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The Razor's Edge (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) by W. Somerset Maugham, Anthony Curtis (Introduction)

This is the story of a young man in search of himself. It is set in Paris, the Riviera and the East, all areas the author knows well. As the record of a journey of human spirit, it stands with OF HUMAN BONDAGE as one of the great English novels of our time.

Of Human Bondage (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) by W. Somerset Maugham, Robert Calder (Introduction)

It is very difficult for a writer of my generation, if he is honest, to pretend indifference to the work of Somerset Maugham," wrote Gore Vidal. "He was always so entirely there." Originally published in 1915, Of Human Bondage is a potent expression of the power of sexual obsession and of modern man's yearning for freedom. This classic bildungsroman tells the story of Philip Carey, a sensitive boy born with a clubfoot who is orphaned and raised by a religious aunt and uncle. Philip yearns for adventure, and at eighteen leaves home, eventually pursuing a career as an artist in Paris. When he returns to London to study medicine, he meets the androgynous but alluring Mildred and begins a doomed love affair that will change the course of his life. There is no more powerful story of sexual infatuation, of human longing for connection and freedom. "Here is a novel of the utmost importance," wrote Theodore Dreiser on publication. "It is a beacon of light by which the wanderer may be guided. . . . One feels as though one were sitting before a splendid Shiraz of priceless texture and intricate weave, admiring, feeling, responding sensually to its colors and tones." With an Introduction by Gore Vidal. Commentary by Theodore Dreiser and Graham Greene

The Great Exotic Novels and Short Stories of Somerset Maugham by W. Somerset Maugham

A generous anthology of fiction by the enduringly popular master Somerset Maugham, featuring in full and for the first time in one volume The Moon and the Sixpence Painted Veil, and The Magician, plus five major stories. From the caf society of Paris to the British colony of Hong Kong to the lush tropical island of Tahiti, you can travel half the world in this first-time-ever collection of three of the novels that indelibly established the popular literary reputation of W. Somerset Maugham in England and America. With him, too, you can explore that perilous territory of the human heart when the ambitions of driven men collide disastrously with the demands of passionate women. In the instant bestseller The Moon and the Sixpence, the novel Maugham famously based on the life of Paul Gauguin, love and art prove to be as incompatible as Europe and Tahiti, when the painter Charles Strickland (played brilliantly in the screen version by George Sanders) sacrifices the love of his wife, the goodwill of his friends, and the life of his mistress on the altar of his own genius. No less exotic than Tahiti is the cholera-ridden Hong Kong in The Painted Veil, which takes the adulterous Kitty Fane on a personal descent into hell in a steamy tale of passion hailed by Bookman as "one of the great short novels of our time." And in The Magician, a satanist takes dark and sinister revenge on the young woman who spurns him. Included in this volume, too, are five timeless short stories-including "The Letter," which was made into a movie starring a memorably murderous Bette Davis, and "Rain," the sultry tale of sexuality and hypocrisy that became a star vehicle for Joan Crawford.

The Painted Veil (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics) by W. Somerset Maugham

From Library Journal: Shallow, poorly educated Kitty marries the passionate and intellectual Walter Fane and has an affair with a career politician, Charles Townsend, assistant colonial secretary of Hong Kong. When Walter discovers the relationship, he compels Kitty to accompany him to a cholera-infested region of mainland China, where she finds limited happiness working with children at a convent. But when Walter dies, she is forced to leave China and return to England. Generally abandoned, she grasps desperately for the affection of her one remaining relative, her long-ignored father. In the end, in sharp, unexamined contrast to her own behavior patterns, she asserts that her unborn daughter will grow up to be an independent woman. The Painted Veil was first published in 1925 and is usually described as a strong story about a woman's spiritual journey. To more pragmatic, modern eyes, Kitty's emotional growth appears minimal. Still, if not a major feminist work, the book has literary interest. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc

