Blog EBE English Book Education
W. Somerset Maugham was one of the most popular writers in the 1930s. What do you know about him?
He qualified in 1897 as a doctor from St. Thomas’ medical school
He had a varied professional life that included obstetrics and a stint as a secret agent during World War I.
The success of his first novel, Liza of Lambeth (1897), persuaded him to quit medicine for writing.
W. Somerset Maugham’s most famous novels
He is most famous for four novels, Of Human Bondage (1915), The Moon and Sixpence (1919), Cakes and Ale (1930), and The Razor’s Edge (1944).
His plays were popular in their day and at one time four of them ran simultaneously in London.
Authors Thomas Hardy and Hugh Walpole
His novel Cakes and Ale had very unflattering characterizations of the authors Thomas Hardy and Hugh Walpole
His short stories are considered among the best in English.
There have been 36 films adapted from his novels since 1917.
