W. Somerset Maugham’s Followers (5,416)

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 · 268,605 ratings · 23,202 reviews · 1,401 distinct works • Similar authors

	Of Human Bondage 4.14 avg rating — 57,707 ratings — published 1915 — 244 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 — 49,184 ratings — published 1944 — 401 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 3.97 avg rating — 46,828 ratings — published 1925 — 397 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 — 24,628 ratings — published 1919 — 1556 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 4.17 avg rating — 8,637 ratings — published 1937 — 144 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 — 7,367 ratings — published 1930 — 269 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 — 7,102 ratings — published 1941 — 112 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 — 4,870 ratings — published 1908 — 1250 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 — 3,528 ratings — published 1927 — 3 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 3.73 avg rating — 2,682 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 — 4,909 ratings

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Polls

July 2021 Old School Classic Poll

Père Goriot by Honoré de Balzac

32 votes, 19.0%

Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

28 votes, 16.7%

Nana by Émile Zola

28 votes, 16.7%

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

20 votes, 11.9%

Arthurian Romances by Chrétien de Troyes

16 votes, 9.5%

The Bhagavad Gita by Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa

15 votes, 8.9%

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott

15 votes, 8.9%

Liza of Lambeth by W. Somerset Maugham

14 votes, 8.3%

168 total votes

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