| 威廉·薩默塞特·毛姆 | |||||||||||||||||
閱讀毛姆 William Somerset Maugham在小说之家的作品!!! | |||||||||||||||||
毛姆毛姆（W. Somerset Maugham，1874-1965），二十世紀上葉最成功、最流行的英國小說傢和劇作傢，生於巴黎。代表作有《月亮和六便士》和《人性枷鎖》、《尋歡作樂》等。
威廉·薩默賽特·毛姆（William,Somerset Maugham，1874～1965）英國小說傢、戲劇傢。他創作了近30部劇本，深受觀衆歡迎。他的主要成就是小說創作,代表作有長篇小說：《月亮和六便士》（1919）、《人間的枷鎖》等。毛姆的作品除在英美暢銷外，還譯成多種外文。1952年，牛津大學授予他名譽博士學位。1954年，英王授予他“榮譽侍從”的稱號。
威廉·薩默賽特·毛姆-人物生平
威廉·薩默賽特·毛姆威廉·薩默賽特·毛姆
威廉·薩默賽特·毛姆（William Somerset Maugham，1874～1965），英國小說傢、戲劇傢。1874年1月25日生於巴黎英國大使館。他的父親勞伯特·奧蒙得·毛姆，當時在駐法英國大使館任法律事務官。毛姆生下時，他父親已有三個兒子，他是家庭中最小的成員。小毛姆他八歲喪母，十歲喪父，因傢中無人照顧，他被送回英國由伯父撫養。在他渡過英吉利海峽，第一次登上祖國的土地時，他簡直不會講英語。由於這個緣故，法語和法國文化一直影響着他。毛姆進坎特伯雷皇傢公學之後，由於身材矮小，且嚴重口吃，經常受到大孩子的欺凌和折磨，有時還遭到鼕烘學究的無端羞辱。孤寂凄清的童年生活，在他稚嫩的心靈上投下了痛苦的陰影，養成他孤僻、敏感、內嚮的性格。幼年的經歷對他的世界觀和文學創作産生了深刻的影響。中學畢業後在德國海德堡大學肄業。1892年至1897年在倫敦學醫，並取得外科醫師資格。學醫期間，曾赴倫敦蘭貝斯貧民窟當了三個星期的助産士，這段經歷使他動了寫作的念頭。他的第一部長篇小說《蘭貝斯的麗莎》 （1897）即根據他作為貝可醫生在貧民區為産婦接生時的見聞用自由主義寫法寫成。一八九七年，他因染上肺疾，被送往法國南方裏維埃拉療養，開始接觸法國文學，特別是莫泊桑的作品。1892年初，他去德國海德堡大學學習了一年。在那兒，他接觸到德國哲學史傢昆諾·費希爾的哲學思想和以易卜生為代表的新戲劇潮流。同年返回英國，在倫敦一傢會計師事務所當了六個星期的練習生，隨後，在接受了坎特伯雷的國王中學和德國海德堡大學的教育之後，毛姆成為倫敦聖托馬斯醫院的實習醫生(1892-1897)。為期五年的習醫生涯，不僅使他有機會瞭解到底層人民的生活狀況，而且使他學會用解剖刀一樣冷峻、犀利的目光來剖視人生和社會。他的第一部小說《蘭貝斯的麗莎》，正是根據他從醫實習期間的所見所聞寫成的。
這本書出版後銷路很好，這使得毛姆下定了棄醫從文的决心。從1903年起，毛姆開始戲劇創作。1907年，一部關於婚姻與金錢的喜劇《弗雷德裏剋夫人》再次為毛姆贏得了聲譽。1908年，一時間有四部毛姆的戲劇作品在倫敦上演，真可謂盛況空前。毛姆的輕喜劇作品深受王爾德的影響，通常以中産社會世俗背景下愛情和婚姻中的波折為主題。他一生創作了三十多個劇本，其中較著名的有《圈子》 （1921）， 《東蘇伊世》 （1922），和反戰戲劇《For Services Rendered》 （1932）等。
從1897年起，毛姆棄醫專事文學創作。在接下來的幾年裏，他寫了若幹部小說，但是，用毛姆自己的話來說，其中沒有一部能夠“使泰晤士河起火”。他轉嚮戲劇創作，獲得成功，成了紅極一時的劇作傢，倫敦舞臺竟同時上演他的四個劇本。他的第十個劇本《弗雷德裏剋夫人》連續上演達一年之久。這種空前的盛況，據說衹有著名劇作傢肖伯納才能與之比肩。但是辛酸的往事，夢魘似地鬱積在他心頭，不讓他有片刻的安寧，越來越強烈地要求他去表現，去創作。他决定暫時中斷戲劇創作，用兩年時間潛心寫作醖釀已久的小說《人生的枷鎖》。
作傢這個身份之外,他還從事過間諜活動。薩默塞特·毛姆是20世紀英國最偉大的作傢之一，他膾炙人口的作品像他的名字一樣在世界各地廣泛流傳，不用版本的傳記作品也屢見不鮮。而他生於高度的愛國主義熱情，曾經替軍情六處工作的歷史，卻鮮為人知。第一次大戰期間，毛姆先在比利時火綫救護傷員，後入英國情報部門工作，到過瑞士、俄國和遠東等地。這段經歷為他後來寫作間諜小說《埃申登》提供了素材。戰後他重遊遠東和南太平洋諸島；1920年到過中國，寫了一捲《中國見聞錄》。1928年毛姆定居在地中海之濱的裏維埃拉，直至1940年納粹入侵時，纔倉促離去。薩默塞特·毛姆最重要的間諜活動是曾在瑞士當英國軍情六處的間諜，試圖扶持剋倫斯基臨時政府，阻止俄國革命；“二戰”期間毛姆重新出山，在英國情報處新處長威廉·斯蒂文森麾下效力。英國軍事情報第六局第六處（代號M16），亦稱秘密情報處，設立於1909年，它的主要工作目標是開展海外諜報活動。
兩次大戰的間隙期間，是毛姆創作精力最旺盛的時期。二十年代及三十年代初期，他寫了一係列揭露上流社會爾虞我詐、勾心鬥角、道德墮落、諷刺，如《周而復始》、《比我們高貴的人們》和《堅貞的妻子》等。這三個劇本被公認為毛姆劇作中的佳品。1933年完稿的《謝佩》是他的最後一個劇本。毛姆的戲劇作品，情節緊湊而麯折，衝突激烈而合乎情理；所寫人物，着墨不多而形象鮮明突出；對話生動自然，幽默俏皮，使人感到清新有力。但總的來說，內容和人物刻畫的深度，及不上他的長、短篇小說，雖然他的小說作品也算不上深刻。
毛姆最知名、最暢銷的小說《人性的枷鎖》（1915）也是在一戰期間出版了。這部書的走紅也有一個軼事，據說毛姆成名之前，生活非常貧睏，雖然《人性的枷鎖》是一部很有價值的書稿，但因為沒有名氣，出版後無人問津。為了引起人們的註意，毛姆別出心裁地在各大報刊上登了如下的徵婚啓事：“本人喜歡音樂和運動，是個年輕又富有的百萬富翁，希望能和毛姆小說中的主角一樣的女性結婚。”幾天之後，全倫敦的書店，都再也買不到毛姆的書了。毛姆去世前，這本書的銷量就已超過一千萬册。在這部半自傳性作品中，作者將自己的口吃換成了小說主人公菲利普的跛腿，描述了一個青年成長的歷程。
