Starred review from March 29, 2010
In Hastings's new biography, the facts of Maugham's life form a fascinating narrative because they are full of public incident and accomplishment, shadowed by privately known and whispered secrets, Hastings is the first biographer with permission to quote from Maugham's private papers, and from observations by his daughter, Liza, concerning the disastrous court case instigated by his homosexual companion, Alan Searle, when Maugham (1874–1965), in his dotage, threatened to disinherit Liza. The sordid details, fully disclosed for the first time, reveal the tragic ending to a life that had produced great wealth, exotic travel, and public acclaim. Although Maugham maintained that he was “three quarters 'normal' and only a quarter 'queer,' '' Hastings demonstrates that Maugham's great love was his secretary and traveling companion, Gerald Haxton. She also documents the bitter relationship between a reluctantly married Maugham and his notorious wife, Syrie. In addition to his many homosexual love affairs, Hastings reveals Maugham's work as an espionage agent in two world wars. The biographer of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh, Hastings is a stylish and sensitive writer who addresses her subject's double life with insight and compassion. 32 pages of b&w photos.
February 15, 2010
Monumentally engaging account of W. Somerset Maugham's fiercely protected personal life (1874–1965).
On the surface, Maugham's life was fulfilling and successful. His many plays, novels and stories earned him great fame and wealth, and his marriage to the socialite Syrie Wellcome provided him with a posh London home complete with lavish dinner parties with fashionable guests. Additionally, his handsome income allowed him the freedom to travel the world, including French Polynesia and the Far East, providing him with some of the most robust literary inspiration of his career. Maugham's emotional well-being, however, faced constant strife. From the death of his parents during childhood, Maugham was insecure and shy and suffered a debilitating stammer. He was also secretly homosexual. Literary biographer Hastings (Rosamond Lehmann, 2002, etc.), who had extensive access to Maugham's surviving letters and interviews with his only child, spares no detail in describing these other facets of the famous writer's existence. She writes with great perception about Syrie's duplicity and selfishness, the sham marriage providing Maugham with both the image of respectability (which"had always been of the utmost importance to him") but also much misery. It was his tumultuous relationship with the vivacious Gerald Haxton, with whom he shared his life for almost 30 years, that was Maugham's true passion—maintaining a pretense with Syrie was a tiresome, and expensive, chore. Haxton accompanied Maugham on his far-flung adventures, times that would remain some of the most cherished of his life. Hastings also recounts Maugham's two stints with British Intelligence, where he thrilled at secreting information and disseminating propaganda, episodes that would inspire Maugham's much-admired Ashenden stories. All of the drama, intrigue, heartbreak and joy that marked Maugham's life is reconstructed by the author in enthralling, novelistic prose.
A powerful, revealing and authoritative depiction of one the 20th century's most notorious literary figures.
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April 15, 2010
Hastings, the British biographer of Nancy Mitford, Evelyn Waugh, and Rosamond Lehmann, has produced a richly detailed and meticulously researched biography of Maugham (18741965), who was one of the most popular novelists and dramatists of the first half of the 20th-century. Employing many never-before-used archival materials, she covers all facets of the author's life and works. Maugham himself was opposed to a biography during his lifetime and destroyed many of the letters sent to him. His passionate but stormy relations with Gerald Haxton and Alan Searle, who were his secretaries and companions, are exhaustively examined along with his troubled marriage, friendships, rivalries (both literary and personal), and relations with other renowned authors and celebrities. While Hastings admits that Maugham was not a great writer, she sympathetically describes his major plays, stories, and novels, revealing his strengths as an observer of life in England and other countries and his unerring portraits of people and their individual stories. VERDICT Highly recommended for students of early 20th-century literature and readers interested in the private lives of famous writers. (Photographs and index not seen.)Morris Hounion, NYC Coll. of Technology Lib., CUNY
Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
April 1, 2010
So great an influence does Somerset Maugham hold over English literature of the twentieth century that many biographers have sought to capture his remarkable life. Not only did Maugham write great novels, he also held sway in theater and even in film, gaining substantial wealth as a result. Moreover, his vast circle of acquaintances spanned both literary and political spheres. Despite celebrity, Maugham determined to hide his personal life from prying eyes. A stutterer, he dreaded public embarrassment. An only partially closeted homosexual, he had a justifiable horror of suffering Oscar Wildes sad fate. Maugham took pains that all his correspondence be destroyed prior to his death, but some escaped the flames, and Hastings draws on those letters and on interviews with Maughams daughter. These coalesce into compelling, nonjudgmental portraits of Maughams brothers, wife, and daughter and of the many men with whom he notoriously consorted. Pointedly, but not deterministically, connecting Maughams literary output with his life, Hastings has achieved an especially readable biography that sheds new light on a literary giant. Expect demand among devoted followers of literary biographies.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)