Of Human Bondage
ByPublisher Description
Considered by many to be Maugham’s masterpiece, Of Human Bondage is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age tale. The novel follows Philip, a sensitive young man interested in literature and art, as he searches for happiness in London and Paris. Philip, the ostensible stand-in for Maugham, suffers from a club foot, a physical representation of the stutter that Maugham himself suffered. Philip’s love life, a central aspect to the book, also mirrors Maugham’s own stormy affairs.
Maugham originally titled the book “Beauty from Ashes” before settling on the final title, taken from a section of Spinoza’s Ethics in which he discusses how one’s inability to control one’s emotions results in a form of bondage.
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About W. Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham CH (25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English playwright, novelist, and short-story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest-paid author during the 1930s.
Both Maugham's parents died before he was 10, and the orphaned boy was raised in Whitstable, Kent by a paternal uncle, who was emotionally cold. He did not want to become a lawyer like other men in his family, so he trained and qualified as a physician. His first novel Liza of Lambeth (1897) sold out so rapidly that Maugham gave up medicine to write full-time. In 1915 he wrote Of Human Bondage, widely considered his masterpiece.
Other books by W. Somerset Maugham
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