this remained for life.

“I was small in stature; hardy, but not strong physically; I stuttered, was shy and in poor health. I had no inclination for the sport, which occupies such important place in the life of the English; and - either for one of these reasons, or from birth - I instinctively shunned people, which prevented me from getting along with them, ”he said.

Since William was brought up in the family of Henry Maugham, vicar in Whitstable, he began his studies at the Royal School in Canterbury. Then he studied literature and philosophy at the University of Heidelberg - in Heidelberg Maugham wrote his first work - a biography of the composer Meyerbeer (when it was rejected by the publisher, Maugham burned the manuscript).

Then he entered the medical school (1892) at the hospital of St. Thomas in London - this experience is reflected in Maugham's first novel, Lisa of Lambeth (1897). The first success in the field of literature Maugham brought the play "Lady Frederick" (1907).

During the First World War, he collaborated with MI5, as an agent of British intelligence was sent to Russia in order to prevent her from leaving the war. Arrived there by boat from the USA, to Vladivostok. Was in Petrograd from August to November 1917, repeatedly met with Alexander Kerensky, Boris Savinkov and others politicians. He left Russia because of the failure of his mission (October Revolution) through Sweden.

The work of the intelligence officer was reflected in the collection of 14 short stories "Ashenden, or the British Agent" (1928, Russian translations - 1929 and 1992).

After the war, Maugham continued successful career playwright, writing the plays The Circle (1921), Sheppey (1933). Maugham's novels were also successful - "The Burden of Human Passions" (19159) - almost an autobiographical novel, "The Moon and a Penny", "Pies and Beer" (1930), "Theater" (1937), "The Razor's Edge" (1944).

In July 1919, Maugham traveled to China in pursuit of new experiences, and later to Malaysia, which gave him material for two collections of short stories.

The villa at Cap Ferrat on the French Riviera was bought by Maugham in 1928 and became one of the great literary and social salons and the writer's home for the rest of his life. Winston Churchill sometimes visited the writer, occasionally there were also Soviet writers. His work continued to be replenished with plays, short stories, novels, essays and travel books.

By 1940, Somerset Maugham had already become one of the most famous and wealthy writers of the English fiction. Maugham did not hide the fact that he writes “not for the sake of money, but in order to get rid of the ideas, characters, types that haunt his imagination, but, at the same time, does not mind at all if creativity provides him, among other things, with the opportunity to write what he wants and be his own master.”

In 1944, Maugham's novel "The Razor's Edge" was published. Most During the Second World War, Maugham, now in his sixties, was in the United States, first in Hollywood, where he worked extensively on scripts, making adjustments to them, and later in the South.

In 1947, the writer approved the Somerset Maugham Prize, which was awarded to the best English writers under the age of thirty-five.

Maugham gave up traveling when he felt that they could give him nothing more. “There was nowhere else for me to change. The arrogance of culture flew off me. I accepted the world as it is. I have learned tolerance. I wanted freedom for myself and was ready to give it to others. After 1948, Maugham left the dramaturgy and fiction, wrote essays, mostly on literary topics.

Maugham's last lifetime publication, the autobiographical notes A Look into the Past, was published in the fall of 1962 on the pages of the London Sunday Express.

Somerset Maugham died on December 15, 1965 at the age of 92 in the French town of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, near Nice, from pneumonia. According to French law, patients who died in the hospital were supposed to undergo an autopsy, but the writer was taken home, and on December 16 it was officially announced that he had died at home, in his villa, which became his last refuge. The writer does not have a grave as such, since his ashes were scattered under the wall of the Maugham Library, at the Royal School in Canterbury.

Somerset Maugham Personal Life:

Without repressing his bisexuality, in May 1917 Maugham married the decorator Siri Wellcome, with whom they had a daughter, Mary Elizabeth Maugham.

The marriage was not successful, in 1929 the couple divorced. In old age, Somerset admitted: "My most big mistake was that I imagined myself to be three-quarters normal and only one-quarter homosexual, when in reality it was the other way around.”

Interesting facts about Somerset Maugham:

Maugham always placed his desk against a blank wall so that nothing would distract him from his work. He worked three or four hours in the morning, fulfilling the self-imposed norm of 1000-1500 words.

