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Maugham, W. Somerset

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From: The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature
Date: 20030101
Author:MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER

Maugham, W. Somerset ( William Somerset Maugham ) (1874–1965), novelist and playwright, born in Paris. His mother died when he was 8, and his father in 1884. He trained as a doctor in London. His first ‘new realist’ novel, Liza of Lambeth (1897), drew on his experiences of slum life as an obstetric clerk. He achieved fame with the production of Lady Frederick (1907), a comedy of marriage and money. In 1908 he had four plays running simultaneously in London. In 1911 he met Syrie Wellcome, daughter of Dr Barnardo, whom he married in 1917; they spent most of ...

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