Somerset Maugham
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Wear and tear with damage
Pages: Good
Few writers of the twentieth century mastered the art of storytelling with such effortless cunning as William Somerset Maugham — and Anthony Curtis's authoritative biography presents the full measure of the man behind the myth. Set against the sweeping backdrop of the literary and social worlds of Edwardian England and the glittering expatriate circles of the French Riviera, this portrait chronicles the life of one of Britain's most prolific and commercially successful authors, unmasking the private contradictions beneath the polished, worldly façade: the tortured sexuality, the failed marriage, the profound loneliness that shadowed a career of extraordinary public triumph. Curtis, a respected literary critic, brings both scholarly rigour and a biographer's instinct for the telling detail to his subject, arguing convincingly that Maugham's enduring appeal lies not in spite of his emotional detachment but because of it — that cool, ironic eye trained unflinchingly on human weakness gave his fiction its razor-sharp precision. Drawing on Maugham's vast output — from the masterful Of Human Bondage to the wry short stories that made him a household name — this study illuminates the complex interplay between life and art that shaped a literary legacy still very much alive. For anyone who has ever been captivated by a Maugham story, this biography raises an irresistible question: how much of the author's own soul was hidden in plain sight all along?
Author: Anthony Curtis
Format: Hardback
Genre: Biography
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Wear and tear with damage
Pages: Good
Few writers of the twentieth century mastered the art of storytelling with such effortless cunning as William Somerset Maugham — and Anthony Curtis's authoritative biography presents the full measure of the man behind the myth. Set against the sweeping backdrop of the literary and social worlds of Edwardian England and the glittering expatriate circles of the French Riviera, this portrait chronicles the life of one of Britain's most prolific and commercially successful authors, unmasking the private contradictions beneath the polished, worldly façade: the tortured sexuality, the failed marriage, the profound loneliness that shadowed a career of extraordinary public triumph. Curtis, a respected literary critic, brings both scholarly rigour and a biographer's instinct for the telling detail to his subject, arguing convincingly that Maugham's enduring appeal lies not in spite of his emotional detachment but because of it — that cool, ironic eye trained unflinchingly on human weakness gave his fiction its razor-sharp precision. Drawing on Maugham's vast output — from the masterful Of Human Bondage to the wry short stories that made him a household name — this study illuminates the complex interplay between life and art that shaped a literary legacy still very much alive. For anyone who has ever been captivated by a Maugham story, this biography raises an irresistible question: how much of the author's own soul was hidden in plain sight all along?