Dying, he said: “Dying is a boring and bleak business. My advice to you is never do this.”

"Before writing new novel, I always re-read Candide, so that later I unconsciously follow this standard of clarity, grace and wit.

Maugham about the book “The Burden of Human Passions”: “My book is not an autobiography, but an autobiographical novel, where facts are strongly mixed with fiction; the feelings described in it, I experienced myself, but not all episodes happened as they are told, and they are partly taken not from my life, but from the life of people I know well.

“I would not go to see my plays at all, neither on the evening of the premiere, nor on any other evening, if I did not consider it necessary to check their effect on the public in order to learn from this how to write them.”

Novels by Somerset Maugham:

"Lisa of Lambeth" (Liza of Lambeth)
"The Making of a Saint"
"Hero" (The Hero)
Mrs Craddock
"Carousel" (The Merry-go-round)
The Bishop's Apron
"Conqueror of Africa" ​​(The Explorer)
The Magician
"The burden of human passions" (Of Human Bondage)
"Moon and penny" (The Moon and Sixpence)
The Painted Veil
Cakes and Ale: or, the Skeleton in the Cupboard
"Small Corner" (The Narrow Corner)
"Theater" (Theatre)
"Christmas Holiday", (Christmas Holiday)
"Villa on the Hill" (Up at the Villa)
"One Hour Before Dawn" The Hour Before Dawn)
The Razor's Edge
“Then and now. A novel about Niccolò Machiavelli" (Then and Now)
"Catalina" (Catalina, 1948; Russian translation 1988 - A. Afinogenova)

On December 16, 1965, William Somerset Maugham passed away in Nice. The life of the 91-year-old writer was interrupted by pneumonia. Maugham was the most popular prose writer and playwright of the 1930s - theaters staged more than 30 of his plays, he wrote more than 78 books. In addition, Maugham's works were often and successfully filmed. Today we decided to recall a few facts from the biography of the author of the novels "Theatre", "Moon and a penny" and "The burden of human passions".

1. Somerset Maugham was born and died in France, but the writer was a subject of the British crown - the parents predicted the birth so that the child was born in the embassy.

2. Until the age of ten, William spoke only French. English language the writer began to teach after moving to England after the death of his parents. From the age of 10, Maugham began to stutter, from which he was never able to get rid of.

3. Somerset was born into a family of hereditary lawyers - his grandfather, father and older brother, who rose to the rank of Lord Chancellor, were engaged in advocacy.

Maugham always put his desk against a blank wall so that nothing distracts from work.

4. During the First World War, he collaborated with MI5. After the war, he worked in Russia on a secret mission, was in Petrograd in August-October 1917, where he was supposed to help the Provisional Government stay in power, fled after the October Revolution.

5. Maugham loved to travel - he preferred the exotic of Asia and Oceania. On numerous trips, the writer collected material for his books. However, after 1948, he stopped going anywhere, because he considered that travel could no longer give him something new.

Alfred Hitchcock used excerpts from autobiographical notes for his film The Secret Agent

6. Despite the fact that Somerset Maugham was married for a long time to Siri Welkom, with whom he had a daughter, Mary Elizabeth, the writer was bisexual. At one time he was in love with actress Sue Jones, whom he was ready to marry again. But Maugham had the longest relationship with the American Gerald Haxton, an avid gambler and drunkard, who was his secretary.

7. In 1928, Maugham bought a villa on the French Riviera. For forty years, about 30 servants helped the writer. However, the fashionable atmosphere did not discourage him - every day he worked in his office, where he wrote at least 1,500 words. Celebrities often visited his house at Cape Ferrat - Winston Churchill, H. G. Wells, Jean Cocteau, Noel Coward, and even several Soviet writers.

Somerset Maugham has no grave - his ashes are scattered at the walls of the Maugham Library in Canterbury

8. The first novel - "Lisa of Lambeth" - Maugham wrote in 1897, but success came to the writer only in 1907, along with the play "Lady Frederick". But his very first literary experience - a biography of the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer - he burned because the publisher rejected it.