隨後出版的《月亮和六便士》（1919）同樣也獲得了巨大成功。此書中，毛姆以法國畫傢保羅·高庚的生活為原型，講述了一個英國股票經紀人查爾斯· 思特裏剋蘭德為逃避世俗到南太平洋的小島大溪地作畫傢的故事。毛姆小說中的主人公幾乎總是對應著某個對毛姆有重要影響的現實人物，如小說《尋歡作樂》(1930)以英國作傢托馬斯·哈代為創作原型，晚期作品《刀鋒》（1945）映射哲學家維特根斯坦。《刀鋒》中主人公拉裏在尋求自己精神傢園的苦旅中，最終在印度的苦行主義和神秘氛圍中感悟到了人生的真諦。除了這些優秀的長篇小說，毛姆還是一個出色的短篇小說傢，一個引人入勝的故事大王。他的短篇小說有一百多部。他的短篇小說《雨》，收錄於小說集《葉的震顫》（1921），後來還被改編成一部成功的電影。
這一時期的重要小說有：反映現代西方文明束縛、扼殺藝術傢個性及創作的《月亮和六便士》；刻畫當時文壇上可笑可鄙的現象的《尋歡作樂》；以及以大英帝國東方殖民地為背景、充滿異國情調的短篇集《葉之震顫》等。短篇小說在毛姆的創作活動中占有重要位置。他的短篇小說風格接近莫泊桑，結構嚴謹，起承轉落自然，語言簡潔，敘述娓娓動聽。作傢竭力避免在作品中發表議論，而是通過巧妙的藝術處理，讓人物在情節展開過程中顯示其內在的性格。
威廉·薩默賽特·毛姆威廉·薩默賽特·毛姆
1926年，毛姆在法國境內的地中海度假勝地裏維埃拉買下了瑪萊斯科莊園別墅，毛姆的後半生除去旅行，基本上就是在這裏度過的。1940年，毛姆搭上一艘煤船逃離法國。二戰期間，毛姆生活在美國。第二次大戰期間，毛姆到了美國，在南卡羅萊納、紐約和文亞德島等地呆了六年。1944年發表長篇小說《刀鋒》。在這部作品裏，作傢試圖通過一個青年人探求人生哲理的故事，揭示精神與實利主義之間的矛盾衝突。小說出版後，反響強烈，特別受到當時置身於戰火的英、美現役軍人的歡迎。1946年，毛姆回到法國裏維埃拉。1948年寫最後一部小說《卡塔麗娜》 。此後，僅限於寫作回憶錄和文藝評論，同時對自己的舊作進行整理。
毛姆一生著述極豐，廣受讀者歡迎。1903-1933年，他創作了近30部劇本，深受觀衆歡迎。1908年，倫敦有4傢劇院同時演出他的4部劇作，在英國形成空前盛況。他的喜劇受王爾德的影響較深，一般以家庭、婚姻、愛情中的波折為主題，其中最著名的劇本《圈子》 （1921）。 1908年，倫敦有4部他寫的舞臺劇同時上演；及至臨終前，他的自傳性長篇《人生的枷鎖》 （Of Human Bondage）已售出一千萬册以上。他酷愛旅行，足跡遍布中國與東南亞，各地奇聞逸事都成為其小說題材；他的取材與風格還深刻影響了剛出道的張愛玲，在後者短篇《沉香屑 第一爐香》《沉香屑 第二爐香》中尤為明顯。
他的主要成就是小說創作。毛姆的重要作品還包括以高更為主角原型的長篇《月亮與六便士》 （The Moon and Sixpence）、以哈代為原型的《蛋糕與麥芽酒》（Cakes and Ale），及《刀鋒》 （The Razors Edge）等。 毛姆的作品除在英美暢銷外，還譯成多種外文。1946年，毛姆設立同名文學奬薩姆塞特·毛姆奬（Somerset Maugham Award），奬勵優秀的年輕作傢，鼓勵並資助他們到周遊各國，增廣見聞。
毛姆晚年享有很高的聲譽，英國牛津大學和法國圖魯茲大學分別授予他頗為顯赫的“榮譽團騎士”稱號。同年1月25日，英國著名的嘉裏剋文學俱樂部特地設宴慶賀他的八十壽辰，在英國文學史上受到這種禮遇的，衹有狄更斯、薩剋雷、特羅洛普三位作傢。1952年，牛津大學授予他名譽博士學位。1954年，英王授予他“榮譽侍從”的稱號。1961 年，他的母校，德國海德堡大學，授予他名譽校董稱號。儘管如此，毛姆本人對自己的評價卻很謙虛：“我衹不過是二流作傢中排在前面的一個。”1965年12 月15日，毛姆在法國裏維埃拉去世，享年91歲。骨灰安葬在坎特伯雷皇傢公學內。死後，美國著名的耶魯大學建立了檔案館以資紀念。
威廉·薩默賽特·毛姆-婚姻愛情
著名英國小說傢、劇作傢毛姆（William Somerset Maugham ，1874－1965）是一位有同性戀傾嚮的文學家，但與其私生活相反，他一生都避寫同性愛的題材與人物。作為奧斯卡·王爾德風化案之後的一代英國作傢，毛姆在自己的作品中小心避免了與同性戀有關的各種題材，儘管他本人也曾擁有一段長達三十年的同性戀情。追究原因，恐怕在於他那一代人始終活在王爾德審判（1895）的恐怖中。毛姆曾表示，他最大的錯誤是“努力想說服自己我四分之三是正常的，衹有四分之一是同性戀。然而事實恰好相反。”
1915年，毛姆與慈善傢托馬斯·巴爾那多博士的女兒茜瑞·威爾卡姆（Syrie Wellcome）生下一女，次年結婚，婚後聚少離多，1927年離異。而早在1914年，毛姆就遇見美國青年哈剋斯頓（Gerald Haxton），兩人成為伴侶，直到哈剋斯頓於1944年去世。1926年，毛姆在法國海濱買下別墅，除了旅行與二戰期間，一直在那裏居住。第一次世界大戰爆發後，40歲的毛姆加入了法國的紅十字急救團。在西綫服役時，他遇到了22歲的美國人吉拉爾德·哈剋斯頓。哈剋斯頓外嚮活潑、精力充沛，與由於口吃而不善交際的毛姆恰成互補。毛姆遂雇哈剋斯頓為自己的私人秘書，兩人的伴侶關係一直保持到哈剋斯頓1944年去世。另外值得一提的是，一戰中，毛姆受英國軍事情報部駐法國總領約翰·瓦林格爵士之邀，作為特派人員往返於倫敦總部和歐洲大陸之間，為軍情部在歐陸的其他情報人員穿針引綫。毛姆的這些經歷為他後來創作的一些間諜小說，如《阿申頓》(1928)，提供了最好的素材。
1915年，毛姆與茜瑞·威爾卡姆生下一個女兒。茜瑞當時是個有夫之婦，但她次年與丈夫亨利威爾卡姆離婚，並與毛姆結婚。但是婚後，毛姆大部分時間與哈剋斯頓生活在一起。這對同志伴侶在接下來的幾年裏，攜手同行，遊覽了中國、印度、拉美等地。毛姆作為“世界旅行傢”的稱號也由此而來。在這些旅行中，哈剋斯頓好比毛姆的眼睛與耳朵，在與旅途中各色人等的交往中，為毛姆搜羅了大量“奇聞軼事”，而這些故事日後則成為毛姆小說創作的源泉。1927年，茜瑞終於不堪這番冷落，與毛姆離婚。茜瑞後來在自己的事業──室內設計──中取得了相當的成功，算是對她婚姻失敗的一點補償。
