W. Somerset Maugham
The Prolific English Author
My obsession with W. Somerset Maugham began after I read The Razors Edge almost twenty years ago, since then I have spoken about him at three literary conferences. I did this as I believed that his work was being overlooked. Today things have changed somewhat for the better with more people rediscovering his works, yet I believe there is still much more that we can learn from his stories, his methods and his life.
Maugham’s personal life is often seen as being more exciting than the fiction he wrote. I have been inspired to write short stories about him, a radio play exploring his relationship with Gerald Haxton, and I am working on a collection of essays about him. In 2018 I was approached to write a documentary about his time spent in South East Asia, a project that is very close to my heart, one that I hope will bring more awareness to his writings and the stories he uncovered during his travels.
Articles
I'm thrilled to share that I had the opportunity to write about W. Somerset Maugham’s visits to Singapore in the 1920s for The National Library of Singapore's magazine, BiblioAsia.
In the article, I highlight Maugham's encounters with locals, expatriates, and the early cosmopolitan travellers—individuals he referred to as "new types." These unique individuals provided him with a treasure trove of inspiration that fuelled his creativity.
Accompanied by his private secretary, Gerald Haxton, Maugham navigated the vibrant and complex social landscape, hearing tales filled with drama and intrigue, many of which influenced his storytelling. His collection, The Casuarina Tree, drew from these experiences, particularly the controversial short story "The Letter," based on a true event that shocked the expatriate community.
However, Maugham's candid depictions did not sit well with many, who criticized him for betraying confidences and distorting colonial life—leading to calls for his books to be removed from library shelves.
When Maugham returned to Singapore thirty years later, he witnessed the city’s transformation, yet his presence still stirred controversy. His sharp observations and biting wit continued to provoke reactions, reflecting his complicated relationship with the society that had both inspired and ostracized him.
I hope this exploration of Maugham's legacy demonstrates the power—and responsibility—of storytelling, especially in cross-cultural contexts. I am grateful for the chance to contribute to this to The National Library of Singapore.
Conference Speeches
The Secret Self: A brief comparison of the novels from Dance to the Music of Time series by Anthony Powell and the London Novels from W. Somerset Maugham.
Paper delivered at the Anthony Powell Conference 2011
‘I am now astonished at such simplicity, literary and social.’ Anthony Powell wrote these words about W. Somerset Maugham on the very last page of his first memoir Infants of Spring. He was also only one of two authors that agreed to write an essay in tribute for Maugham’s eightieth birthday, all the other writers/critics that were asked declined. With little known of any lasting correspondence or friendship between the two, this paper will attempt to make a comparison between the novels written by Anthony Powell and W. Somerset Maugham, with special emphasis being placed on the novels that were based in London. It has been strongly suggested that both W. Somerset Maugham and Anthony Powell ‘fictionalized’ real people into characters models, sometimes causing great offence, and both were reported to have used the infamous character of Aleister Crowley.
W. Somerset Maugham—Realist or Modernist? A Brief Exploration of Maugham’s Short Story Form.
Paper delivered at the International Conference of the Short Story in Vienna 2014
“He has not room to describe and develop a character; he can only give the salient traits that bring the character to life and so make the story he has to tell plausible.” W. Somerset Maugham own definition on what he believes a short story writer is required to do.
This paper's aim is to question and evaluate where Maugham’s Short Stories are positioned between the realist and modernist literature movements.
W. Somerset Maugham – The English Abroad in the East and Pacific
Paper presented at the Literary London Society Annual Conference at UCL given in June 2016
Maugham wrote, ‘I am often tired of myself and have a notion that by travel I can add to my personality and so change myself a little.'
In 1916 after completing his lengthy semi-autobiographical novel Of Human Bondage Maugham took his first trip to the South Seas. It was there that he came across a great many types that were entirely new to him. These ‘types' provided him with a wealth of inspiration, amounting in plays, novels and three collections of short stories, Far Eastern Tales, More Far Eastern Tales and Tales from the South Seas and Pacific. It is within these short stories one can view Maugham's characterisation of the English abroad. From their shortcomings to unravelling their darkest secrets Maugham does not sugar coat their lives, their experiences. In keeping with his loyalty to his readers his characters are both entertaining and shocking, we as readers are enthralled. Maugham South Seas collection focuses on the islands in the Pacific that of Samoa, Apia, Honolulu most of them are written about American characters. In Asia, he focuses mainly on English. Some stories are light heartened and amusing while others are heart breaking and serious.
Documentary on W. Somerset Maugham
In Collaboration with Filmwallas, Singapore
Maugham wrote,
‘Often in some lonely post in the jungle or in a stiff grand house, solitary in the midst of a teeming Chinese city, a man has told me stories about himself that I was sure he had never told to a living soul. I was a stray acquaintance whom he had never seen before and would never see again, a wanderer for a moment through his monotonous life, and some starved impulse led him to lay bare his soul.’
W. Somerset Maugham trained as a medical doctor, he was an acute observer and avid note taker. The realistic style of his Far Eastern tales encompasses the fascinating interwar years in and around Singapore and the Federated Malayan Straits. It has been a hundred years since world famous writer W. Somerset Maugham journeyed to the Far East, his sights set on exploring Singapore, the Former Malayan Straits that included parts of Thailand, Myanmar, Borneo, Cambodia and Vietnam – But what was the reality behind W. Somerset Maugham travels and his stories based in South East Asia?
