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W. Somerset Maugham was one of the seminal writers of the twentieth century, and his travel writing has long been considered among his finest work. Now, acclaimed travel writer Pico Iyer maps out a masterful tour of these vivid, evocative pieces that are collected here for the first time.
Maugham worked as a secret agent in Russia, published novels in London, staged plays in New York, and traveled throughout Europe, Asia, India, and the United States, chronicling his travels, wherever he went, with exceptional insight. Beginning with “In the Land of the Blessed Virgin” and culminating in “A Partial View,” Iyer selects vignettes of Maugham’s razor-sharp prose that track his transformation from a boyish traveler in Spain to a worldly man of letters.
This is Maugham at his most keenly observant, direct, and powerful.
W. Somerset Maugham
W(illiam) Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) British playwright, novelist, and short-story writer, who in 1908 had four plays running simultaneously in the West End, a record at that time. The plays were Lady Frederick at the Court Theatre, Jack Straw at the Vaudeville Theatre, Mrs Dot at the Comedy Theatre, and The Explorer at the Lyric Theatre. His work was noted for its clear style, solid construction, and shrewd perception of human nature. Between 1898 and 1933 Maugham wrote 27 plays; the first to be produced was Man of Honour in 1904. His successes included Our Betters (1917), a satire on US social-climbers, Home and Beauty (1919), The Circle (1921), East of Suez (1922), The Constant Wife (1926), and the anti-war play For Services Rendered (1932). After the comparative failure of Sheppey, directed by Gielgud in 1933, Maugham decided that he had lost touch with public taste and gave up writing for the theatre. Several of his short stories have been adapted by others for the stage, notably Miss Thompson, dramatized as Rain (1922) by John Colton and Clemence Randolph.
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