Collected Short Stories Volume 2

Somerset Maugham was born in 1874 and died in 1965. After qualifying as a doctor under pressure from his family, he turned with relief to the work he'd always believed was his destiny, and became a writer, producing a large number of novels (a dozen of which are still in print), two volumes of autobiography, travel books, a series of successful and enduring stage plays - and scores of short stories. His plots are tightly constructed and often exciting, but critics complained that his characters were stereotypes rather than individuals. However, for today's readers the settings in which he placed them gave them a unique character. In fact, despite his own protestations, the overall impression is that Maugham had not 'invented' them at all; that he was simply recounting the experiences of people he had met in extraordinary circumstances, in a world that no longer exists. He was able to do this largely from first-hand knowledge. The Ashenden tales were based on his own service with the Intelligence Department during World War I; and many of the others drew on his travels to exotic places, especially the South Seas and Far East, where there were still people from Britain administering the colonies or managing the then still profitable Malayan rubber and timber plantations. They were often cut off from 'civilization' for months, even years, at a time, leading to frustrations and emotions which intensified to the point of explosion. The language has now dated, and life has changed - as have social attitudes - but the stories are still immensely readable and in a sense timeless, with a haunting, hypnotic, quality which draws the reader on from page to page. They don't necessarily reach a conclusion with the last words written. There is a tantalising impression that there is more to come, a quality which is irresistible, and addictive. (Kirkus UK)