W. Somerset Maugham
1) The magician
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English
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The Magician (1909) is a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. Controversial for its portrayal of infidelity and occult ritual, The Magician was instrumental in establishing Maugham's reputation as a leading author of the late Victorian era. Inspired by stories of Aleister Crowley, an influential occultist and magician, Maugham crafted a masterpiece of fantasy fiction that would inspire Crowley himself to write a hit piece for Vanity Fair erroneously accusing...
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English
Description
A novel of love and betrayal set during a cholera epidemic from the acclaimed British author of Of Human Bondage, “a great artist, a genius” (Theodore Dreiser).
“[Theodore Dreiser] is the modern writer who has influenced me the most.” —George Orwell
Arriving in Hong Kong in the 1920s, newlywed Kitty Fane soon learns that being the wife of a British government bacteriologist...
“[Theodore Dreiser] is the modern writer who has influenced me the most.” —George Orwell
Arriving in Hong Kong in the 1920s, newlywed Kitty Fane soon learns that being the wife of a British government bacteriologist...
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
Originally published in 1915, Of Human Bondage is a potent expression of the power of sexual obsession and of modern man's yearning for freedom. This classic bildungsroman tells the story of Philip Carey, a sensitive boy born with a clubfoot who is orphaned and raised by a religious aunt and uncle. Philip yearns for adventure, and at eighteen leaves home, eventually pursuing a career as an artist in Paris. When he returns to London to study medicine,...
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Modern library of the world's best books volume 270
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English
Description
Cakes and Ale is a delicious satire of London literary society between the Wars. Social climber Alroy Kear is flattered when he is selected by Edward Driffield's wife to pen the official biography of her lionized novelist husband, and determined to write a bestseller. But then Kear discovers the great novelist's voluptuous muse (and unlikely first wife), Rosie. The lively, loving heroine once gave Driffield enough material to last a lifetime,...
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English
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The Moon and Sixpence (1919) is a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. Inspired by the life of French painter Paul Gauguin, Maugham set out to capture, the disconnect between an artist's desire, to create and their obligations to their loved ones and society. Praised for its multifaceted portrayal of tortured genius and wasted talent, The Moon and Sixpence explores the distance between expectation and desire in a man whose decisions, however, hastily made,...
14) Mrs. Craddock
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English
Description
Mrs. Craddock (1902) is a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. Controversial for its portrayal of infidelity and marriage across social classes, Mrs. Craddock was instrumental in establishing Maugham's reputation as a leading author of the late Victorian era. Due to its content, the novel appeared exclusively in Bowdlerized form until Maugham saw it republished in 1938. Bertha Ley has always been independent. Orphaned at a young age, she comes into a sizable...
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English
Description
The Narrow Corner is a novel by the British writer W. Somerset Maugham, published by William Heinemann in 1932.
A quote from Meditations, iii 10, by Marcus Aurelius, introduces the work: "Short therefore, is man's life, and narrow is the corner of the earth wherein he dwells." In the story, set "a good many years ago" in what is now Indonesia, a young Australian, cruising the islands after his involvement in a murder in Sydney, has a passionate affair...
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