At last there is a definitive biography of W. Somerset Maugham, one of the most remarkable and secretive literary figures of the twentieth century. Ted Morgan has penetrated the barriers which for years prevented the creation of a full portrait of this paradoxical writer - barriers set up by Maugham himself, who asked friends to destroy his correspondence, and who instructed his literary executor not to assist any eventual biographers. Unlike most nineteenth century authors, Maugham took up writing as a full-time occupation. It made him a millionaire and filled his life with luxury and adventure. But behind his facade of success and excitement Maugham was an emotional cripple who could not come to terms with his own homosexuality. He married, in an Edwardian attempt to keep up appearances, yet carried on a 30 year love affair with Gerald Haxton. He died a lonely and embittered figure, alienated even from his family.
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Ted Morgan is the author of more than fifteen books, including FDR: A Biography and Reds: McCarthyism in Twentieth-Century America. As Sanche de Gramont, he was the only French citizen to win the Pulitzer Prize (for journalism). He lives in New York City.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best view of the life and loves of the famous writer.,
By jimcmaui@buddhist.com Jim Campbell (Maui, Hawaiian Islands, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Maugham: A Biography (Paperback)
"Maugham" remains the quintessential biography of this enigmatic figure. The most complete and thorough examination of the life and tramas and adventures that made up the life of the man and the writer. As Morgan states, Maugham is the most popular writer of serious fiction that England has produced since Charles Dickens. Weather that fiction is literature or not remains to be seen by his fans and by his critics the discussion has been put aside forever. Somerset Maugham is barley mentioned in acadamia. But Maugham had a genius for story telling (Max Beerbohm) and he told more than two hundred of them in his plays, novels, essays and most admirably in his short stories. As Alexander Freere said, I you don't think he can write, read "The Outstation" or "The Alien Corn" and then sit down and write a better one. His barroom fight scene in "The Moon and Sixpense" is superior to anything by Hemmingway and it was written six years before "The Nick Adams Stories" or The Torrents of Spring" were published. Maugham's story is so fantastic that it is no wonder he was such a good friend of Churchill's. Churchill, of course had an equally eventfull life. Maugham was as famous a playwright in the teens and the twenties as Neil Simon, but he was also a Doctor an ambulance driver on the Western Front and a spy who was given the assignment to try to squelch the Bolshevik Revolution. All in a twenty year span during which he wrote ten unsuccessful novels and "Of Human Bondage". He was also the first great world traveller author with the possible exception of Conrad. Maugham went nearly everywhere one could expect to travel during the days of World Wars and steamships. He wrote about his travels in short stories that are still widely read by many of my fellow travellers along with the first guru tripping novel,"The Razor's Edge." Somerset Maugham's Villa Mauresque on the French Riveria was the place he entertained royally. He was a great instructor to his chef and an innovator of cuisine. He was at various times friends with Henry James, Virginia Woolf, H.G. Wells, Noel Coward and Graham Greene, but the reason this book influenced me more than any book I have ever read is the additional cast of characters that I was unaware of before reading Morgan's book. Writers like; Arnold Bennett, Lytton Strachey, Aubrey Beardsley, Ruppert Brook and scores of other people whose work I am now familiar with because of this biography. This book has been critized by many fans for being too rough on the writer. Labeling Maugham a women hater, cheap, anti semetic, cynical, bitter at being considered a second rater and a promiscuous Bi-sexual who became exclusively homosexual after the age of forty to almost a pornographic obsession. In other words, only being able to enjoy anonymous encounters. All this criticism is unfounded. Morgan paints a sympathetic balanced portrait of a painfully sensitive human being who lived through a time that is difficult to judge. I can count myself as Somerset Maugham's biggest fan and I love women. I have travelled to many Maugham spots on the globe: Tahiti, Capri, Trivandrum, Pagan and Haiphong. I even visited his home in South Carolina and his writers cabin. This is a Great Book.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Thorough Account.,
By
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This review is from: Maugham: A Biography (Paperback)
This biography by Ted Morgan is both excellent and meticulous. Inside we find the life of a writer whose voluminous oeuvre, and length of life, would confound and demoralize a less ambitious person. Maugham was a diminutive, flawed man who created a legend that awes and dazzles to this day. I really think that the biographer should be congratulated on lifting so many threads from so many primary sources that allow us to see so vividly the paradoxical nature of the Maugham's personality. I do believe that Morgan at times was unduly negative in regards to his subject's worth as a writer, however. The fact is that even today Cakes and Ale, The Moon and Sixpence, and Of Human Bondage do more than hold up, indeed they are monumental works. I still find them deeply personal and deeply moving. Regardless of his minor publications, and there were many, Maugham is a man for whom we must revere and cherish. Young minds would due well to take note of his artistic integrity and devotion to craft. I found the story of his life inspiring.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating and FUN,
By SCSILR (New York) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Maugham: A Biography (Paperback)
Yes, this is a fun book to read and a delightful look into a complex man, W.Somerset Maugham. I enjoy reading biographies and especially those about Maugham, whose work I admire and read and re-read--especially, Of Human Bondage. I have read many bios of Maugham, including those written by his nephew, Robin Maugham. However, Morgan's very expansive and well dcoumented and researched book is very, very interesting and the best I can recommend to Maugham's fans---and there are quite a few around--still. Gerald Haxton, Maugham's lover, was a fascinating person-someone I would have liked to have known--I think I did know someone like that, thinking it over now. I recommend this book, and do so highly with praise. Great photos as well.
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