Maugham was a very prolific writer, and while some of his novels didn't sell as well as the first one.. he also wrote comedy plays mostly set in "Society" which did very well. He travelled and got material for his writings when living abroad. However one of his most famous works was "Of Human Bondage" which was partly autobiographical....
The hero, like Maugham, is shy and awkward.. and he has an unhappy childhood. Philip has a club foot, gets teased by other boys and is reared by his uncle, who like Maugham's uncle, is cold and strict. Philip then falls madly in love with a lower class girl.. a waitress called Mildred. She is hard hearted and selfish but Philip is obsessed with her, even though he knows that she is using him... She runs off with another man, who refuses to marry her.. and comes back later when she is down and out. Philip eventually gets over his feelings for her, but he has sunk from middle class status to poverty. His club foot is the equivalent of Maugham's stammer...
The book has always been popular, and is probably his best known and best work.
In 1914 when war broke out, Maugham was too old to serve but he worked in the Medical service... A couple of years into the war, he was recruited by the British intelligence services. He travelled to Russia on intelligence missions and he later used the material he had accrued as the basis of his "Ashenden" stories.
M/F
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