Works of W. Somerset Maugham

11 total works

Christmas Holiday

by W Somerset Maugham

Published 1 March 1977

Published before the outbreak of war in 1939, a warning to the complacent, British middle-class of the upheavals taking place on the Continent. "From the Trade Paperback edition."

Cakes and Ale

by W Somerset Maugham

Published 16 July 1976

Cakes and Ale roused a storm of controversy when it was first published in 1930. It is both a wickedly satirical novel about contemporary literary poseurs and a skillfully crafted study of freedom. It is also the book for which Maugham wanted most to be remembered. From the Trade Paperback edition.

The Magician

by W Somerset Maugham

Published June 1967

Set in the bohemian cafe society of Paris at the turn of the nineteenth century, Maugham's exploration of hypnotism and the occult was inspired by the sinister black magician Aleister Crowley. At the start of this compulsive gothic horror story, Arthur and his beautiful, innocent fiancee Margaret look forward to an idyllic life together, until they encounter the mesmerising and repulsive Oliver Haddo...

Ashenden

by W Somerset Maugham

Published December 1951

When war broke out in 1914, Somerset Maugham was dispatched by the British Secret Service to Switzerland under the guise of completing a play. Multilingual, knowledgeable about many European countries and a celebrated writer, Maugham had the perfect cover, and the assignment appealed to his love of romance, and of the ridiculous. The stories collected in Ashenden are rooted in Maugham's own experiences as an agent, reflecting the ruthlessness and brutality of espionage, its intrigue and treachery, as well as its absurdity.

Creatures of Circumstance

by W Somerset Maugham

Published 1 March 1977

Creatures of Circumstance begins with an explanation from the author telling how this collection came about. He states that he "has never pretended to be anything but a story teller. It has amused me to tell stories and I have told a great many. It is a misfortune for me that the telling of a story just for the sake of the story is not an activity that is in favor with the intelligentsia. I endeavor to bear my misfortunes with fortitude." The short stories in this extraordinary collection-with the exception of one-were written after the close of World War I. Maugham shrewdly and brilliantly exploited the public taste of his time to put on display the changing morality of the twentieth century. An expert storyteller, he was also a master of fictional technique. His fiction offers a synthesis of pleasures in the form of realism, exoticism, shrewd and ironic observation, careful craftsmanship, and characteriation. Among the stories included in Creatures of Circumstance are "The Colonel's Lady," "Flotsam and Jetsam," "Sanatorium," "Appearance and Reality," "The Point of Honor," "A Woman of Fifty," "The Man from Glasgow," and "The Kite."

Then and Now

by W Somerset Maugham

Published December 1959

Maugham found a parallel to the turmoil of our own century in the duplicity, intrigue and sensuality of the Italian Renaissance. Then and Now enters the world of Machiavelli, and covers three important months in the career of that crafty politician, worldly seducer and high priest of schemers.

Points of View

by W Somerset Maugham

Published December 1958

Eclectic and illuminating, these essays are the last that Maugham published. Ranging from an appreciation of Goethe's novels, to an encounter with an Indian holy man, with a considered analysis of the form at which Maugham himself excelled - the short story - they present the enduring views and opinions of this eminent writer.

Theatre

by W Somerset Maugham

Published June 1967

In Theatre, W. Somerset Maugham-the author of the classic novels Of Human Bondage and Up at the Villa-introduces us to Julia Lambert, a woman of breathtaking poise and talent whose looks have stood by her forty-six years. She is one of the greatest actresses England-so good, in fact, that perhaps she never stops acting.
It seems that noting can ruffle her satin feathers, until a quiet stranger who challenges Julia's very sense of self. As a result, she will endure rejection for the first time, her capacity as a mother will be affronted, and her ability to put on whatever face she desired for her public will prove limited. In Theatre, Maugham subtly exposes the tensions and triumphs that occur when acting and reality blend together, and-for Julia-ultimately reverse. "From the Trade Paperback edition."

Up at the Villa

by W Somerset Maugham

Published 1 March 1977

Now a major motion picture from USA Films starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Sean Penn, and director Philip Haas (director of Angels and Insects). In Up at the Villa, W. Somerset Maugham portrays a wealthy young English woman who finds herself confronted rather brutally by the repercussions of whimsy. On the day her older and prosperous friend asks her to marry him, Mary Leonard demurs and decides to postpone her reply a few days.But driving into the hills above Florence alone that evening, Mary offers a ride to a handsome stranger.And suddenly, her life is utterly, irrevocably altered. For this stranger is a refugee of war, and he harbors more than one form of passion.Before morning, Mary will witness bloodshed, she will be forced to seek advice and assistance from an unsavory man, and she will have to face the truth about her own yearnings.Erotic, haunting, and maddeningly suspenseful, Up at the Villa is a masterful tale of temptation and the capricious nature of fate."

Sheppey

by W Somerset Maugham

Published 1 January 1977

The Mixture as Before

by W Somerset Maugham

Published 1 January 1977