Where was the
man with the scar
living
? How did he make a
he make a living ?
scar living
Answers
Answer:
On 25 January 1874 in Paris the English novelist, dramatist and short story writer, William Somerset Maugham was born. He was the son of a solicitor at the British embassy. His parents died when he was very little and the boy was brought up by his uncle, a clergyman. He was educated at King’s School, Canterbury and Heidelberg University, Germany. He took his medical training at St. Thomas’s Hospital in London, but though he qualified he never practiced.
His experience in medicine gave Maugham material for his first work, “Lisa of Lambeth” (1897). The success of the novel made him give up medicine and devote his life to literature.
Soon after the publication of his first novel Maugham went to Spain and then travelled widely to all parts of the world. He visited Russia, America, Africa, Asia and the Polynesian Islands. His travels provided him with much of the material for his books.
Somerset Maugham has written 24 plays, nineteen novels and a large number of short stories, in addition to travel works and autobiographies.
Maugham’s theatre career began with “ A Man of Honour” (1903), and continued until 1933 with a number of successful plays such as “The Circle”, ”Our Betters”, “For Services Rendered”, “Sheppey” and others. At one point only Bernard Shaw had more plays running at the same time in London.
The most mature period of Maugham’s literature career began in 1915, when he published one of his most popular novels, “Of Human Bondage”. The popularity of the novel is largely due to the fact that the fate of its main character Philip Carey is typical of that of many young Englishmen. Philip experiences the bondage of other man’s ideals and he learns very much about another bondage, the cruelty, unhappiness, grief and pain which so many human beings must experience, partly because of their own follies, but chiefly because of an unjust social system.
His other major novel is “The Moon and Sixpence” (1919), a book inspired by the life of Paul Gauguin which tells the story of a man who sacrifices everything- family, home, reputation, health, life itself- to painting. Maugham’s favorite among his novels is “Cakes and Ale” (1930) which represents the backstage life of the literary profession. His other most popular novels include: “The Narrow Corner”, “Theatre” and “The Razor’s Edge”.
Maugham’s fame as a short- story writer began with “The Trembling of a Leaf” in 1921, since when he published more than ten collections.
Maugham’s fiction has little romance or idealism, for he takes a definitely pessimistic view of men and women. He is sceptical of altruism and sometimes regards self- sacrifice with wry amusement. Maugham tries to be impartial to his characters. They are neither all good nor all bad. “I cannot bring myself to judge my fellows; I am content to observe them. My observation has led me to believe that, all in all, there is not much difference between the good and the bad as the moralist would have us believe… There is not much to choose between men. They are all a hotchpotch of greatness and littleness, of virtue and vice, of nobility and business… Selfishness and kindness, idealism and sensuality, vanity, shyness, disinterestedness, courage, laziness, nervousness, obstinacy and diffidence; they can all exist in a single person and form a plausible harmony”.