000			03181cam a22002658a 4500
001			011391
005			20231009192146.0
008			101117s2010 nyu b 001 0beng
010			_a2009035797
020			_a9781400061419
050	0	0	_aPR6025.A86 _bZ6123 2010
082	0	0	_a92 MAU
100	1		_aHastings, Selina
245	1	4	_aThe secret lives of Somerset Maugham _b: a biography _c/ Selina Hastings
250			_a1st U.S. ed.
260			_aNew York _b: Random House _c, c2010.
300			_a626 p., [32] p. of plates _b: ill. _c; 25 cm
500			_a"This work was originally published in the United Kingdom by John Murray Publishers, London, in 2009, in a slightly different form"--T.p. verso.
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [555]-602) and index.
505	0		_aA Blackstable boyhood -- At St. Thomas's Hospital -- A writer by instinct -- Aiming for the West End -- England's dramatist -- Syrie -- Code name "Somerville" -- Behind The painted veil -- A world of veranda and prahu -- Separation -- The Villa Mauresque -- Master Hacky -- The teller of tales -- An exercise in propaganda -- The Bronzino boy -- Betrayal.
520			_aHe 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 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.
600	1	0	_aMaugham, W. Somerset _d, 1874-1965
650		4	_aAuthors, English _y-20th century _v--Biography
942			_cMO
999			_c230445 _d230445