Up at the Villa by W. Somerset Maugham

Now a major motion picture from USA Films starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Sean Penn, and director Philip Haas (director of Angels and Insects). In Up at the Villa, W. Somerset Maugham portrays a wealthy young English woman who finds herself confronted rather brutally by the repercussions of whimsy. On the day her older and prosperous friend asks her to marry him, Mary Leonard demurs and decides to postpone her reply a few days. But driving into the hills above Florence alone that evening, Mary offers a ride to a handsome stranger. And suddenly, her life is utterly, irrevocably altered. For this stranger is a refugee of war, and he harbors more than one form of passion. Before morning, Mary will witness bloodshed, she will be forced to seek advice and assistance from an unsavory man, and she will have to face the truth about her own yearnings. Erotic, haunting, and maddeningly suspenseful, Up at the Villa is a masterful tale of temptation and the capricious nature of fate.

Cakes and Ale (Vintage International) by W. Somerset Maugham

The Merriam-Webster Encylopedia of Literature: (in full Cakes and Ale; or, The Skeleton in the Cupboard) Comic novel by W. Somerset Maugham, published in 1930. The story is told by Willie Ashenden, who previously appeared in Maugham's short story collection Ashenden. A novelist, Ashenden is befriended by the ambitious, self-serving Alroy Kear, who has been commissioned to write an official biography of the famous novelist Edward Driffield. Kear believes that he must ignore the less than noble aspects of his subject's life in order to write a best-seller. Driffield's first wife, Rosie--vital, open-hearted, generous, but too amoral to fit into Kear's narrow understanding of human behavior--is the cupboard skeleton of the subtitle. She is contrasted with Driffield's hypocritical second wife, and the rather cold Driffield is contrasted with Rosie's warm, gentlemanly second husband. The story satirizes London literary circles and has been widely considered a roman a clef with Maugham as Ashenden, Thomas Hardy as Driffield, and Hugh Walpole as Kear.

Mrs. Craddock by W. Somerset Maugham

It is the end of the 19th century and Victoria's reign is coming to an end. It is also the end of an era, but no one knows. The landed gentry, so soon to lose their power, are the last to suspect. Bertha Ley is mistress of Court Ley, a great spread of land. She marries Edward Craddock, a man beneath her station, but quite the essence of new order. A gentleman farmer, he is steady and a doer who turns Court Ley into an efficient farm. But Bertha wants passion and ardor: she gets reality. "Bertha's tragedy is in her expectations--life would be so simple without them. Her assaults on the amiable Craddock are as rational as beating a flounder for not flying." (Literary Observer)

Theatre: A Novel (Vintage International) by W. Somerset Maugham

In Theatre, W. Somerset Maugham–the author of the classic novels Of Human Bondage and Up at the Villa–introduces us to Julia Lambert, a woman of breathtaking poise and talent whose looks have stood by her forty-six years. She is one of the greatest actresses England–so good, in fact, that perhaps she never stops acting. It seems that noting can ruffle her satin feathers, until a quiet stranger who challenges Julia's very sense of self. As a result, she will endure rejection for the first time, her capacity as a mother will be affronted, and her ability to put on whatever face she desired for her public will prove limited. In Theatre, Maugham subtly exposes the tensions and triumphs that occur when acting and reality blend together, and–for Julia–ultimately reverse.

Moon and Sixpence by Somerset Maugham

Based on the life of Paul Gauguin, The Moon and Sixpence is W. Somerset Maugham's ode to the powerful forces behind creative genius. Charles Strickland is a staid banker, a man of wealth and privilege. He is also a man possessed of an unquenchable desire to create art. As Strickland pursues his artistic vision, he leaves London for Paris and Tahiti, and in his quest makes sacrifices that leaves the lives of those closest to him in tatters. Through Maugham's sympathetic eye Strickland's tortured and cruel soul becomes a symbol of the blessing and the curse of transcendent artistic genius, and the cost in humans lives it sometimes demands.