9. During World War II, he worked in Hollywood, working on scripts. Maugham was forced to leave France by the occupation and his name being blacklisted by the Nazis.

10. After the writer put an end to the novel "Catalina", Maugham turned to the study of literature and essays. In 1947, the Somerset Maugham Prize was established, which was awarded to English writers under the age of 35.

William Somerset Maugham was born on January 25, 1874 at the British Embassy in Paris. This birth of a child was more planned than accidental. Since at that time a law was being written in France, the essence of which was that all young men born in France were required to be drafted into the army when they came of age. Naturally, the very idea that their son, in whose veins English blood flows, might soon join the ranks of the army that would fight against England, frightened the parents and demanded decisive action. There was only one way to avoid this kind of situation - by giving birth to a child on the territory of the English embassy, ​​which, according to existing laws, was equated with a birth in England. In the family, William was the fourth child. And from the very early childhood he was predicted a lawyer's future, tk. both his father and grandfather were prominent lawyers, two brothers later became lawyers, and the most successful was the second brother Frederick Herbert, who later became Lord Chancellor and Peer of England. But, as time has shown, the plans were not destined to come true.

Birth in Paris could not but affect the child. So, for example, a boy under the age of eleven spoke only French. And the reason that prompted the child to start learning English was sudden death his mother Edith from consumption when he was eight, and two years later his father also dies. As a result, the boy is in the care of his own uncle Henry Maugham, who lived in the city of Whitstable in England, in the county of Kent. My uncle was a parish priest.

This period of life was not happy for little Maugham. Uncle and his wife were very callous, boring and rather mean people. Also, the boy was faced with the problem of communicating with his guardians. Not knowing English, he could not establish relations with new relatives. And, in the end, the result of such ups and downs in the life of a young man was that he began to stutter and this disease, Maugham will remain for life.

William Maugham was sent to study at the Royal School, which was located in Canterbury, an ancient town located southeast of London. And here, little William had more cause for concern and worry than for happiness. For his natural short stature and stuttering, he was constantly teased by his peers. English with a characteristic French accent was also the reason ridicule.

Therefore, moving to Germany in 1890 to study atHeidelberg University was an indescribable, indescribable happiness. Here he finally begins to study literature and philosophy, trying with all his might to get rid of his inherent accent. Here he will write his first work - a biography of the composer Meyerbeer. True, this work will not cause a "stormy applause" from the publisher and Maugham will burn it, but this will be his first conscious attempt at writing.

In 1892, Maugham moved to London and entered medical school to study. Such a decision was not caused by cravings and inclinations for medicine, but was made only because the young man from a decent family needed to get some more or less decent profession, his uncle's pressure in this matter also had its influence. Subsequently, he will receive a diploma as a general practitioner and surgeon (October 1897), and even work for some time at St. Thomas' Hospital, which was located in one of the poorest quarters of London. But the most important thing in this period for him is literature. Even then, he clearly understands that this is precisely his vocation, and at night he begins to write his first creations. On weekends, he visits theaters and the Tivoli Music Hall, where he will review all the performances that he could see from the very back seats.

The period of life associated with his medical career we will later see in his novel "Lisa of Lambeth", which the publishing house"Fischer Unwin" released in 1897. The novel was accepted by both professionals and the general public. The first editions sold out in a matter of weeks, which gave Maugham confidence in the correctness of his choice towards literature, not medicine.

1898 reveals William Maugham Somerset as a playwright, he writes his first play, A Man of Honor, which will premiere on the stage of a modest theater only five years later. The play did not cause a furor, it was played only two evenings, the reviews of critics were, to put it mildly, terrible. In fairness, it is worth noting that later, a year later, Maugham will remake this play, radically changing the ending. And already in the commercial theater "Avenue Theater" play will be shown more than twenty times.

Despite a relatively unfortunate first experience in playwriting, within ten years, William Somerset Maugham would become a well-known and recognized playwright.

The comedy "Lady Frederick", which was staged in 1908 on the stage of the "Court Theater", enjoyed particular success.