由於奧斯卡·王爾德事件對英國文化界的衝擊和警示，毛姆和他同時代的大部分英國知識分子一樣，對“同性戀”這個字眼采取了明智的回避態度。在毛姆的作品中，你很難找到與此有關的內容，甚至在毛姆的生活中，也衹有少數較親近的朋友知道毛姆的同性戀情。也正因為這樣一種保守的社會環境，毛姆衹好在旅遊和寫作中尋找自己心靈的避風港灣。
威廉·薩默賽特·毛姆-創作經歷
威廉·薩默賽特·毛姆毛姆作品
毛姆的創作生涯是從醫學院學生開始的。一八九二年，他在倫敦聖托馬斯醫院學醫。學醫期間，他曾赴倫敦蘭貝斯貧民窟當了三個星期的助産士，這段經歷使他動了寫作的念頭。一八九七年，他醫科畢業，同時出版了他的第一部小說《蘭貝斯的莉莎》。這部寫貧民窟女子莉莎悲劇性結局的小說受到批評界的重視，特別是文壇耆宿艾德蒙·戈斯[註]的贊揚，使毛姆决心放棄行醫，從事文學創作。他聽了安德魯·郎格的錯誤勸告，為寫歷史小說而遊歷西班牙和意大利，但是，這期間寫的小說和短篇很少成功。
一九零三年回國後，他的劇本《正直的人》被戲劇學會搬上舞臺，但並未引起重視。直到一九零七年，他的劇本纔以《弗萊德理夫人》上演，首次獲得成功；一九零八年，他竟有四部劇本同時在倫敦西城的劇院上演；倫敦的滑稽雜志《笨氣》還為此登載了一幅漫畫，畫着莎士比亞看了墻上滿貼着毛姆劇本上演的海報，帶有恐懼的表情咬着拇指頭。人們很容易會設想，經過這次意外成功，毛姆當會象肖伯納一樣以劇本寫作為終生事業，但是，不然，他並沒有放棄寫小說的企圖，而且在他的小說獲得成功並在經濟上使他得到生活保障之後，他於一九三三年反而放棄了劇本寫作；然而，他不但從不反對自己的小說和短篇小說搬上銀幕，而且還從中襄助。一部小說或電影的成功取决於廣大的讀者或觀衆；評論傢的毀譽可以起一點影響，但是，群衆仍舊是决定性的。一個劇本的成功常要看上演時的賣座率，特別是第一晚演出後的輿論反映，而倫敦西城那些劇院的“第一晚”觀衆，也就是倫敦上流社會的交際界人士，一個劇本的生死，在相當大的程度上操在這類人的手裏。
毛姆的後半生，特別是在裏維埃拉購買了一幢豪華住宅之後，雖則招待不少英國上層人士，甚至皇親國戚，但對歐洲的上流交際界人士卻有他的看法。他在《刀鋒》中介紹醉心於歐洲交際社會生活的美國人艾略特·談波登時，有這一段話：
“……以艾略特的機伶，决不會看不出那些應他邀請的人多衹是混他一頓吃喝，有些是沒腦子的，有些毫不足道。那些響亮的頭銜引得他眼花繚亂，看不見一點他們的缺點。……這一切，歸根結底，實起於一種狂熱的浪漫思想；這使他在那些庸碌的小小法國公爵身上見到當年跟隨聖路易到聖地去的十字軍戰士，在裝腔作勢、獵獵狐狸的英國伯爵身上見到他們在金錦原侍奉亨利八世的祖先。”
這一段話不妨說也代表了毛姆對這些上流社交人士的看法。他放棄戲劇的寫作等於是對這些上流交際界的蔑視。
一九一五年，毛姆的自傳性小說《塵網》出版。一個在戰爭期間和他同住一臥室的達斯蒙德曾經親眼看見毛姆審閱這部小說的校樣；他把這部小說列為與班內特的《老婦故事》，海明威的《永別了，武器》 ，威爾斯的《吉普斯》同樣經得起時間淘汰的現實主義小說；這個評價，除掉《永別了，武器》在時代上稍晚，不應列入外，對《塵網》是適當的，而且也為後來的許多評論傢所承認。但是，後來竟有人認為《塵網》是毛姆唯一能在文學史上占一席地的小說，這並不準確。《塵網》雖然是在一次大戰的第二年出版，但仍屬於英國愛德華時代文學；它的構思是在一次大戰前，但是，便在它問世的一九一五年，歐洲人對這次大戰的認識和後來的認識是有很大的不同的。當時，英國人對戰爭的艱苦性大概認為與南非波爾戰爭差不多，不會動搖大英帝國的基礎；法國儘管在作戰開頭時失利，但畢竟頂住了，絶不會料到這次戰爭對歐洲文明産生那樣深遠的影響。《塵網》是一部傑出小說，但不應視為毛姆的唯一代表作。毛姆應屬於兩次大戰期間的代表作傢，雖則他和海明威所代表的“迷惘的一代”有所不同。
威廉·薩默賽特·毛姆-作品列表
小說：
威廉·薩默賽特·毛姆毛姆作品
《蘭姆貝思的麗莎》（LizaofLambeth）（1897年）長篇小說
《一個聖徒發跡的奧秘》 （Themakingofasaint）（1898年）長篇小說
《東嚮禮拜》（Orientations）（1899年）短篇小說集
《英雄》 （Thehero）（1901年）長篇小說
《剋雷杜剋夫人》 （Mrs.Craddock）（1902年）長篇小說
《旋轉木馬》 （Themerry-go-round）（1904年）長篇小說
《主教的圍巾：一個大家庭的來竜去脈》 （1906年）長篇小說
《調情》 （Flirtation）（1906年）短篇小說
《探索者》 （Theexplorer）（1908年）長篇小說
《魔術師》 （Themagician）（1908年）長篇小說
《人生的枷鎖》（1915年）長篇小說
《月亮和六便士》（1919年）長篇小說
《一片樹葉的顫動》 小說集（1921年）
《阿申登故事集》或《一個英國間諜》 （1928年）短篇小說集
《尋歡作樂》 （Cakesandale）or（Thekeletoninthdcupboard）（1930年）長篇小說
《短篇小說六篇》 （1926年）
《彩巾》 （Thepaintedveil）（1925年）長篇小說
《第一人稱短篇小說六篇》 （1931年）
《書包》 （1932年）短篇小說
《偏僻的角落》 （1932年）長篇小說
《啊，國王》短篇小說六篇（1933年）
《法庭》 （1934年）短篇小說
《四海為傢的人們》微型短篇小說（1936年）
《戲院》 （Theatre）（1937年）長篇小說
《聖誕節》 （Christmasholiday）（1939年）長篇小說
《九月公主和夜鶯》多倫多出版（1939年）短篇小說
《象從前那樣的雜拌》 （1940年）短篇小說集
《一打短篇》 （Therounddozen）（1940年）短篇小說集
《別墅裏紅運高照之人》 （Upatthevilla）（1941年）長篇小說
《黎明前的時分》 （Thehourbeforethedawn）（1942年）長篇小說
《不可徵服的人》 （Theunconquered）或（CreaturesofCircumstance）紐約出版（1944年）短篇小說
