A writer who saw through the human essence and gave us the opportunity to look at the world through the prism of his stories, plays and novels.
Childhood years of the writer
The writer William Somerset Maugham was born on January 25, 1874 in France at the British Embassy. The Maugham then lived in Paris, where the head of the family worked as a legal adviser at the embassy. Until the age of ten, William did not know English at all, since his parents believed that first they needed to master French.
In 1882, a misfortune happened in the family: consumption drove his mother to the grave, and 2 years later his father died. The boy found himself completely alone, and he was sent to England to his uncle, the vicar. The shock that befell the boy turned out to be unbearable for the child, and after the move he began to stutter. The boy was physically weak, small in stature, spoke with an accent and was shy. All these factors prevented William from joining the peer group and fully communicating at the Canterbury school. He felt like an outcast there, and books were his only consolation.
As soon as William was 15 years old, he left for Germany, where he began his studies at the University of Heidelberg. Finally, the young man felt like a full-fledged person. He became interested in drama, philosophy, theater.
Return to England
After 3 years, Maugham returned to England. Uncle wanted to see him in the role of a minister of the church, but the young man had other plans. He went to London to continue his studies at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School. After graduation, he became not only a doctor with a diploma, but also learned to see through a person.
Maugham's first literary experiments were rather weak, since there were no mentors around him who could help him. To fill his hand, he translated Ibsen, wrote short stories, analyzed the works of great writers such as Dostoevsky, Emil Zola, Dickens and others. Maugham was persistent and very painstakingly working on the word. The play "Lady Frederick", written in 1907, brings him the long-awaited success.
After the end of the 1st World War, the aspiring author continued to study literature. At this time, he creates popular plays - "The Circle" and "Sheppie", as well as famous novels - "Burden of Human Passions", "The Moon and a Penny." A little later, the novels "Theater", "Pies and Beer", "Razor's Edge" were born.
The biography of William Somerset Maugham would be incomplete if one does not note his love of wandering. The writer traveled a lot. He visited various countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and visited the Pacific islands. Everywhere he looked for material about interesting events and incidents, he observed people. Maugham is a realist, he had a poor imagination, and there are practically no fictional stories in his work.
Mature years of life
In 1928, Maugham purchased a mansion on the French Riviera in the famous Cap-Ferrat. This house will become for many writers a literary salon, and for him a home for the rest of his life. It was visited by famous people of that time, such as H. G. Wells and Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
By 1945, William Somerset Maugham is one of the most recognized and wealthy people in Britain. He could well have ended his literary career, but, as the author himself argued, his imagination was constantly disturbed by ideas, characters, types. He was often overtaken by long and painful depression, so work was a salvation for him. He usually wrote in the morning hours and did not like it when something interfered with his concentration.
In World War I, Maugham participated as a scout and in 1917 he visited Russia, communicated with A. Kerensky and B. Savinkov. During World War II, he created scripts in Hollywood. The events of these wars were reflected in the works "On the Edge of a Razor" and "For Military Merit".
In 1947, being a wealthy man, Maugham funded the Somerset Maugham Prize. The prize was awarded to talented young English authors.
In light of the writer, he was considered a cynic, misogynist, an unpleasant subject and unable to understand criticism. But it was just a mask; under it was a very receptive, emotional, intelligent and ironic person. He was unmercifully condemned for cynicism in works where he preferred not to hide base human passions, but, on the contrary, to pull them out. But in human nature, nothing could confuse him.
Personal life
Maugham's personal life was also the subject of gossip and gossip. In his youth, he was in love with the successful actress Ethelwina Jones. The young man wanted to get married, but it turned out that the girl was pregnant from another. And the wedding was upset.
Maugham married only 43 years old to Siri Mogam, the daughter of a famous benefactor. Even before marriage, they had a daughter, Elizabeth. And after a short time, the couple broke up. They officially divorced in 1929. He never married again, although he had connections with representatives of both sexes. And now the bisexuality of the writer is no secret to anyone. But this does not prevent Maugham from being perceived as a talented author who has written 21 novels, more than a dozen plays, more than a hundred stories.
Maugham died in December 1965 in France, in a small town near Nice, before he was 92 years old. His body was cremated, and the ashes were scattered at the library named after him in Canterbury.