A number of plays were also written that raise issues of inequality in society, hypocrisy, venality of representatives different levels authorities. Society and critics took these plays in different ways - some were sharply criticized, others were praised for their wit and stage presence. Nevertheless, despite the ambiguity of reviews, it should be noted that on the eve of the First World War, Maugham Somerset became a recognized playwright, performances based on whose works were successfully staged both in England and abroad.

At the beginning of the war, the writer served in the British Red Cross. In the future, employees of the well-known British intelligence service MI-5 recruit him into their ranks. So the writer becomes a scout and goes first to Switzerland for a year, and then to Russia to carry out a secret mission, the purpose of which was to prevent Russia from leaving the war. He met with such well-known political players of that time as Kerensky A.F., Savinkov B.V. etc.

Later, S. Maugham will write that this idea was doomed to failure in advance and the agent turned out to be nothing from him. First positive moment this mission was Maugham's discovery of Russian literature for himself. In particular, he discovered F.M. Dostoevsky, and was especially struck by the works of A.P. Chekhov, he even began to learn Russian in order to read Anton Pavlovich in the original; the second moment was the writing by Maugham of a collection of short stories "Ashenden or British Agent" (original title "Ashenden or British Agent"), dedicated to espionage.

In the period between the two world wars, the writer writes a lot, and also travels often, which gives him the basis for writing more and more new works. Now these are not only novels or plays, but a number of short stories, essays, and essays were also written.

A special place in the writer's work is the autobiographical novel The Burden of Human Passions (1915). Writers of the time like Thomas Wolfe, Theodore Dreiser recognized the novel as brilliant.

In the same period of time, Maugham gravitates towards a new direction for him - a socio-psychological drama. Examples of such works are Unknown (1920), For Merit (1932), Sheppey (1933).

When did the second World War Maugham was in France. And he ended up there not by chance, but by order of the Ministry of Information, he had to study the mood of the French, visit ships in Toulon. The result of such actions are articles that give the reader complete confidence that France will fight to the end and stand in this confrontation. The same mood pervaded his book "France at War" (1940). And just three months after the release of the book, France would surrender, and Maugham would need to urgently leave the country for England, since there were rumors that the Germans had blacklisted his name. From England he goes to the USA, where he stays until the end of the war.

Returning to France after the war was full of sadness - his house was plundered, the country was in complete ruin, but the main positive thing was that the hated fascism was not just stopped, but crushed to the ground and it was possible to live and write further.

It is no coincidence that in this post-war period Somerset Maugham writes historical novels. In the books "Then and Now" (1946), "Catalina" (1948), the writer tells about power and its influence on a person, about rulers and their policies, pays attention to true patriotism. In these novels we see a new style of writing novels, there is a lot of tragedy in them.

The Razor's Edge (1944) is one of the last, if not the last, significant novels of the writer. The novel was a consummation in many respects. When one day Maugham was asked: "How long has he been writing this book", the answer was - "All my life."

In 1947, the writer decides to approve the Somerset Maugham Prize, which should be awarded to the best English writers under the age of 35.

In June 1952, at Oxford, the writer was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Literature.

AT last years his writer is immersed in essay writing. And the book "Great Writers and Their Novels", published in 1848. is a clear confirmation of this. In this book, the reader meets such characters as Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, Dickens and Emily Brontë, Fielding and Jane Austen, Stendhal and Balzac, Melville and Flaubert. All these great people accompanied Maugham throughout his long life.

Later, in 1952, his collection "Changing Moods" was published, consisting of six essays, where we see memories of such novelists as G. James, G. Wells and A. Bennett, with whom Somerset Maugham was personally acquainted.

On December 15, 1965, the writer died. It happened in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat (a city in France). The cause of death was pneumonia. As such, the writer does not have a burial place, it was decided to dispel his ashes under the wall of the Maugham Library, at the Royal School in Canterbury.

Name: Somerset Maugham (William Somerset Maugham)

Age: 91 years old

Activity: writer

Family status: was divorced

Somerset Maugham: biography

Somerset Maugham is the author of 21 novels, short story writer and playwright, critic and socialite who moved in the highest circles of London, New York and Paris. The writer worked in the genre of realism, focusing on the traditions of naturalism, modernism and neo-romanticism.

