The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham

出版者:Random House

作者:Selina Hastings

页数:640

出版时间:2010-5-25

价格:USD 35.00

装帧:Hardcover

isbn号码:9781400061419

具体描述

He was a brilliant teller of tales, one of the most widely read authors of the twentieth century, and at one time the most famous writer in the world, yet W. Somerset Maugham’s own true story has never been fully told. At last, the fascinating truth is revealed in a landmark biography by the award-winning writer Selina Hastings. Granted unprecedented access to Maugham’s personal correspondence and to newly uncovered interviews with his only child, Hastings portrays the secret loves, betrayals, integrity, and passion that inspired Maugham to create such classics as The Razor’s Edge and Of Human Bondage.

Hastings vividly presents Maugham’s lonely childhood spent with unloving relatives after the death of his parents, a trauma that resulted in shyness, a stammer, and for the rest of his life an urgent need for physical tenderness. Here, too, are his adult triumphs on the stage and page, works that allowed him a glittering social life in which he befriended and sometimes fell out with such luminaries as Dorothy Parker, Charlie Chaplin, D. H. Lawrence, and Winston Churchill.

The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham portrays in full for the first time Maugham’s disastrous marriage to Syrie Wellcome, a manipulative society woman of dubious morality who trapped Maugham with a pregnancy and an attempted suicide. Hastings also explores Maugham’s many affairs with men, including his great love, Gerald Haxton, an alcoholic charmer and a cad. Maugham’s courageous work in secret intelligence during two world wars is described in fascinating detail—experiences that provided the inspiration for the groundbreaking Ashenden stories. From the West End to Broadway, from China to the South Pacific, Maugham’s restless and remarkably productive life is thrillingly recounted as Hastings uncovers the real stories behind such classics as “Rain,” The Painted Veil, Cakes & Ale, and other well-known tales.

An epic biography of a hugely talented and hugely conflicted man, The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham is the definitive account of Maugham’s extraordinary life.

作者简介

赛琳娜•黑斯廷斯Selina Hastings，英国著名传记作家，英国最高文学奖布克奖评委。曾在The Daily Telegraph任职记者，后从事文学创作，已出版多部名人传记。已出版的主要作品有《南希•米特福德传》、《伊夫林•沃传》、《毛姆传——萨默塞特•毛姆的秘密生活》，等等。

译者介绍

赵文伟，专职译者，已出版译作三十余本。主要译作有卡尔维诺《疯狂的奥兰多》、卡斯顿•勒胡《歌剧魅影》、阿加莎•克里斯蒂《寓所谜案》、《ABC谋杀案》，罗大里童话系列、玛丽亚•特蕾莎•安德鲁埃托《少年斯特法诺》、亚当•威廉姆斯《慈禧的面子》等。

读后感

by 谷立立 作家出于自保往往忌讳传记。毕竟往事已矣，借传记重来一次，总不是什么赏心乐事。万古流芳当然好，怕只怕热衷八卦的后人无所不用其极，一路深挖下去，将陈芝麻烂谷子的糗事抖落一地，反搅得逝者耳根不宁。1955年，年过八旬的萨默塞特•毛姆在接受采访时声称传记是...  

在1938年出版的自传性写作《总结》中，萨默塞特·毛姆回忆了从一名成功的剧作家转型为小说家的缘由：“不知道是不是成功并没带来我期望的一切，也不知道是不是对成功的自然反应：当我刚刚稳固地奠定了自己流行剧作家的地位时，我昔日生活的点滴回忆立即涌上心头让我苦恼不已。...  

毛姆一生都致力于在体面的公众形象与放荡的私生活之间维系微妙的平衡。 在公众面前，他严格以爱德华时代老派绅士行为准则要求自己，以体面绅士的外壳保护自己在社会属性层面的安全，极力避免与绅士行为准则发生任何形式的公开对抗，例如，自从少年时代目睹偶像王尔德一夕...  

用户评价

传记怎么写才能不流水账呢

一本好的人物传记应该是可以起到消除崇拜心理的作用的吧？努力是比天分更值得欣赏的个人特质，看完没有更喜欢这个自称二流作家里的一流作家，但是有更欣赏。

传记怎么写才能不流水账呢

247.看的时候满脑子想着怎么出去玩……毛姆的晚年好不容易……人红是非多啊……

非常好的毛姆传记，史料丰富，态度客观，文笔也漂亮。