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In this bilingual edition the author attempts to trace the literary career of William Somerset Maugham (1874 1865), one of the most widely read and performed dramatists, essayists and novelists in English literature in the first half of the twentieth century. Maugham himself has contributed a humorous preface in the form of a letter addressed to the author.
The detailed chronology of Maugham s life is being supplemented by two of the author s numerous essays dealing with the stupendous literary oeuvre of this writer. Of special interest are the excerpts from Maugham s letters to his German-born collector and biographer which provide an inside view into his personality and his friendship with Klaus W. Jonas.
The second half of this volume contains a bibliographical record of Maugham s life-work and a select bibliography of 420 critical studies in German, English, French, Spanish and Japanese. 71 illustrations, many of which hitherto unpublished and privately owned, enhance the documentary value of this volume.