W.S. Maugham. ( 1874 - 1965 )

Born in Paris in 1874, W.S. Maugham was the son of a solicitor to the British Embassy, the youngest of six brothers. William lived in Paris until he was ten, when he was sent to England under the care of his uncle, a clergyman. He was educated at King’s school. Canterbury and at Heidelburg University, where he studied philosophy for a year. He returned to England to study medicine at St. Thomas’s Hospital, Lambeth. He qualified in 1898.

The success of his first novel ‘Liza of Lambeth’, a story of the slums and Cockney life, published in 1897, won him over to letters. Something of his hospital experience, already reproduced in his first book, is reflected in his acknowledged masterpiece ‘Of Human Bondage’ (1915).

‘Of Human Bondage’ is not an autobiography, but an autobiographical novel. ‘Fact and fiction are mingled, the emotions are my own, but not all the incidents are related as they happened and some of them are transferred to my hero not from my own life, but from that of persons with whom I was intimate. The book did for me what I wanted and when it was issued to the world I found myself free from pains and unhappy recollections that tormented me,’ said Maugham.

With the publication of ‘The Moon and Sixpence’ in 1919 Maugham’s reputation as a novelist was established. The book, inspired by the life of Paul Gauguin, tells the story of a man who sacrified everything - family, home, reputation, health, life itself - to painting.

Maugham’s favourite among his novels include: ‘The Painted Veil’ (1925), ‘The Narrow Corner’ (1932), ‘Theatre’ (1937), ‘The Razor’s Edge’ (1944), which is the story of a man who surrended wealth and the woman he loved in order to seek a faith. His search carried him from the bistros of Paris to the far, remote corners of India.

Simultaneously, his position as one of the most successful playwrights was being consolidated. At one point only Bernard Shaw had more plays running at the same time in London. His first play ‘A Man of Honour’ (1903) was given a short run, but it was with ‘Lady Frederick’ (1907) that he achieved success as a playwright. It was followed by ‘The Tenth Man’(1910), ‘The Circle’ (1921), ‘The Letter’ (1927), ‘For Services Rendered’ (1932) and others presenting his vision of contemporary British life. After ‘Sheppey’ (1933) he gave up writing for the theatre.

His fame as a short story writer began with ‘The Trembling of a Leaf’, subtitled ‘Little Stories of the South Sea Islands’ in 1921, after which he published more than ten collections. The last one was ‘The Creatures of Circumstances’ which appeared in 1947. All of them demonstrate his brilliant mastery of form: an economical and exact rendition of place, often an interest for out-of-the-way and exotic parts of the world; and an equally economical skill in character portrayal and in realizing the crisis of the story. Some of the stories have been considered among the best in the language.

His other works include travel books, such as ‘The Land of Blessed Virgin’(1905), ‘On a Chinese Screen’(1922), ‘Don Fernando’(1935), and essays, criticism and the autobiographical ‘The Summing Up’ (1938). In it are his reflections on what H.G. Wells called ‘first and last things’. To Maugham they were just subjects that chiefly interested him during the course of his life. The personal view of life and art can also be found in ‘Strictly Personal’ (1942), ‘A Writer’s Notebook’ (1949) and ‘ Points of View’ (1958). His experience in the British intelligence service during the First World War is used in his Ashenden stories.

By his own judgement Maugham was one of the leading ‘second-rates’. Critics have praised his narrative skill and his merciless, anti-romantic powers of observation.

Maugham’s fiction has little romance or idealism, for he takes a definitely pessimistic view of men and women. He makes no attempt to explain human nature, but only to expound its weakness. However, he leads his reader to ask questions about good and evil, reward and punishment, justice and unjustice. While avoiding all obvious ethical judgement and mocking the narrowness of too easy moral solutions, Maugham stands up for proper respect being paid to any individual and to his chances for fulfilment.

In 1927 W.S. Maugham settled in the South of France and lived there until his death in 1965.

‘The Painted Veil’ is probably the only novel W.S. Maugham based on a story rather than a character. Maugham gives a modern setting to the curious plot, which was suggested by a few lines of Dante. Detected in an affair with the assistant Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong, Kitty Fane is forced by her husband, a bacteriologist, to accompany him to the heart of a cholera epidemic. In the course of this harsh penance she learns the true meaning of love, but her discovery comes too late.

W.S Maugham. The Painted Veil. SECTION 1. pp.11 - 17.