Childhood and youth

William Somerset Maugham was born on January 25, 1874. The son of a lawyer at the British Embassy in Paris, he spoke French before he mastered English. The Somerset family was youngest child. The three brothers were much older, and at the time of their departure to study in England, the boy was left alone in his parents' house.

He spent a lot of time with his mother and was attached to her. The mother died of tuberculosis when the child was 8 years old. This loss was the greatest shock in Maugham's life. Experiences provoked a speech impediment: Somerset began to stutter. This feature remained with him for the rest of his life.

The father died when the boy was 10 years old. The family broke up. The older brothers studied law at Cambridge, and Somerset was sent under the tutelage of an uncle priest, in whose house his youth passed.

The child grew up lonely and withdrawn. Children brought up in England did not accept him. Maugham's French-speaking stutter and accent were ridiculed. On this basis, shyness grew stronger. The boy had no friends. Books became the only outlet for the future writer, who studied at a boarding school.

At the age of 15, Somerset persuaded his uncle to let him go to Germany to study German language. Heidelberg became the place where he first felt free. The young man listened to lectures on philosophy, studied drama and became interested in theater. Somerset's interests concerned creativity, Spinoza, and.

Maugham returned to the UK at the age of 18. He had a sufficient level of education to choose future profession. His uncle directed him to the path of the clergy, but Somerset chose to go to London, where from 1892 he became a student at the medical school at St. Thomas' Hospital.

Literature

Medical studies and medical practice made of Somerset not only a certified doctor, but also a man who saw people through and through. Medicine left its mark on the style of the writer. He rarely used metaphors and hyperbole.

The first steps in literature were weak, since among Maugham's acquaintances there were no people who could direct him to Right way. He was engaged in the translation of Ibsen's works in order to study the technique of creating dramaturgy, he wrote stories. In 1897, the first novel, Lisa of Lambeth, was published.

Analyzing the works of Fielding, Flaubert, the writer also focused on current trends. He worked hard and fruitfully, gradually becoming one of the most widely read authors. His books sold quickly, bringing income to the writer.

Maugham studied people, using their destinies and characters in his work. He believed that the most interesting lies in everyday life. This was confirmed by the novel "Lisa of Lambeth", in which the influence of creativity was felt.

In the novel "Mrs. Craddock" one could see the author's passion for prose. For the first time he asked questions about life and love. Maugham's plays made him a wealthy man. The premiere of "Lady Frederick", which took place in 1907, approved him in the status of a playwright.

Maugham adhered to the traditions sung by the Restoration theater. Comedies were authoritative for him. Maugham's plays are divided into comic, where ideas similar to reflections are voiced, and dramatic, reflecting social problems.

Maugham's work reflected the experience of participation in the First and Second World Wars. The author reflected his vision in the works “For military merit”, “On the razor's edge”. During the war years, Maugham visited the auto-sanitary unit in France, intelligence, who worked in Switzerland and in Russia. In the final, he ended up in Scotland, where he was treated for tuberculosis.

The writer has traveled extensively different countries Europe and Asia, in Africa and on the islands in pacific ocean. It enriched him inner world and gave impressions that he used in his work. Somerset Maugham's life was eventful and interesting facts.

"The burden of human passions" and autobiographical work"On Human Slavery" - novels in which these categories are combined. In the novel "Moon and a penny" Maugham talks about the artist's tragedy, in "Colored Cover" - about the fate of a scientist, and in "Theater" - about the everyday life of an actress.

Novels and stories by Somerset Maugham are distinguished by sharp plots and psychologism. The author keeps the reader in suspense and uses the technique of surprise. The presence of the author's "I" in the works is their traditional feature.

Personal life

Critics and biographers have debated the ambiguity of Maugham's persona. His first biographers spoke of the writer as a person with bad temper, a cynic and misogynist, unable to take criticism. A smart, ironic and hardworking writer purposefully made his way to literary heights.

He focused not on intellectuals and aesthetes, but on those for whom his works were relevant. Maugham banned the coverage of personal correspondence after his death. The ban was lifted in 2009. This made some of the nuances of his life more understandable.

