Books with author W.SOMERSET MAUGHAM

With this book Maugham skilfully dramatizes a philosophical treatise on the clash of Eastern spirituality and Western culture into one man's relentless journey towards enlightenment and the repercussions of such an action on the loves and lives of others. Hidden beneath the exquisite prose, a lesson in self-determination and self-development slowly unravels and reveals itself amidst a beautifully balanced cast of players and the customs, prejudices, and decadence of the day. Although by no means the first to anticipate the growing influence of Eastern Culture on Europe and America, Maugham-who drifts through the story as a unassuming narrator-produces a work that proved perceptive to the point of prophetic and predated the Beats who were to popularize the phenomenon by over a decade.

"The Explorer" is a story of the proud Allertons whose fortune has been squandered, and whose three-hundred-year estate Hamlyn's Purlieu stands to be lost to the family. Lucy and George Allerton, brother and sister, are resolved to overcome the mistakes of their father, Fred Allerton. A powerful exploration of relationships and familial bonds by a true master of the human psyche.

THE HERO (1901) by W. Somerset Maugham is a complex psychological exploration of the stifling of deepest personal urges and the resulting disillusionment. James Parsons returns home after military service in South Africa and finds his worldview changed. His family's affections are oppressive, his betrothed, Mary, now seems repulsive, and life has become a hollow burden. A powerful, bittersweet, and ironic work by a true master of the human psyche.

W. Somerset Maugham's seventh novel, "The Explorer" was originally published in 1907. It is the story of Fred Allerton and his children as they deal with the loss of their birthright, a palatial estate named Hamlyn's Purlieu. After Fred Allerton squanders the family fortune and dishonors the family name, his children, Lucy and George, must try to set things right.

The Trembling of a Leaf by W. Somerset Maugham is a collection of short stories set in the South Pacific. All deal with similar themes: the relationship between the islands’ native population and the foreigners (mostly British and American) who visit and live there. Most of the stories deal primarily with the foreigners, the natives playing supporting roles as wives, bystanders, store owners, petitioners, and so on. The stories also tend to feature two foreigners of different minds on a subject: the place of Christianity and missionaries on the islands, the proper way of relating to the indigenous population, the merits of the British vs. native way of life. In most of the stories there was at least one someone who was dreadfully unhappy, often because of cultural misunderstandings or incompatibilities. I found the tensions fascinating and well portrayed. Several of the stories also include a tale within a tale. Often a story’s main character spends most of the story relating something he heard about or that happened to him earlier. This structure gives the stories a depth I often find lacking in the form in general and allows Maugham to explore both tales as well as the narrator or main character’s feelings toward or the consequences of the innermost story.