LITMIR.BIZ

English novelist, short story writer and playwright, William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965), achieved incredible success in the twentieth century with the reading public, despite a lackluster reception from literary critics. His simple and lucid style complemented his interesting and highly-developed characters, appealing to readers as much in the 1920s and 1930s as it does today. The works contained in this edition—The Pacific, Mackintosh, The Fall of Edward Barnard, Red, The Pool, Honolulu, Rain, and Envoi—were inspired by Maugham's journeys to the South Sea Islands of the Pacific. Through these stories, Maugham sought to differentiate between his view of life in the South Seas from the views of his 'Romantic' predecessors like Herman Melville, Pierre Loti, and Robert Louis Stevenson. Readers will appreciate Maugham's honest and vivid accounts of cultural and racial interactions, love in the tropics, and his unforgettable descriptions of exotic islands in these dramatically powerful tales.

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While most of W. Somerset Maugham's novels achieved high commercial sales and critical acclaim at the turn of the 20th century, Maugham was also an accomplished short story writer. His stories compiled in «Rain and Other South Sea Stories» describe the beauty and feelings of the South Pacific at a time of British colonization. The most popular short story, «Rain», describes the futile attempts of an English missionary to convert a certain prostitute on the Pacific isles. The prostitute's immorality bothers the missionary, but Maugham refused to «punish» his more depraved characters. He was less concerned about satisfying the principles of his time period and more interested in allowing his characters to live their lives free of judgment. Maugham's prose style in the stories varies; as he was writing during the conversion to modernism, Maugham tried his hand at both the typical prose style and the more avant-garde style. «Rain» falls under the first category, while the stories «Honolulu» and «Mackintosh» are more experimental in nature. Regardless, Maugham's works are a welcome addition to the early 20th century literature canon because of their inclusive nature, strong female characters, and well-rounded plot arcs. The tales combined within «Rain and Other South Sea Stories» tell more than their own stories, but they also tell the story of the changing world views of the time.

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Bertha Lay is a woman of independent means. On her 21st birthday she inherits her deceased father's money and pursues a courtship with 27 year old Edward Craddock, who despite being tall, strong, and handsome, is below her station in life. Bertha justifies her matrimonial choice believing that the dying stock of her blood line requires «the freshness and youth, the massive strength of her husband, to bring life to» it. Shortly after their honeymoon, she realizes that her husband is a bore and, what is more, rather insensitive to her needs. As time passes and the vision Bertha has for a pastoral life with her husband rising to the archetypal country squire comes true, she finds that her marriage is not all that she bargained for. Ultimately the severe differences between Bertha and her husband become evident to her, causing her to deeply regret the decision that she has made to marry him. «Mrs. Craddock» is the story of an unhappy marriage which due to its bleak viewpoint was first published in an edited version. This edition reprints the 1903 edition.

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Compiled in one book, the essential collection of books by W. Somerset Maugham<br><br>The Explorer<br><br>The Hero<br><br>The Land of Promise<br><br>The Land of The Blessed Virgin; Sketches and Impressions in Andalusia<br><br>Liza of Lambeth<br><br>The Magician<br><br>Moon and Sixpence<br><br>Of Human Bondage<br><br>Orientations<br><br>The Trembling of a Leaf

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