There were two women in the writer's life. He was very fond of Ethelwyn Jones, known as Sue Jones. Her image is used in the novel "Pies and Beer". The daughter of a popular playwright, Ethelwyn was a successful 23-year-old actress when she met Maugham. She had just divorced her husband and quickly succumbed to the pressure of the writer's advances.

Miss Jones was famous for her easy disposition and availability. Maugham didn't think it was vicious. At first, he did not plan a wedding, but soon changed his mind. The writer was refused a marriage proposal. The girl was pregnant by someone else.

Somerset Maugham married Siri Mogam, the daughter of a philanthropist known for his philanthropic work. Siri managed to be married. At 22, she married Henry Wellcome, who was 48. The man was the owner of a pharmaceutical corporation.

The family quickly fell apart due to his wife's infidelity with the owner of a chain of London department stores. Maugham met the girl in 1911. In their union, a daughter, Elizabeth, was born. At that time, Siri was not divorced from Wellcome. Communication with Maugham was scandalous. The girl attempted suicide because of claims ex-husband for divorce.

Maugham acted like a gentleman and married Siri, although feelings for her quickly disappeared. Soon the couple began to live separately. In 1929, their official divorce took place. Today, Maugham's bisexuality is no secret to anyone, which is neither confirmed nor denied by his biographers.

The union with Gerald Haxton confirmed the writer's hobbies. Somerset Maugham was 40 and his companion was 22. For 30 years, Haxton accompanied Maugham as travel secretary. He drank, got carried away gambling and spent Maugham's money.

The writer used Haxton's acquaintances as prototypes for his works. It is known that Gerald even looked for new partners for Maugham. One of these men was David Posner.

The seventeen-year-old boy met Maugham in 1943, when he was 69 years old. Haxton died of pulmonary edema and was succeeded by Alan Searle, an admirer and new lover of the writer. In 1962, Maugham formally adopted his secretary, depriving his daughter Elizabeth of her inheritance rights. But the daughter managed to defend her legal rights, and the court declared the adoption invalid.

Death

Somerset Maugham died of pneumonia at the age of 92. It happened on December 15, 1965 in the provincial French town of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, not far from Nice. Contrary to French law, the patient, who died within the walls of the hospital, was not subjected to an autopsy, but was transported home and the next day an official declaration of death was made.

Relatives and friends of the writer said that he found last resort in your favorite villa. The writer does not have a burial, as a cremation was carried out. The ashes of Maugham were scattered at the walls of the library at the Royal School in Canterbury. This place bears his name.

Bibliography

• 1897 - "Lisa of Lambeth"
• 1901 - "Hero"
• 1902 - "Mrs. Craddock"
• 1904 - "Carousel"
• 1908 - "Mag"
• 1915 - "The burden of human passions"
• 1919 - "Moon and penny"
• 1922 - "On a Chinese screen"
• 1925 - "Patterned cover"
• 1930 - "Pies and Beer, or the Skeleton in the Closet"
• 1931 - "Six stories written in the first person"
• 1937 - "Theatre"
• 1939 - "Christmas Holidays"
• 1944 - "Razor's Edge"
• 1948 - "Catalina"

Quotes

Quotes, aphorisms and sayings of the witty Maugham are relevant today. They comment life situations, people's perception, author's position and his attitude to his own work.

“Before writing a new novel, I always re-read Candide, so that later I unconsciously follow this standard of clarity, grace and wit.”

“I would not go to see my plays at all, neither on the evening of the premiere, nor on any other evening, if I did not consider it necessary to check their effect on the public in order to learn from this how to write them.”

“Dying is a terribly boring and painful occupation. My advice to you: avoid anything like that.”

“The funny thing about life is that if you refuse to accept anything but the very best, then very often that’s what you get.”

William Somerset Maugham

Date and place of birth - January 25, 1874, Embassy of the United Kingdom, Paris, French Third Republic.

British writer, one of the most successful prose writers of the 1930s, author of 78 books, British intelligence agent.

