1、Somerset Maugham a famous British novelist playwright and short story writer.(25 January 1874 16 December 1965)section 1Brief Introduction of his lifeChildhood8 years old his mom died,two years later his father died.Maugham was sent to the UK to be cared for by his u n c l e,H e n r y M a c D o n a
2、l d Maugham.his uncle proved cold and emotionally cruel,his new school was also difficult for him.He was teased for his bad English(French had been his first language)and his short stature,which he inherited from his father.ChildhoodMiserable both at his uncles vicarage and at school,the young Maugh
3、am developed a talent for making wounding r e m a r k s t o t h o s e w h o displeased him.This ability is s o m e t i m e s r e f l e c t e d i n Maughams literary characters.CareerMaughams father and three older brothers were all distinguished lawyers,but Maugham asked to be excused from t h e d u
4、 t y o f f o l l o w i n g i n t h e i r footsteps.Maugham had been writing steadily since the age of 15 and fervently wished to become an author，but later he studied medicine at the medical school，meeting people of a low sort whom he would never have met otherwise,and seeing them at a time of heigh
5、tened anxiety and meaning in their lives.CareerIn 1897,he published his first novel,Liza of Lambeth,a tale of working-class adultery and its consequences.Liza of Lambeths first print run sold out in a matter of weeks.Maugham,who had qualified as a medic,dropped medicine and embarked on his 65-year c
6、areer as a man of letters.He later said,I took to it as a duck takes to water.MarriageDuring his year in Heidelberg Maugham met and had a sexual affair with John Ellingham Brooks,an Englishman ten years his senior.Although homosexual,Maugham entered into a relationship with Syrie Wellcome,an America
7、n-born English pharmaceutical magnate.Henry W e l l c o m e s u e d h i s w i f e f o r divorce,naming Maugham as co-r e s p o n d e n t.T h e m a r r i a g e w a s unhappy,and Syrie divorced him in 1929,finding his relationship and travels with Haxton too difficult to live with.MarriageMaughams lov
8、e life was almost never smooth.He once confessed:I have most loved people who cared little or nothing for me and when people have loved me I have been embarrassed.In order not to hurt their feelings,I have often acted a passion I did not feel.Section 2Works and writing styleNotable WorksHis reputati
9、on as a novelist rests primarily on these books:Liza of Lambeth(1897)was W.Somerset Maughams first novel,which he wrote while working as a doctor at a hospital in Lambeth.It depicts the short life and death of Liza Kemp,an 18-year-old factory worker who lives together with her aging mother in the fi
10、ctional Vere Street.All in all,it gives the reader an interesting insight into the everyday lives of working class Londoners at the end of the nineteenth century.In classic guide,Maugham introduces and discusses what he considers to be the ten greatest novels and their authors.Here are some of the f
11、ormulae of greatness in the genre.Maughams choice list:Fieldings Tom Jones;汤姆琼斯（亨利菲尔丁）Dickenss David Copperfield;大卫科波菲尔（查尔斯狄更斯）Flauberts Madame Bovary;包法利夫人（福楼拜）Balzacs Old Man Goriot;高老头(巴尔扎克）Emily Bronte s Wuthering Heights,呼啸山庄（艾蜜莉勃朗特）Dostoevskys The Brothers Karamazov;卡拉马佐夫兄弟（陀思妥耶夫斯基)Stendhals T
12、he Red and the Black;红与黑（斯汤达尔）Austen s Pride and Prejudice;傲慢与偏见（珍奥斯汀）Melvilles Moby Dick;白鲸记（赫尔曼梅尔维尔)Tolstoys War and Peace.战争与和平（托尔斯泰）His Writing StyleMaugham was influenced by the published journals of the French writer Jules Renard,Ibsen and his comedies was influenced by Oscar Wilde a lot.Maugh
13、am had enjoyed for their conscientiousness,wisdom and wit.He always hold calm,aloof even particular attitudes with some satire and mercy to observe life in almost all his works.His Writing StyleHis works are mianly about family,love and the twists in marriage.He described the situations and customs
14、in the upper class and expressed the doubts about the society morality.His works are more satiric than humourous.section 3InfluenceIn 1947 Maugham instituted the Somerset Maugham Award,awarded to the best British writer or writers under the age of thirty-five for a work of fiction published in the p
15、ast year.Notable winners include V.S.Naipaul,Kingsley Amis,Martin Amis and Thom Gunn.On his death,Maugham donated his royalties to the Royal Literary Fund.Other writers acknowledged his work.Anthony Burgess,who included a complex fictional portrait of Maugham in the novel Earthly Powers,praised his influence.Ian Fleming noted that he wrote the short story Quantum of Solace as an homage to Maughams writing style.George Orwell said that Maugham was the modern writer who has influenced me the most,whom I admire immensely for his power of telling a story straightforwardly and without frills.
