Somerset Maugham was a prolific writer, traveler, socialite and spy, influencing such writers as Ian Fleming, Graham Greene and John le Carré.
A Somerset Maugham Biography: life beyond human bondage.
“The artist produces for the liberation of his soul. It is his nature to create as it is the nature of water to run down the hill,” (The Summing Up, 1938).
Exile from of society, deceit and treachery, the debonair secret agent, drunkenness, prostitution, and abandonment run through Maugham’s work like water crashing over Niagara Falls.
Willie’s precarious early years.
William Somerset Maugham, or “Willie,” was born on January 25, 1874 in Paris where his father worked as a lawyer for the British Embassy. His mother died at the young age of 41 from tuberculosis, and not long after his father died of cancer. An orphan at ten, Willie was shipped off to England to live with his uncle.
The uprooting was a disaster. The uncle, a vicar for the Church of England, was cold and distant with the young Willie (emotional displays were discouraged). At school the small, frail, French speaking child was picked on constantly, causing the young boy a life long stuttering impediment. He fled England, with the vicar's permission, to study in Germany.
Finding a profession for Willie was difficult; the family tradition of lawyer was out of the question because of his stuttering, ditto for the church pulpit. Medicine was a viable option and in 1892 he studied to become a doctor, qualifying in 1897.
Maugham used his medical experiences treating the poor in the slums of Lambeth, a borough of London, as material for his first novel Lisa of Lambeth (1897): “I saw how men died.” The book was a success and convinced Maugham to give up medicine and write full time.
Of Human Bondage: popularity on the rise.
By 1908, Maugham had four plays running in London. His success soared and in 1915 he published the popular and semi-autobiographical Of Human Bondage. It’s the story of the clubfooted Philip, who loses his parents at a young age and becomes a doctor.
From 1915 -1917, MI6 employed Maugham in Geneva and Russia. His book Ashenden (1928) relied on these spying experiences. The main character Ashenden is unlike the short and stuttering Willie; he is a sophisticated and dashing agent – the model Ian Fleming borrowed for James Bond. Spy novelist John le Carré also credits Maugham and some consider Ashenden the first modern spy novel.
Exile from England.
1917 also marks the beginning of Maugham’s travel experiences in Asia Pacific. The area is the setting for some of his best works, including The Moon in Sixpence (1919), the story of the self-exiled painter Paul Gaugin in Tahiti, The Painted Veil (1925), a treacherous tale of adultery set in China and “Rain,” his most popular short story, depicting a self-righteous missionary seduced by the prostitute Sadie Thompson. Graham Green’s The Quiet American has striking similarities to “The Opium Addict,” a story developed on Willie’s Far east travels.
In 1927, Maugham bought the Villa Mauresque on the French Riviera, but he had to vacate abruptly in 1940; after sitting out the war in America, he returned to the war battered Mauresque. The villa quickly regained its grace as a hub for the social and literary elite of the day. The Razor's Edge (1944) is a departure for Maugham because the main character is an American and not British; his overseas exile influencing the novel, but the overriding theme of the book is a spiritual enlightenment, a road Maugham traveled many times.
Somerset Maugham died at the age of 91 in Nice, France with 65 publications to his name.
