1. A global traveler

Maugham loved traveling throughout his life. Back when he was graduating from medical school, he spent an entire year traveling to Spain. After becoming famous, he spent a lot of time and money traveling around the world.

The Moon and Sixpence, which we Chinese readers are most familiar with, has a plot in which the protagonist leaves his family and goes to the Pacific island of Tahiti to paint alone. This is what Maugham wrote in The creative inspiration was ignited while visiting Tahiti.

Maugham spent a lot of the rest of his life traveling. He also made an annual travel plan. Except for living in London for a few weeks every spring and autumn, he spent the rest of his time traveling with Go on a trip with friends. As for one of the more interesting trips, the trip to Southeast Asia is definitely included.

At that time, Malaysia and Singapore were both under British rule, with good social order and sufficient recreational facilities. Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, has large clubs with chess and card rooms, reading rooms, restaurants, bars, etc. In the evening, costume parties and concerts are also held. When the weather is nice, you can also go outdoors to play golf or tennis.

Here, it is widely accepted for white men to live with local mistresses. Many British women were shocked when they found out that their husbands had Asian mistresses and even children, but it was very common among white people in Malaysia at the time. Maugham described such a story in his novel "The Power of Environment".

After leaving Malaysia, Maugham took a boat to Singapore. Maugham liked this lively, noisy and exotic country very much. He often went out to sea to play in the local people's canoes. Once they encountered a huge wave and overturned the canoe they were riding in. Maugham struggled in the huge waves until he was exhausted. He almost accepted the outcome of drowning. . Eventually, a local crewman saved his life with a thin mattress.

This thrilling accident did not deter Maugham, who adapted the story of this trip to Southeast Asia into the famous short story collection "The Trembling of a Leaf." After that, he continued to implement the travel plan and established a travel scholarship for young writers. This award is the famous "Maugham Literary Award".

2. Becoming associated with China

Maugham visited countless countries and regions in his life. The question that our Chinese readers are most concerned about may be, has Maugham ever been to China? certainly!

In 1920, Maugham came to China and embarked on a four-month trip.

While in Beijing, Maugham was full of love for this ancient city that had just experienced the May Fourth Movement. He praised, "(Beijing is) one of the most comfortable cities in the world to spend the rest of your life." Beijing Maugham was fascinated by this walled city within a city, these temples, palaces, deep alleys, and the Chinese people wearing strange clothes in Maugham's eyes.

In order to visit the great scholar Gu Hongming, who was known as the "eccentric figure of the late Qing Dynasty", Maugham took a sampan boat upstream and traveled 1,500 miles along the Yangtze River to Chengdu, where he asked people to see him. In this meeting, the first thing Gu Hongming said to Maugham was, "I'm honored that you want to see me. Your people only deal with coolies and compradors. They think that every Chinese must be either a coolie or a comprador." Immediately afterwards, Gu Hongming asked Maugham why white people looked down on the civilization of yellow people. Maugham asked Gu Hongming his views on American philosophy, and Gu Hongming replied: "I am more interested in American oil than American philosophy." But Maugham was not unhappy because of this. On the contrary, he had long inferred that Gu Hongming was a very good person. A person with personality, that's why he came here to visit. He knew that Gu Hongming was a great scholar who had learned both Chinese and Western knowledge and could speak fluent English and German. During the meeting, Maugham just carefully observed the scholar's words and deeds. In the end, many of Gu Hongming's dialogues were written by Maugham into the drama "East of Suez".

3. Controversy and diligence coexist in his later years

Now, let us look back at Maugham's life. Born in a wealthy family, but his parents died early, and his lonely growth time allowed him to develop the habit of reading and writing, and thus became a writer.

In his youth, he made a lot of money through drama creation. Then he worked as a spy and traveled around the world. In his later years, he lived a long life, living to the age of 91. Although he lost his parents early, Maugham's subsequent life achievements will surely make many people think that he is the darling of fate. But in fact, Maugham has never lacked controversy.

First of all, in terms of literature, as we have introduced in the second section, Maugham's works have always been considered by critics to lack seriousness and lofty spirit, and are too popular and cater to the public's taste. These are all labels attached to Maugham. Maugham himself once sarcastically said that he was only a second-rate writer. But there is no doubt that Maugham was a very diligent writer. Maugham created 20 novels, 6 short story collections, 22 plays, 3 travel notes and 4 essays during his lifetime, and his literary output was very rich. At the same time, he also left readers with many literary classics such as "The Moon and Sixpence", "The Shackles of Life", "The Blade" and "The Veil". It is no exaggeration to say that if Maugham's plays were not so popular in the market and if he did not make so much money, the literary status given to him by critics might be higher.

Maugham’s diligence was not influenced by success in the market or criticism from critics. Until he was in his eighties, Maugham still adhered to the habit he had set when he was young, getting up early every day and writing in his study. He hand-picked his own literary collection, excluding what he considered immature works of his youth. In 1958, the 84-year-old Maugham faced an interview and said sadly: "Writing has always been a disease for me, but now I must be content with writing for one hour a day, and if my hands allow it, write a book. It’s not these people, it’s not the same thing at all, it’s like a man divorcing a woman he loves but can no longer live with.” He said while rubbing his thumb and index finger, “It’s just this place that hurts. After writing for so many years, my muscles no longer work." Maugham explained his actions this way.

In addition to criticizing Maugham in literature, more people have criticized Maugham's private life. Although he married a wife and had children, Maugham carried the identity of a homosexual throughout his life. At that time, homosexuals could not hold their heads high in society and might even be imprisoned. Homosexuals are therefore very low-key and discreet, and Maugham also deliberately concealed his proclivities in this area. In Maugham's later years, Britain's attitude towards homosexuals became much more tolerant, but Maugham still resolutely concealed his so-called abnormal sexual orientation. Although he no longer has to worry about being picked up by the police, he still worries that others will use it to blackmail him. He felt uncomfortable every time he read something written about him, whether malicious or well-intentioned. Even if a friend of his accidentally disclosed some innocuous details of his life in an article, Maugham would be furious.

No matter what kind of controversy there is, we must admit that Maugham achieved the highest achievements in his life and showed excellent qualities. He kept writing throughout his life and fulfilled the ambition he set in his youth. He is different from an intellectual who talks on paper, but advocates practice, has the courage to take action, and takes great risks to engage in secret service work. He loves life and travels all over the world, not only to appreciate the local scenery, but also to observe the lives of the local people.

Maugham's historical status, as the author Hastings summarized at the end of "The Biography of Maugham": "His love for art and sincere dedication made him the most popular and most popular person in history. A legendary writer. It can be said that he will once again capture the hearts of future generations, and his position is rock solid: Somerset Maugham, a great storyteller.