《刀鋒》（Therazor’sedge）（1944年）長篇小說
《時常》 （Thenandnow）（1946年）長篇小說
《環境的産物》 （1947年）短篇小說集
《卡塔琳娜——一段羅曼史》 （Catalina.ARomance）（1948年）長篇小說
《這裏和那裏》 （1948年）短篇小說集
戲劇：
《一個體面的男人》四幕話劇（1903年）
《弗雷德裏剋夫人》三幕喜劇（1912年）
威廉·薩默賽特·毛姆毛姆作品
《傑剋·斯特洛》 （1912年）戲劇
《朵特夫人》 （1912年）戲劇
《珀涅羅珀》 （1912年）戲劇
《探索者》 （1912 年）戲劇
《第十個人》 （1913年）戲劇
《躋身上流社會的人們》 （1913年）戲劇
《史密斯》 （1913 年）戲劇
《可指望的土地》四幕喜劇（1913年）
《陌生人》 （1920年）戲劇
《周而復始》三幕喜劇（1921年）
《凱撒之妻》 （1922年）戲劇
《蘇伊士之東》 （1922年）戲劇
《比我們高貴的人們》 （1923年）三幕喜劇
《家庭和美人》三幕滑稽劇（1923年）
《不可企求的人》三幕滑稽劇（1923年）
《私利》四幕喜劇（1924年）
《信》三幕劇（1927年）戲劇
《忠實的妻子》三幕喜劇（1927年）
《聖火》三幕劇（1928年）
《養傢活口的人》一幕喜劇（1930年）
《因為效了勞》三幕劇（1932年）戲劇
《謝佩》三幕劇（1933年）戲劇
《喜劇六種》紐約出版（1939年）
《四部麯》（1948年）R.C.雪弗雷根據毛姆的原著改編的電影劇本
《三部麯》——《教堂司事》，《婁威爾先生》，《療養院》(1950)
遊記隨筆：
《聖潔的天國：安大路西亞見聞和印象》 （1905年）遊記
《中國剪影》 （1922年）遊記
《客廳裏的紳士：從仰光到海防旅途紀實》 （1930 年）遊記
《堂·弗爾南多：西班牙主旋律變奏麯》 （1935年）遊記
《我的南太平洋諸島》芝加哥出版（1936年）隨筆
《總結》 （Thesummingup）（1938年）自傳
《書與你》 （1940年）隨筆
《戰爭中的法國》 （1940年）隨筆
《純屬私事》 （Strictlypersonal）紐約版（1941年）倫敦版（1942年）自傳
《一個作傢的札記》 （1949年）文藝理論
威廉·薩默賽特·毛姆-思想觀點
威廉·薩默賽特·毛姆毛姆作品
大多得批評傢鐘愛的作者，多半生時潦落，生後纔得桂冠加身。毛姆的遭遇恰好相反，他的作品容易讀,不帶實驗色彩，也不新奇，每一行文字都無比清晰，相異於創意獨具，善造趨勢卻冷漠旁觀的天才。他無意成為道德領袖或預言專傢，僅自許為提供高尚娛樂的職業作傢。在《月亮和六便士》中，毛姆——這個深受法國文學熏陶的作傢以畫傢高更為原形敘述了高更為了追求理想，拋傢棄子，放棄金錢地位跑到巴黎去畫畫，生活窮苦潦倒，最終客死他鄉。在太平洋的塔希提小島上，浪花衝刷着奮鬥的步伐。
當大傢對他的行為紛紛表示不解和指責時，文中毛姆的代言人——“我”說了這樣一段話：“我很懷疑他是否真的糟蹋了自己：做自己最想做的事，生活在自己喜愛的環境裏，淡泊寧靜、與世無爭，這難道是糟蹋自己嗎？與此相反，做一個著名的外科醫生，年薪一萬鎊，娶一位美麗的妻子，就是成功嗎？我想這一切都取决於一個人如何看待生活的意義，取决於他認為對社會應盡什麽義務、對自己有什麽要求。”毛姆的人生態度沒有比這句話表達得更明顯了，一個看似深諳世故的刻薄狡猾的旁觀者，事實上居然是一個真正意義上精神至上的理想主義份子。
在小說《刀鋒》中集中體現了他終身追求的精神上的歸屬感和一直尋找的那個過程，這也是打動正是因為無意間切中了人類精神生活最重要、但卻是互為矛盾的兩個訴求：流浪和傢園，人們毛姆許多作品的閱讀過程中都獲得了這雙重訴求的滿足和愉悅。至於孤獨，那幾乎是必然的。毛姆並不真正信任人與人之間以世俗名義命名的各種關係，他的目光超越了親情、友情甚至愛情，認為真正大智慧者必然超脫在這些糾葛之上，不難看出他筆下許多人物都有這種共性。毛姆說：“今年的你我已不再是去年的你我，不再是去年彼此愛慕的那個人。假如變化中的我們仍然愛着已經變了的對方，那倒是難得的福氣，可惜——”這句話充分揭示了他對“永遠幸福”這種東西的可操作性的懷疑。同樣《刀鋒》中的男主角拉裏是維特根斯坦的再創造。
英國作傢毛姆在文學史上一直是個有爭議的作傢，一方面他的作品在世界範圍內擁有廣泛的讀者，另一方面卻又為文學史所忽視，評論界普遍認為毛姆是個二流作傢，因為他一味迎合大衆，追求書的暢銷和利潤，貶低了嚴肅文學的價值。對於毛姆冷峻犀利的文風，文壇也頗有爭議，有批評傢就認為：“毛姆解析了沒有情感的情感，他毫不同情地操縱着一個在他眼中沒有憐憫的世界。事實上，他的清晰而艱難的解决之道使任何主題都變得微不足道。如果偉大的藝術必須要有一種內在的善意，那麽毛姆的作品便不是偉大的藝術，而他也衹是一個平庸的作傢。”但實際上，毛姆在其小說作品中堅持用“講故事”的傳統敘述方式進行創作，重視小說的“娛樂性”和“情節性”，使得他的小說作品有着一個“通俗文學”的外表，但其內裏的深刻性和嚴肅性卻一直為人們所忽視，因此造成了對毛姆及其作品的誤解。曾有人對毛姆的寫作提綱歸結為：孤獨，傢園，錢，女人，以及文學和文學批評。可他自己說衹是私人感受而已，或深或淺，不論對錯。毛姆還說：錢是人們的第六感，沒有它，其它的五感統統發揮不出來。象這樣的明智之言在他的書中俯拾皆是。因為他的作品總是在通俗的外殼下包裹着深刻的內涵，所以有人說，第一次看他的書衹能是浮光掠影，衹有在兩三遍之後纔可以體悟真正價值。毛姆是個很難歸類的作傢，假如非要貼個標簽，毛姆大致可以歸入批判現實主義的類別，但也許在沒有達到理想的境地時人人都可以是批判現實。
威廉·薩默賽特·毛姆-藝術特點
1、諷刺幽默
威廉·薩默賽特·毛姆威廉·薩默賽特·毛姆
毛姆是公認的深受法國文學熏陶的英國人，他的作品最大的特點就是讀起來幽默風趣、興味盎然。這首先歸結於他善於構思，會講故事，另外也與他在小說中常常表現出的姿態有關。毛姆的文字並不劍拔弩張，語氣中總有一種超然於小說和讀者之外的英國式的冷淡風度，不免有些尖酸的筆觸，準確刻畫出自己所見所聞的社會現實。這種表現出的類似“第三者”的角度和手法為自己一嚮欣賞推崇。毛姆描寫的雖然是一些個人，但卻代表了他眼裏整個人類——輕鬆和消遣都衹是表面，幽默則不無深意，底下還隱藏更多黑暗。例如：
