Сontents

About William Somerset Maugham. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Unit 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-6

Unit 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7-10

Unit 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11-14

Unit 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15-18

Unit 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19-22

Unit 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23-26

Unit 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27-30

Unit 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31-34

Unit 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35-38

Topics for general discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Комментарий . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . … . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40-52

William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)

W.S. Maugham was born in Paris in the family of a solicitor at the British Embassy. His parents died when he was still a child, and he was brought up by his uncle, vicar of Whitstable in Kent. Maugham was educated at King's School, Canterbury, and Heidelberg University, Germany. He also took his medical training at St. Thomas's Hospital in London, but the success of his first novel ("Liza of Lambeth", 1897) won him over to letters. His second novel "Of Human Bondage" (1915) passed unnoticed in the years of World War I, and it was Theodore Dreiser who called public attention to its merits in 1919, this giving it a new life. Maugham's novel 'The Moon and Sixpence" (1919) tells the story of a man of genius who devoted himself entirely and selfsacrificingly to painting. Maugham's favourite among his novels is "Cakes and Ale" (1930) depicting the backstage life of the world of letters. His other popular novels include 'The Painted Veil" (1925), 'The Narrow Corner" (1932), "Theatre" (1937), 'The Razor's Edge" (1944). Maugham also got an established reputation as a dramatist and a short-story writer. In his lifetime he published more than ten collections of stories. AH of them demonstrate his realistic manner, democratic tendencies and brilliant mastery of form. Maugham is also a prolific author of travel books, essays and literary criticism.

Maugham's fiction has little romance or idealism, for he takes a sceptical view of human nature. However, his readers are confronted with the problems of good and evil, reward and punishment, justice and injustice, offering no easy solutions.