Book description
This final classic collection of stories reveals Somerset Maugham's
unique talent for exposing and exploring the bitter realities of human
relationships. Brilliant tales of love, infidelity, passion and
prejudice, the stories range from 'The Lotus Eater' in which a man has a
vision of a life of bliss in the Mediterranean, to the astringent tales
of 'The Outstation' and 'The Back of Beyond' in Malaya and South East
Asia. Largely set in favourite Maugham country, this colourful
collection brilliantly evokes the numbered days of the British Empire.
William Somerset Maugham was born in 1874 and lived in Paris until he
was ten. He was educated at King's School, Canterbury, and at Heidelberg
University. He spent some time at St. Thomas' Hospital with the idea of
practising medicine, but the success of his first novel,
Liza of Lambeth
, published in 1897, won him over to literature. Of Human Bondage
, the first of his masterpieces, came out in 1915, and with the
publication in 1919 of The Moon and Sixpence
his reputation as a novelist was established. At the same time his fame
as a successful playwright and writer was being consolidated with
acclaimed productions of various plays and the publication of several
short story collections. His other works include travel books, essays,
criticism and the autobiographical The Summing Up
and A Writer's Notebook
. In 1927 Somerset Maugham settled in the South of France and lived
there until his death in 1965.
