W. Somerset Maugham’s Followers (5,333)

W. Somerset Maugham

Born

in Paris, France

January 25, 1874

Died

December 16, 1965

Genre

Fiction, Short Stories

Influences

Guy de Maupassant, Honoré de Balzac, Anton Chekhov, Ramana Maharshi ...more

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William Somerset Maugham was born in Paris in 1874. He spoke French even before he spoke a word of English, a fact to which some critics attribute the purity of his style.

His parents died early and, after an unhappy boyhood, which he recorded poignantly in Of Human Bondage, Maugham became a qualified physician. But writing was his true vocation. For ten years before his first success, he almost literally starved while pouring out novels and plays.

Maugham wrote at a time when experimental modernist literature such as that of William Faulkner, Thomas Mann, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf was gaining increasing popularity and winning critical acclaim. In this context, his plain prose style was criticized as 'such a tissue of clichés' that one ...more

Combine Editions
W. Somerset Maugham’s books

Average rating: 4.06 · 264,834 ratings · 22,763 reviews · 1,333 distinct works • Similar authors

	Of Human Bondage 4.14 avg rating — 57,188 ratings — published 1915 — 873 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Razor’s Edge 4.19 avg rating — 48,480 ratings — published 1944 — 366 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Painted Veil 3.96 avg rating — 46,212 ratings — published 1925 — 366 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Moon and Sixpence 4.13 avg rating — 24,330 ratings — published 1919 — 1426 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Theatre 4.16 avg rating — 8,516 ratings — published 1937 — 142 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cakes and Ale 3.78 avg rating — 7,312 ratings — published 1930 — 266 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Up at the Villa 3.74 avg rating — 6,932 ratings — published 1941 — 65 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Magician by W. Somerset Maugham, Robert Calder (Introduction) 3.58 avg rating — 4,821 ratings — published 1908 — 1201 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ashenden 3.87 avg rating — 3,458 ratings — published 1927 — 160 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Christmas Holiday 3.72 avg rating — 2,654 ratings — published 1939 — 111 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by W. Somerset Maugham…

Series by W. Somerset Maugham

Collected Short Stories of W. Somerset Maugham (4 books)
by

W. Somerset Maugham

4.34 avg rating — 4,874 ratings

Need another excuse to treat yourself to a new book this week? We've got you covered with the buzziest new releases of the day, according to early...

Polls

December 2014 New School Classics Poll

Which book would you like to read for our December 2014 New School Classics group read?

1963, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, 288 pages

33 votes, 20.9%

1930, As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, 267 pages

18 votes, 11.4%

1973, Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut, 302 pages

16 votes, 10.1%

1902, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum, 224 pages

15 votes, 9.5%

1981, Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie, 647 pages

14 votes, 8.9%

1944, The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham, 314 pages

13 votes, 8.2%

1932, Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons, 233 pages

12 votes, 7.6%

1940, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers, 368 pages

12 votes, 7.6%

1918, My Ántonia by Willa Cather, 232 pages

11 votes, 7.0%

1990, Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett, 413 pages

10 votes, 6.3%

1940, Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton, 320 pages

2 votes, 1.3%

1961, A House for Mr Biswas by V.S. Naipaul, 623 pages

1 vote, 0.6%

1992, Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth, 630 pages

1 vote, 0.6%

158 total votes

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