
The Essential Somerset Maugham: 33 Books in One Edition (Annotated)
Enriched Edition. Novels, Short Stories, Plays & Travel Sketche; Including Of Human Bondage, The Moon and Sixpence…By William Somerset MaughamLength147h 22m
About this audiobook
The Essential Somerset Maugham: 33 Books in One Edition gathers a substantial range of Maugham's fiction and dramatic prose, offering a panoramic view of a writer whose work bridges late Victorian realism, Edwardian wit, and modernist disillusion without fully belonging to any single school. Across novels, stories, and plays, Maugham's signature style is lucid, economical, urbane, and deceptively plain, animated by irony, moral ambiguity, and a keen eye for desire, self-deception, social performance, and exile. William Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) was shaped by early orphanhood, medical training at St Thomas' Hospital, extensive travel, and service in intelligence during the First World War. These experiences furnished him with an unusually wide social and geographical range: London hospitals, Parisian studios, colonial outposts, drawing rooms, and spiritual retreats all became material for his unsentimental studies of human conduct. His cosmopolitan life helped produce his distinctive narrative authority. This edition is highly recommended for readers seeking a comprehensive encounter with one of the twentieth century's most readable and psychologically acute storytellers. It is especially valuable for those interested in the art of narrative clarity, the ethics of observation, and the enduring tensions between convention and freedom.
This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- A comprehensive Introduction outlines these selected works' unifying features, themes, or stylistic evolutions.
- The Author Biography highlights personal milestones and literary influences that shape the entire body of writing.
- A Historical Context section situates the works in their broader era—social currents, cultural trends, and key events that underpin their creation.
- A concise Synopsis (Selection) offers an accessible overview of the included texts, helping readers navigate plotlines and main ideas without revealing critical twists.
- A unified Analysis examines recurring motifs and stylistic hallmarks across the collection, tying the stories together while spotlighting the different work's strengths.
- Reflection questions inspire deeper contemplation of the author's overarching message, inviting readers to draw connections among different texts and relate them to modern contexts.
- Lastly, our hand‐picked Memorable Quotes distill pivotal lines and turning points, serving as touchstones for the collection's central themes.
Audiobook details
GenreLiterary Classics
Length147 hrs 22 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateDec 18, 2023
LanguageEnglish