Maugham, W. Somerset
Maugham, W. Somerset , ( William Somerset Maugham ) ( 1874 – 1965 ),novelist and playwright, born in Paris, the fourth surviving son of a lawyer attached to the British embassy: his mother died when he was 8, and his father in 1884 . William was sent to Whitstable to live with an aunt and uncle, and was educated at the King's School, Canterbury, and at Heidelberg. He then trained in London as a doctor and his first ‘new realist’ novel, Liza of Lambeth ( 1897 ), drew on his experiences of slum life as an obstetric clerk. He achieved fame in 1907 with Lady Frederick, a comedy of marriage and money, and in 1908 had four plays running in London. In 1911 he met Syrie Wellcome: their daughter Liza was born in 1915 , and he married Syrie in 1917 . Their marriage was unorthodox, and they spent most of their time apart. In 1914 Maugham met Gerald Haxton in Flanders, where both were working for an...
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