THE SECRET LIVES OF SOMERSET MAUGHAM : A Biography
by Selina Hastings
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- See description
- ISBN 10
- 1400061415
- ISBN 13
- 9781400061419
- Seller
-
Pomona, New York, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Synopsis
He was a brilliant teller of tales, one of the most widely read authors of the twentieth century, and at one time the most famous writer in the world, yet W. Somerset Maugham's own true story has never been fully told. At last, the fascinating truth is revealed in a landmark biography by the award-winning writer Selina Hastings. Granted unprecedented access to Maugham's personal correspondence and to newly uncovered interviews with his only child, Hastings portrays the secret loves, betrayals, integrity, and passion that inspired Maugham to create such classics as The Razor's Edge and Of Human Bondage.Hastings vividly presents Maugham's lonely childhood spent with unloving relatives after the death of his parents, a trauma that resulted in shyness, a stammer, and for the rest of his life an urgent need for physical tenderness. Here, too, are his adult triumphs on the stage and page, works that allowed him a glittering social life in which he befriended and sometimes fell out with such luminaries as Dorothy Parker, Charlie Chaplin, D. H. Lawrence, and Winston Churchill.The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham portrays in full for the first time Maugham's disastrous marriage to Syrie Wellcome, a manipulative society woman of dubious morality who trapped Maugham with a pregnancy and an attempted suicide. Hastings also explores Maugham's many affairs with men, including his great love, Gerald Haxton, an alcoholic charmer and a cad. Maugham's courageous work in secret intelligence during two world wars is described in fascinating detail--experiences that provided the inspiration for the groundbreaking Ashenden stories. From the West End to Broadway, from China to the South Pacific, Maugham's restless and remarkably productive life is thrillingly recounted as Hastings uncovers the real stories behind such classics as "Rain," The Painted Veil, Cakes & Ale, and other well-known tales.An epic biography of a hugely talented and hugely conflicted man, The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham is the definitive account of Maugham's extraordinary life.From the Hardcover edition.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Rare Book Cellar (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 106850
- Title
- THE SECRET LIVES OF SOMERSET MAUGHAM : A Biography
- Author
- Selina Hastings
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used
- Edition
- First Edition Thus; First Printing
- ISBN 10
- 1400061415
- ISBN 13
- 9781400061419
- Publisher
- Random House
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 2010
- Keywords
- 1400061415
Terms of Sale
Rare Book Cellar
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About the Seller
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Good+
- A term used to denote a condition a slight grade better than Good.
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...