“我對她們那種總是戴着手套吃黃油吐司的怪毛病常常感到十分好笑；她們在認為沒有人看見的時候就偷偷在椅子上揩手指頭，這讓我看着也十分佩服——這對主人的傢具肯定不是件好事，但隨即我想在輪到主人到這些人傢裏作客的時候，肯定也會在她朋友的傢具上進行報復。”
“瓦特爾芙德小姐拿不定主意，是照她更年輕時的淡雅裝扮，身着灰緑，手拿一支水仙花去赴宴呢，還是表現出一點年事稍高時的豐姿——如果是後者，那就要穿上高跟鞋、披着巴黎式的上衣了。猶豫了半天，結果她衹戴了一頂帽子。”
“書籍都有鍍金的格子護着，並且加了鎖，以防止人們翻閱；也許這樣做倒好，因為這些書大部分是十八世紀的有插圖的淫書。”
“一年後，伊莎貝爾生了一個女兒，根據當時的風氣，她給她取名叫瓊；隔了兩年，又生了一個女兒，又根據當時的風氣，取名普麗西拉。”
這種不動聲色的揶揄，仿佛讓讀者看到毛姆如何靠在書房高背椅中帶着居高臨下的嘲諷神情揮筆寫下它們。有人說毛姆的小說過於通俗，不足以擔當文學自身應負擔的使命，但毛姆不同於許多作傢之處就是他從不願把自己的作品打造得道貌岸然，也無意用先知的口氣指導蒙昧的讀者們該如何生活，他衹在無數細節裏不動聲色的表達立場，而許多發人深醒的哲學命題在他筆下顯得舉重若輕——因為一切文學最終都是哲學——文學或許不僅表現為哲學，但是文學卻不可能不表現哲學。
2、形象塑造
毛姆塑造過許多個性突出的人物形象，如菲利普（人生的枷鎖）、拉裏（刀鋒）、思特裏剋蘭德（月亮與六便士）等等。其中《人生的枷鎖》中個人色彩表現得最為明顯。這部小說一部分以畫傢勞特纍剋為原型，另有相當一部分則帶有濃厚的自傳性質，可以說是毛姆最重要的著作之一，醖釀構思長達十幾年纔寫成。另外一個著名人物是《刀鋒》中的拉裏：這個參加過一戰的美國飛行員被戰爭中屠戮的場面震驚，從此陷入痛苦的反思之中，他盡散傢産，四處雲遊，尋求人生的意義，最終在印度悟道。拉裏的原型是著名哲學家維特根斯坦，我對維特根斯坦教授的哲學理論並不熟知，但卻對拉裏這樣總是執著探索人生形而上意義的傢夥懷有深深敬意，他一生的境遇無疑具有哲學意義上的無奈和悲壯感。 另一篇代表作《月亮和六便士》則是以著名畫傢高更為原型創作的傳記
式小說，描述高更為追求理想拋傢棄子，放棄金錢地位跑到巴黎去畫畫，生活窮苦潦倒，最終客死他鄉。這樣的想法正是毛姆對精神生活的要求，是個精神至上的理想主義者。
毛姆終生追求精神上的歸屬感並一直在尋找的途中，《刀鋒》之所以打動無數讀者，正是因為無意間切中了人類精神生活最重要、但卻是互為矛盾的兩個訴求：流浪和傢園，人們毛姆許多作品的閱讀過程中都獲得了這雙重訴求的滿足和愉悅。至於孤獨，那幾乎是必然的。毛姆並不真正信任人與人之間以世俗名義命名的各種關係，他的目光超越了親情、友情甚至愛情，認為真正大智慧者必然超脫在這些糾葛之上，不難看出他筆下許多人物都有這種共性。毛姆說：“今年的你我已不再是去年的你我，不再是去年彼此愛慕的那個人。假如變化中的我們仍然愛着已經變了的對方，那倒是難得的福氣，可惜——”這句話充分揭示了他對“永遠幸福” 這種東西的可操作性的懷疑。
3、敘事手法
毛姆一生共著有長篇小說20部、短篇小說100多篇，劇本30個，另外還有遊記、文學評論和回憶錄等多種，可謂高産。做為一個小說傢，毛姆公然宣稱 “小說就是講故事”，因為“因為聽故事的欲望在人類身上就像對財富的欲望一樣根深蒂固”。毛姆批評現代小說有一種傾嚮：過於註重刻畫人物而不註重情節。當然，刻畫人物很重要，因為衹有當讀者熟悉了小說中的人物並對他們産生了同情之後，纔會關心發生在他們之間的事情。但是全力於人物刻畫而不註重人物之間發生的事情，這衹是小說的一種寫法，卻絶不是關鍵所在。毛姆嘲笑許多現代作傢的作品“行為是千篇一律的；描寫是重複冗長的；感覺是索然無味的”，並尖刻指出 “假如山魯佐德（ 《一千零一夜》 ）衹知道刻畫人物而不講那些奇妙的故事的話，她的腦袋早就被國王砍掉了。”毛姆是英國的莫泊桑，都是短篇小說的大師。但是莫泊桑的小說的情緒是絶望的，在這點上卡夫卡繼承了莫泊桑；而毛姆的小說很多的情緒都是幽默的，這點應該比較符合今天讀者的口味。也許正因如此，毛姆成為英國擁有讀者最多的作傢之一。
Childhood and education
Maugham's father Robert Ormond Maugham was an English lawyer handling the legal affairs of the British embassy in Marseille, France. Since French law declared that all children born on French soil could be conscripted for military service, his father arranged for William to be born at the embassy, technically on British soil, saving him from conscription into any future French wars. His grandfather, another Robert, had also been a prominent lawyer and cofounder of the English Law Society, and it was taken for granted that William would follow in their footsteps. Events were to ensure this was not to be, but his elder brother Viscount Maugham did enjoy a distinguished legal career, and served as Lord Chancellor from 1938 to 1939.