William Somerset Maugham was born in 1874 in Paris, where his father was a lawyer at the British Embassy. Having lost eight years of his mother and ten years of his father, Maugham was brought up in London by his uncle, in whose house an atmosphere of puritanical severity reigned. Then he studied at a boarding school in Canterbury and at the University of Heidelberg in Germany.

In order to acquire a profession, he entered the medical institute at St. Thomas in London. Here he acquired knowledge of medicine and a certain life experience. He faced not only the physical suffering of a person, but also the poverty of the inhabitants of the slums of London's East End, with social inequality.

Medical practice that brought him closer to ordinary people, gave him material for entry into literature. The success of the first novels "Lisa of Lambeth" and "Mrs. Cradock", although it was very modest, forced Maugham to part with medicine and devote himself entirely to writing. True, the first novels did not bring him much income. Later becoming one of the wealthiest writers in the world, Maugham recalled with a chuckle that for the first ten years he earned with his pen an average of about a hundred pounds a year, which was not much higher than the earnings of low-paid day laborers.

Pushed by material motives, Maugham is fond of dramaturgy. During the first two decades present century he writes play after play. Some of them, in particular "A Man of Honor", "Lady Frederick", "Smith", "Promised Land", "Circle", were successful, and there were such years when more Maugham's plays than Bernard Shaw were on the stages of England at the same time. .

However, the work on the plays did not bring complete satisfaction to the author himself. He wrote for the theater most of all caring about the scenic entertainment of his works. This determined his success with the viewer, but also limited creative possibilities, forcing to put the rich life material in the Procrustean bed of a certain plot, no matter how skillfully and fascinatingly it was built. At the zenith of his dramaturgy, Maugham decided to write a novel in order, as he later admitted, “to free himself from huge amount painful memories that never ceased to haunt me.” After the publication of this novel - "The Burden of Human Passions", - which brought the author wide fame, he increasingly takes up the pen of a narrator, and not a playwright.

In the twenties of our century, Maugham also asserts himself as a master of storytelling. His short stories, diverse in form, reveal to the reader the inner world of a person. Maugham tries to show the soul of a person, sometimes snatching him out of the social environment.

B the burden of human passions

But still among a large number novels, plays, short stories and essays by Maugham, the novel “The Burden of Human Passions” is most famous both in England and abroad. By the way, we note that the title of the novel is taken from the title of one of the sections of Spinoza's Ethics, which in literal translation reads: "On the slavery of men." However, in order for the title of the novel itself to convey the meaning that this chapter of Spinoza's treatise has, Maugham agreed that this work should be called in the Russian edition “The Burden of Human Passions”.

The writer himself, answering the question why he does not consider “The Burden of Human Passions” his best novel, pointed out that it was just “ autobiographical book”, which reflects his own painful experiences. In the author's preface to one of the American editions of the novel, Maugham calls it "semi-autobiographical" and remarks: "I say semi-autobiographical because such a work is still fiction, and the author has the right to change the facts with which he is dealing, as he sees fit".

Indeed, many of the facts of his life that the author tells about in the novel are changed - some are weakened, others are strengthened, others are given a different interpretation or expression. For example, the lameness that brings so much inconvenience and moral torment to the hero of the novel, Philip Carey, did not torment Maugham himself, but the writer suffered from something else. handicap, a stutter that caused him almost the same trouble and moral pain. The experiences of young Philip, judging by the confessions of the author himself, largely coincide with those of Maugham. Like his hero, he lost his parents early, was brought up in a family of relatives, went through all the stages of youthful searches.

But it would be wrong to assume that in the novel “The Burden of Human Passions” the author simply told the story of one hero, close to his own. own biography. The reader is presented with a motley gallery of various types, having their own biographies, characters, written out by the author with amazing thoroughness.

Maugham painted the life of some sections of the then England with such brilliance that in many ways “The Burden of Human Passions” can be put on a par with significant works major English realist writers.

The idealistic conception of people underlies the main storyline novel - Philip's love for a woman who, according to all existing norms of the relationship between a man and a woman, could not be loved by him. Maugham wanted to prove that a person can love not only contrary to reason, but also contrary to his very nature. This is love for a limited, stupid, vicious, unscrupulous woman on the part of a man who is disgusted by everything ugly, who has refined tastes sometimes seems simply unthinkable.

