Classic autobiographical novel of a twisted love affair.

Sending off to cyber-librarian in trade for Cold Comfort Farm.
Enjoy

I received this in the mail today from fsr44 in RI ... as part of a trade. Thanks for the trade and I'll get your book off to you as soon as I finish reading it on my TBR pile.

c. 1915 -- 373 pages -- small Paperback -- Classic -- with a New Introduction by the author written especially for this Abridged Edition -- #66 on the Modern Library Board's 100 Best Novels list -- #37 on the Modern Library Reader's 100 Best Novels list -- Book Lust 100 Good Reads

Back Cover: The greatest novel of our time. When W. Somerset Maugham was 23, and had taken his medical degrees at St. Thomas' Hospital, he went to Seville determined to earn his living as a writer. His 1st novel "Liza of Lambeth" had been a modest success. His next manuscript was called "The Artistic Temperament of Stephen Carey" and he sent it to Fisher Unwin who refusd to give the advance of 100 pounds Maugham wanted. None of the other publishers to whom Maugham submitted the script would have it at any price. So he put it aside and turned to other writing, particularly plays.

By the time he was 37, Maugham had become the most successful playwright in England, but he was obsessed with memories of his past life. So he retired from the stage and for 2 years worked on the manuscript of his novel, an outgrowth of the manuscript rejected so many years before.

"Of Human Bondage" is not an autobiography, but an autobiographical novel; fact and fiction are inextricably mingled; the emotions are my own, but not all the incidents are related as they happened and some of them are transferred to my hero not from my on life but from that of persons with who I was intimate. The book did for me what I wanted and when it was issued to the world ... I found myself free forever from the pains and unhappy recollections that had tormented me. It was very well reviewed ... but it looked very much as though it would go the way of the vast majority of novels and be forgotten forever a few months after its appearance. But ... it attracted the attention of a number of distinguished writers in the US ... To these writers is due the new lease of life that the book was thus given and them I must thank for the success it has continued increasingly to have as the years go by. -- W. S. M.

I finished reading this on 9/22. This was very interesting ... even if the end was slightly predictable. I turned the last page wanting to read more and wishing it would continue on with his life. You had to feel sorry for Philip who had such a rough life and things falling against him as he tries to decide what to do with himself. Although this is an abridged edition, I don't feel like I missed out on anything. I think if it was any longer it would have dragged out.

Favorite Quote (page 68): "He borrowed books from the small lending library which the town possessed and began reading all the wonderful things that Hayward spoke of. He did not read always with enjoyment but invariably with perseverance. He was eager for self-improvement. He felt himself very ignorant and very humble."

RELEASE NOTES:

I'm hoping DH will take this to the post office for me tomorrow, since I'm not able to drive yet after surgery. I'm mailing this to Jennifer in CA ... through PaperBackSwap.com