Maugham's mother Edith Mary (née Snell) was consumptive, a condition for which her doctor prescribed childbirth. As a result, Maugham had three older brothers already enrolled in boarding school by the time he was three and he was effectively raised as an only child. Childbirth proved no cure for tuberculosis: Edith's sixth and final son died on 25 January 1882, one day after his birth, on Maugham's eighth birthday. Edith died six days later, on 31 January, at the age of 41. The death of his mother left Maugham traumatized for life, and he kept his mother's photograph by his bedside until his own death at the age of 91 in Nice, France. Two years after Maugham's mother's death, his father died of cancer. William was sent back to England to be cared for by his uncle, Henry MacDonald Maugham, the Vicar of Whitstable, in Kent. The move was catastrophic. Henry Maugham proved cold and emotionally cruel. The King's School, Canterbury, where William was a boarder during school terms, proved merely another version of purgatory, where he was teased for his bad English (French had been his first language) and his short stature, which he inherited from his father. It is at this time that Maugham developed the stammer that would stay with him all his life, although it was sporadic and subject to mood and circumstance.
Maugham was miserable both at the vicarage and at school. As a result, he developed a talent for applying a wounding remark to those who displeased him. This ability is sometimes reflected in the characters that populate his writings. At sixteen, Maugham refused to continue at The King's School and his uncle allowed him to travel to Germany, where he studied literature, philosophy and German at Heidelberg University. It was during his year in Heidelberg that he met and had a sexual affair with John Ellingham Brooks, an Englishman ten years his senior. On his return to England his uncle found Maugham a position in an accountant's office, but after a month Maugham gave it up and returned to Whitstable. His uncle was not pleased, and set about finding Maugham a new profession. Maugham's father and three older brothers were all distinguished lawyers and Maugham asked to be excused from the duty of following in their footsteps.
A career in the church was rejected because a stammering minister might make the family seem ridiculous. Likewise, the civil service was rejected — not out of consideration for Maugham's own feelings or interests, but because the recent law requiring civil servants to qualify by passing an examination made Maugham's uncle conclude that the civil service was no longer a career for gentlemen. The local doctor suggested the profession of medicine and Maugham's uncle reluctantly approved this. Maugham had been writing steadily since the age of 20 and fervently intended to become an author, but because Maugham was not of age, he could not confess this to his guardian. So he spent the next five years as a medical student at St Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth, London.
Career
Early works
Some critics have assumed that the years Maugham spent studying medicine were a creative dead end, but Maugham himself felt quite the contrary. He was able to live in the lively city of London, to meet people of a "low" sort that he would never have met in one of the other professions, and to see them in a time of heightened anxiety and meaning in their lives. In maturity, he recalled the literary value of what he saw as a medical student: "I saw how men died. I saw how they bore pain. I saw what hope looked like, fear and relief..."
Maugham kept his own lodgings, took pleasure in furnishing them, filled many notebooks with literary ideas, and continued writing nightly while at the same time studying for his degree in medicine. In 1897, he presented his second book for consideration. (The first was a biography of opera composer Giacomo Meyerbeer written by the 16-year-old Maugham in Heidelberg.) Liza of Lambeth, a tale of working-class adultery and its consequences, drew its details from Maugham's experiences as a medical student doing midwifery work in the London slum of Lambeth. The novel is of the school of social-realist "slum writers" such as George Gissing and Arthur Morrison. Frank as it is, Maugham still felt obliged to write near the opening of the novel: "...it is impossible always to give the exact unexpurgated words of Liza and the other personages of the story; the reader is therefore entreated with his thoughts to piece out the necessary imperfections of the dialogue."
Liza of Lambeth proved popular with both reviewers and the public, and the first print run sold out in a matter of weeks. This was enough to convince Maugham, who had qualified as a doctor, to drop medicine and embark on his sixty-five year career as a man of letters. Of his entry into the profession of writing he later said, "I took to it as a duck takes to water."
The writer's life allowed Maugham to travel and live in places such as Spain and Capri for the next decade, but his next ten works never came close to rivalling the success of Liza. This changed dramatically in 1907 with the phenomenal success of his play Lady Frederick; by the next year he had four plays running simultaneously in London, and Punch published a cartoon of Shakespeare biting his fingernails nervously as he looked at the billboards.
Popular success, 1914–39
By 1914 Maugham was famous, with 10 plays produced and 10 novels published. Too old to enlist when World War I broke out, Maugham served in France as a member of the British Red Cross's so-called "Literary Ambulance Drivers", a group of some 23 well-known writers including John Dos Passos and E. E. Cummings. During this time he met Frederick Gerald Haxton, a young San Franciscan who became his companion and lover until Haxton's death in 1944 (Haxton appears as Tony Paxton in Maugham's 1917 play, Our Betters). Throughout this period Maugham continued to write; indeed, he proof-read Of Human Bondage at a location near Dunkirk during a lull in his ambulance duties. However, Maugham is also known to have worked for British Intelligence in mainland Europe during the war, having been recruited by John Wallinger, and was one of the network of British agents who operated in Switzerland against the Berlin Committee, notably Virendranath Chattopadhyay. Maugham was later recruited by William Wiseman to work in Russia.
Of Human Bondage (1915) initially received adverse criticism both in England and America, with the New York World describing the romantic obsession of the main protagonist Philip Carey as "the sentimental servitude of a poor fool". Influential critic and novelist Theodore Dreiser, however, rescued the novel, referring to it as a work of genius, and comparing it to a Beethoven symphony. This review gave the book the lift it needed and it has since never been out of print.
The book appeared to be closely autobiographical (Maugham's stammer is transformed into Philip Carey's club foot, the vicar of Whitstable becomes the vicar of Blackstable, and Philip Carey is a doctor) although Maugham himself insisted it was more invention than fact. Nevertheless, the close relationship between fictional and non-fictional became Maugham's trademark, despite the legal requirement to state that "the characters in [this or that publication] are entirely imaginary". In 1938 he wrote: "Fact and fiction are so intermingled in my work that now, looking back on it, I can hardly distinguish one from the other."
Although Maugham's first and many other sexual relationships were with men, he also had sexual relationships with a number of women. Specifically his affair with Syrie Wellcome, daughter of orphanage founder Thomas John Barnardo and wife of American-born English pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome, produced a daughter named Liza (born Mary Elizabeth Wellcome, 1915–1998). Henry Wellcome then sued his wife for divorce, naming Maugham as co-respondent. In May 1917, following the decree absolute, Syrie and Maugham were married. Syrie became a noted interior decorator who popularized the all-white room in the 1920s.
Maugham returned to England from his ambulance unit duties to promote Of Human Bondage but once that was finalised, he became eager to assist the war effort once more. As he was unable to return to his ambulance unit, Syrie arranged for him to be introduced to a high ranking intelligence officer known only as "R", and in September 1915 he began work in Switzerland, secretly gathering and passing on intelligence while posing as himself — that is, as a writer.