F acts from life

Somerset Maugham was born and died in France, but the writer was a subject of the British crown - the parents predicted the birth so that the child was born in the embassy.

“I would not go to see my plays at all, neither on the evening of the premiere, nor on any other evening, if I did not consider it necessary to check their effect on the public in order to learn from this how to write them.”

From the age of 10, Maugham began to stutter, from which he was never able to get rid of.

Despite the fact that Somerset Maugham was married for a long time to Siri Welkom, with whom he had a daughter, Mary Elizabeth, the writer was bisexual. At one time he was in love with actress Sue Jones, whom he was ready to marry again. But Maugham had the longest relationship with the American Gerald Haxton, an avid gambler and drunkard, who was his secretary.

During the First World War, he collaborated with MI5. After the war, he worked in Russia on a secret mission, was in Petrograd in August-October 1917, where he was supposed to help the Provisional Government stay in power, fled after the October Revolution.

Until the age of ten, William spoke only French. The writer began to learn English after moving to England after the death of his parents.

Celebrities often visited his house on Cape Ferrat - Winston Churchill, HG Wells, Jean Cocteau, Noel Coward, and even several Soviet writers.

The work of the intelligence officer was reflected in the collection of 14 short stories "Ashenden, or the British Agent" -1928.

In 1928, Maugham bought a villa on the French Riviera. For forty years, about 30 servants helped the writer. However, the fashionable atmosphere did not discourage him - every day he worked in his office, where he wrote at least 1,500 words.

“Before writing a new novel, I always re-read Candide, so that later I unconsciously follow this standard of clarity, grace and wit.”

Maugham's last lifetime publication, the autobiographical notes A Look into the Past, was published in the fall of 1962 on the pages of the London Sunday Express.

Dying, he said: “Dying is a boring and bleak business. My advice to you is never do this.”

In 1947, the Somerset Maugham Prize was established, which was awarded to English writers under the age of 35.

Maugham always placed his desk against a blank wall so that nothing would distract him from his work. He worked three or four hours in the morning, fulfilling the self-imposed norm of 1000-1500 words.

Somerset Maugham has no grave - his ashes are scattered at the walls of the Maugham Library in Canterbury

Maugham wrote his first novel, Lisa of Lambeth, in 1897, but success came to the writer only in 1907, along with the play Lady Frederick. But his very first literary experience - the biography of the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer - he burned because the publisher rejected it.

Quotes and aphorisms

The funny thing about life is that if you refuse to accept anything but the very best, that's often what you get.

People may forgive you for the good you have done for them, but they rarely forget the wrong they have done to you.

More than anything, people love to stick a label on another person that once and for all frees them from the need to think.

A well-dressed person is one whose clothes are ignored.

Dreams are not a departure from reality, but a means to get closer to it.

People are evil to the extent that they are unhappy.

There is no worse torture in the world than to love and despise at the same time.

Love is what happens to men and women who don't know each other.

Writing simply and clearly is just as difficult as being sincere and kind.

There is only one success - spend your life the way you want.

A woman will always sacrifice herself if given the right opportunity. This is her favorite way to please herself.

... for a person who is accustomed to reading, it becomes a drug, and he himself becomes his slave. Try to take books away from him and he will become gloomy, twitchy and restless, and then, like an alcoholic who, if left without alcohol, attacks the shelves.

Alas, in our imperfect world it is much easier to get rid of good habits than from the bad ones.

Kindness is the only value in this illusory world that can be an end in itself.

Life is ten percent what you do in it, and ninety percent how you take it.

Knowing the past is unpleasant enough; to know even the future would be simply unbearable.

Tolerance is another name for indifference.

Each generation laughs at their fathers, laughs, laughs at their grandfathers and admires their great-grandfathers.

Man is not what he wants to be, but what he cannot but be.

The most valuable thing that life has taught me is not to regret anything.

We are no longer the same people we were last year, not the same people we love. But it is wonderful if we, while changing, continue to love those who have also changed.

And women can keep secrets. But they cannot keep silent about the fact that they have kept silent about the secret.