In 1916, Maugham travelled to the Pacific to research his novel The Moon and Sixpence, based on the life of Paul Gauguin. This was the first of those journeys through the late-Imperial world of the 1920s and 1930s which were to establish Maugham forever in the popular imagination as the chronicler of the last days of colonialism in India, Southeast Asia, China and the Pacific, although the books on which this reputation rests represent only a fraction of his output. On this and all subsequent journeys he was accompanied by Haxton, whom he regarded as indispensable to his success as a writer. Maugham himself was painfully shy, and Haxton the extrovert gathered human material that Maugham steadily turned into fiction.
In June, 1917 he was asked by Sir William Wiseman, an officer of the British Secret Intelligence Service (later named MI6), to undertake a special mission in Russia to keep the Provisional Government in power and Russia in the war by countering German pacifist propaganda. Two and a half months later the Bolsheviks took control. The job was probably always impossible, but Maugham subsequently claimed that if he had been able to get there six months earlier, he might have succeeded. Quiet and observant, Maugham had a good temperament for intelligence work; he believed he had inherited from his lawyer father a gift for cool judgement and the ability to be undeceived by facile appearances.
Never losing the chance to turn real life into a story, Maugham made his spying experiences into a collection of short stories about a gentlemanly, sophisticated, aloof spy, Ashenden, a volume that influenced the Ian Fleming James Bond series. In 1922, Maugham dedicated On A Chinese Screen, a book of 58 ultra-short story sketches collected during his 1920 travels through China and Hong Kong, to Syrie, with the intention of later turning the sketches into a book.
Dramatised from a story which first appeared in his collection The Casuarina Tree published in 1924, Maugham's play The Letter, starring Gladys Cooper, had its premiere in London in 1927. Later, he asked that Katharine Cornell play the lead in the 1927 Broadway version. The play was later adapted for film in 1929 and again in 1940. Later, Cornell would play the lead in his comedy, "The Constant Wife in 1951, and was an enormous success.
Syrie and Maugham divorced in 1927–8 after a tempestuous marriage complicated by Maugham's frequent travels abroad and strained by his relationship with Haxton.
In 1928, Maugham bought Villa Mauresque on 12 acres (49,000 m2) at Cap Ferrat on the French Riviera, which was his home for most of the rest of his life, and one of the great literary and social salons of the 1920s and 30s. His output continued to be prodigious, including plays, short stories, novels, essays and travel books. By 1940, when the collapse of France forced Maugham to leave the French Riviera and become a well-heeled refugee, he was already one of the most famous and wealthiest writers in the English-speaking world.
Grand old man of letters
Maugham, by now in his sixties, spent most of World War II in the United States, first in Hollywood (he worked on many scripts, and was one of the first authors to make significant money from film adaptations) and later in the South. While in the US he was asked by the British government to make patriotic speeches to induce the US to aid Britain, if not necessarily become an allied combatant. Gerald Haxton died in 1944, and Maugham moved back to England, then in 1946 to his villa in France, where he lived, interrupted by frequent and long travels, until his death.
The gap left by Haxton's death in 1944 was filled by Alan Searle. Maugham had first met Searle in 1928. Searle was a young man from the London slum area of Bermondsey and he had already been kept by older men. He proved a devoted if not a stimulating companion. Indeed one of Maugham's friends, describing the difference between Haxton and Searle, said simply: "Gerald was vintage, Alan was vin ordinaire."
Maugham's love life was almost never smooth. He once confessed: "I have most loved people who cared little or nothing for me and when people have loved me I have been embarrassed... In order not to hurt their feelings, I have often acted a passion I did not feel."
In 1962 he sold a collection of paintings, some of which had been assigned to his daughter Liza by deed. She sued her father and won a judgment of £230,000. Maugham responded by publicly disowning her and claiming she was not his biological daughter; adopting Searle as his son and heir; and launching a bitter attack on the deceased Syrie in his 1962 volume of memoirs, Looking Back, in which Liza discovered she had been born before her parents' marriage. The memoirs lost him several friends and exposed him to much public ridicule. Liza and her husband Lord Glendevon contested the change in Maugham's will in the French courts, and it was overturned. Nevertheless, in 1965 Searle inherited £50,000, the contents of Villa Mauresque, and Maugham's manuscripts and copyrights for 30 years. Thereafter the copyrights passed to the Royal Literary Fund.
There is no grave for Maugham. His ashes were scattered near the Maugham Library, The King's School, Canterbury. Liza, Lady Glendevon, died aged 83 in 1998, survived by Somerset Maugham's four grandchildren (a son and a daughter by Liza's first marriage to Vincent Paravicini, and two more sons to Lord Glendevon). One of the next generation is autistic savant and musical prodigy Derek Paravicini.
Achievements
Commercial success with high book sales, successful theatre productions and a string of film adaptations, backed by astute stock market investments, allowed Maugham to live a very comfortable life. Small and weak as a boy, Maugham had been proud even then of his stamina, and as an adult he kept churning out the books, proud that he could. Yet, despite his triumphs, he never attracted the highest respect from the critics or his peers. Maugham himself attributed this to his lack of "lyrical quality", his small vocabulary and failure to make expert use of metaphor in his work. (In 1934 the American journalist and radio personality Alexander Woollcott offered to Maugham this bit of language advice: “The female implies, and from that the male infers.” Maugham: “I am not yet too old to learn.”)
Maugham wrote in 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".
For a public man of Maugham's generation, being openly gay was impossible. Whether his own orientation disgusted him (as it did many at a time when homosexuality was widely considered indefensible as well as illegal) or whether he merely took a stance to cover himself, Maugham wrote disparagingly of the gay artist. In "Don Fernando", a non-fiction volume about his years living in Spain, Maugham pondered a (perhaps fanciful) suggestion that the painter El Greco was homosexual: "It cannot be denied that the homosexual has a narrower outlook on the world than the normal man. In certain respects the natural responses of the species are denied to him. Some at least of the broad and typical human emotions he can never experience. However subtly he sees life he cannot see it whole... I cannot now help asking myself whether what I see in El Greco's work of tortured fantasy and sinister strangeness is not due to such a sexual abnormality as this".
But Maugham's homosexual leanings did shape his fiction, in two ways. Since, in life, he tended to see attractive women as sexual rivals, he often gave the women of his fiction sexual needs and appetites, in a way quite unusual for authors of his time. Liza of Lambeth, Cakes and Ale and The Razor's Edge all featured women determined to service their strong sexual appetites, heedless of the result. Also, the fact that Maugham's own sexual appetites were highly disapproved of, or even criminal, in nearly all of the countries in which he travelled, made Maugham unusually tolerant of the vices of others. Readers and critics often complained that Maugham did not clearly enough condemn what was bad in the villains of his fiction and plays. Maugham replied in 1938: "It must be a fault in me that I am not gravely shocked at the sins of others unless they personally affect me."
Maugham's public view of his abilities remained modest; towards the end of his career he described himself as "in the very first row of the second-raters". In 1954, he was made a Companion of Honour.
Maugham had begun collecting theatrical paintings before the First World War and continued to the point where his collection was second only to that of the Garrick Club. In 1948 he announced that he would bequeath this collection to the Trustees of the National Theatre, and from 1951, some 14 years before his death, his paintings began their exhibition life. In 1994 they were placed on loan to the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden.
Significant works
Maugham's masterpiece is generally agreed to be Of Human Bondage, a semi-autobiographical novel that deals with the life of the main character Philip Carey, who, like Maugham, was orphaned, and brought up by his pious uncle. Philip's clubfoot causes him endless self-consciousness and embarrassment, echoing Maugham's struggles with his stutter. Later successful novels were also based on real-life characters: The Moon and Sixpence fictionalizes the life of Paul Gauguin; and Cakes and Ale contains thinly veiled characterizations of authors Thomas Hardy and Hugh Walpole. Maugham's last major novel, The Razor's Edge, published in 1944, was a departure for him in many ways. While much of the novel takes place in Europe, its main characters are American, not British. The protagonist is a disillusioned veteran of World War I who abandons his wealthy friends and lifestyle, travelling to India seeking enlightenment. The story's themes of Eastern mysticism and war-weariness struck a chord with readers as World War II waned, and a movie adaptation quickly followed.
Among his short stories, some of the most memorable are those dealing with the lives of Western, mostly British, colonists in the Far East, and are typically concerned with the emotional toll exacted on the colonists by their isolation. Some of his more outstanding works in this genre include "Rain", "Footprints in the Jungle", and "The Outstation". "Rain", in particular, which charts the moral disintegration of a missionary attempting to convert the Pacific island prostitute Sadie Thompson, has kept its fame and been made into a movie several times. Maugham said that many of his short stories presented themselves to him in the stories he heard during his travels in the outposts of the Empire. He left behind a long string of angry former hosts, and a contemporary anti-Maugham writer retraced his footsteps and wrote a record of his journeys called "Gin And Bitters." Maugham's restrained prose allows him to explore the resulting tensions and passions without appearing melodramatic. His The Magician (1908) is based on British occultist Aleister Crowley.
Maugham was one of the most significant travel writers of the inter-war years, and can be compared with contemporaries such as Evelyn Waugh and Freya Stark. His best efforts in this line include The Gentleman in the Parlour, dealing with a journey through Burma, Siam, Cambodia and Vietnam, and On a Chinese Screen, a series of very brief vignettes which might almost be notes for short stories that were never written.
Influenced by the published journals of the French writer Jules Renard, which Maugham had often enjoyed for their conscientiousness, wisdom and wit, Maugham published selections from his own journals under the title A Writer's Notebook in 1949. Although these journal selections are, by nature, episodic and of varying quality, they range over more than 50 years of the writer's life and contain much that Maugham scholars and admirers find of interest.
Influence
In 1947, Maugham instituted the Somerset Maugham Award, awarded to the best British writer or writers under the age of thirty-five of a work of fiction published in the past year. Notable winners include V. S. Naipaul, Kingsley Amis, Martin Amis and Thom Gunn. On his death, Maugham donated his copyrights to the Royal Literary Fund.
One of very few later writers to praise his influence was Anthony Burgess, who included a complex fictional portrait of Maugham in the novel Earthly Powers. George Orwell also stated that Maugham was "the modern writer who has influenced me the most". The American writer Paul Theroux, in his short story collection The Consul's File, updated Maugham's colonial world in an outstation of expatriates in modern Malaysia. Holden Caulfield, in J. D. Salinger's 1951 The Catcher in the Rye, mentions that although he read Of Human Bondage the previous summer and liked it, he wouldn't want to call Maugham up on the phone.
Portraits of Maugham
There are many portraits of Somerset Maugham, including that by Graham Sutherland in the Tate Gallery and several by Sir Gerald Kelly. Sutherland's portrait was included in Painting the Century 101 Portrait Masterpieces 1900-2000 at the National Portrait Gallery.
Bibliography
Main article: W. Somerset Maugham bibliography
Film adaptations
* The Circle (1925) Directed by Frank Borzage, based on the 1921 play of the same name.
* The Magician (1926) Based on the 1908 novel of the same name.
* Sadie Thompson (1928), a silent movie starring Gloria Swanson and Lionel Barrymore. Based on the short story "Miss Thompson", which was later retitled "Rain".
* The Letter (1929) featuring Jeanne Eagels, O. P. Heggie, Reginald Owen and Herbert Marshall. Based on the play of the same name.
* Rain (1932), the first sound version of the story, with Joan Crawford and Walter Huston.
* Of Human Bondage (1934) starring Leslie Howard and Bette Davis. Based on the book of the same name.
* The Painted Veil (1934) featuring Greta Garbo and Herbert Marshall. Based on the novel of the same name.
* Secret Agent (1936) with John Gielgud, Peter Lorre, Madeleine Carroll, and Robert Young, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Based on Ashenden.
* The Vessel of Wrath (1938) starring Charles Laughton; released in the USA as The Beachcomber. Based on the novella of the same name.
* The Letter (1940) featuring Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson, Frieda Inescort and Gale Sondergaard. Based on the play of the same name.
* Too Many Husbands (1940) featuring Jean Arthur, Fred MacMurray, and Melvyn Douglas. Based on the play "Home and Beauty".
* The Moon and Sixpence (1942) with George Sanders. Based on the novella of the same name.
* Christmas Holiday (1944) starring Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly, based on the novel of the same name.
* The Hour Before The Dawn (1944) starring Veronica Lake, based on the novel of the same name.
* Dirty Gertie from Harlem U.S.A.(1946). Unauthorized film version of "Miss Thompson" with an all-black cast, directed by Spencer Williams.
* The Razor's Edge (1946) featuring Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney. Based on the book of the same name.
* Of Human Bondage (1946) version starring Eleanor Parker.
* Quartet (1948) Maugham appears as himself in introductions. Based on four of his short stories.
* Trio (1950) Maugham appears as himself in introductions. Another collection based on short stories.
* Encore (1951) Maugham appears as himself in introductions. A third collection of Maugham short stories.
* Miss Sadie Thompson (1953), a semi-musical version in 3-D, featuring Rita Hayworth and José Ferrer.
* The Seventh Sin (1957) with Eleanor Parker. Based on the novel The Painted Veil.
* The Beachcomber (1958). Based on the novella The Vessel of Wrath; not to be confused with the 1938 film.
* Julia, Du bist zauberhaft (1962) starring Lilli Palmer and Charles Boyer. Based on the novel Theatre.
* Of Human Bondage (1964) with Laurence Harvey and Kim Novak.
* The Letter (1969) starring Eileen Atkins. Based on play of the same name. (made for television)
* The Theatre (1978) starring Vija Artmane. Based on play of the same name.
* The Letter (1982) featuring Lee Remick, Jack Thompson and Ronald Pickup. Based on play of the same name. (Made for Television)
* The Razor's Edge (1984) with Bill Murray. Based on the novel by the same name.
* Up at the Villa (2000) starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Sean Penn, directed by Philip Haas. Based on the novella of the same name.
* Being Julia (2004) featuring Annette Bening. Based on the novel Theatre.
* The Painted Veil (2006) with Naomi Watts and Edward Norton. Based on the novel of the same name.
Michael Maglaras has begun shooting a documentary film about Maugham in France...scheduled for release in 2011