W Somerset Maugham's 140th Birthday

This video is to celebrate the 140th anniversary of W. Somerset Maugham's birthday. Regretfully, he is not here with us. As a quote from Musset's Rolla that Maugham appeared to love says: "Je suis venu trop tard dans un monde trop vieux."
This video is especially prepared for this occasion (we humans have a penchant for round numbers). I love birthdays, a rare personal event in this overpopulated world.
Please comment if you like the video!
mymaughamcollection@blogspot.com

Пікірлер: 110

  • @carolking6355
    @carolking63553 жыл бұрын

    My. dearest Mr.Maugham, it is now 2021 and I still hold you in my heart as the greatest author ever.. Thank you for helping me enjoy many hours of loneliness at times. Your books were so enthralling. I loved all that I read. If you can see this from a higher place I want you to know you will never be forgotten. ❤️🌈🥰

  • @Tinyflydeposit
    @Tinyflydeposit3 жыл бұрын

    His insight into human nature has enriched my life

  • @jonnyqwst
    @jonnyqwst7 жыл бұрын

    My all time favorite author.

  • @MrBlistertips
    @MrBlistertips Жыл бұрын

    An absolutely exquisite writer. One who, all these years later in 2023, remains very much alive through his works. As my reading of his magnum opus ‘Of human bondage’ just unequivocally proved! Rest in peace, maestro!

  • @citic101
    @citic1014 жыл бұрын

    I worked at villa Mauresque which is now owned by a Ukranian , all changed lots of tromp L oeil in the dining room stainless steel in the kitchen after the view of the swimming pool you see the open roof that is not covered by glass then you have a view of teh dining room the walls are painted in flowers of lavander

  • @shamimehsanulhaque5244
    @shamimehsanulhaque524410 жыл бұрын

    Beautiful and touching! Thank you so much for posting this. I find it to be a very fitting tribute to the great author who continues to give company to thousands all around the globe with his literary accomplishments. To me he is still very much alive and I am much indebted to him for the humanity, kindness and unpretentious sincerity with which he introduces us in so many of his novels, plays and short stories. I am sure that for many of us Maugham creates a world in which we are totally at home, happy and satisfied with ourselves. There seems to be a scarcity of media on Maugham here in KZread. On that note your contribution is a very praiseworthy way to celebrate his birthday. Cheers!

  • @MyMaughamCollection

    @MyMaughamCollection

    10 жыл бұрын

    Thanks a lot for the comment! Very pleased to come across another Maugham admirer.

  • @jubalcalif9100

    @jubalcalif9100

    5 жыл бұрын

    Well said and well put ! Thank you very much for your thoughtful & perceptive comment !

  • @slukas1375

    @slukas1375

    2 жыл бұрын

    Well articulated. And I could not agree more. I was introduced to Maugham many years ago in my teens when I worked at a bookstore. The manager asked if I'd ever read anything by Maugham, and I replied I hadn't. She gave me "Of Human Bondage" and said: "read this and you'll be hooked." She was right. He remains my favourite author and his works occupy a large space in my small library.

  • @glennmartin974
    @glennmartin9748 жыл бұрын

    Great! He is one of my favorites!

  • @MyMaughamCollection

    @MyMaughamCollection

    8 жыл бұрын

    +Glenn Martin Thanks for leaving a comment! I have prepared another video for Maugham's birthday this year. Will be up on 25th.

  • @glennmartin974

    @glennmartin974

    8 жыл бұрын

    Great. Will be looking forward to it.

  • @amatullah76
    @amatullah769 жыл бұрын

    Wonderful! Glad to know there are still so many Maugham fans around.

  • @patricaomas8750

    @patricaomas8750

    4 жыл бұрын

    There still a few Shakespeare fans around :)

  • @susanficek1245
    @susanficek12454 жыл бұрын

    My father's favourite author.. and one of mine... he was a very complex man and his novels like the razor's edge and the human bondage stand the test of time..

  • @megavide0
    @megavide08 жыл бұрын

    3:12 "Fact and fiction is so intermingled in my work that, now, looking back I can hardly distinguish one from the other..."

  • @fatfrreddy1414
    @fatfrreddy14146 жыл бұрын

    Thank you very much...what a charming and eloquent man..I have always loved his short stories in particular...fortunately l am not the only one...there are a few very good films of them. Quartet and Trio come to mind..

  • @XX-gy7ue

    @XX-gy7ue

    6 жыл бұрын

    Alfred Reithermann , The Razors Edge , The Moon and Sixpence , Of Human Bondage and Mrs Craddock are some of my favorite novels and of course Rain - ' Miss Thompson ' and ' The Letter ' , everything so well thought out and so kind !

  • @jubalcalif9100

    @jubalcalif9100

    5 жыл бұрын

    I have a notion to second that emotion ! Could not agree more ! :-)

  • @jubalcalif9100
    @jubalcalif91005 жыл бұрын

    Heavens to Murgatroid ! What wonderful footage of a truly gifted author ! Can't thank you enough for sharing with us ! He was incredibly intelligent, perceptive, articulate & charming ! CHEERS !! :-)

  • @XX-gy7ue
    @XX-gy7ue6 жыл бұрын

    HE WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN , HE WAS AN ABSOLUTE GENIUS ! HIS WORK IS A VAST COLLECTION OF MASTERPIECE AFTER MASTERPIECE ! FINDING HIM IS LIKE ENTERING THE CAVE OF THE LAMP IN THE STORY OF ALADDIN ! HE'S BRILLIANT , HIS WORK BEAUTIFUL AND SO WELL CRAFTED ! HE IS A GIFT FROM GOD TO ALL OF HUMANITY !

  • @ronruggieri9817

    @ronruggieri9817

    4 жыл бұрын

    in recent months I rediscovered Somerset Maugham as a great short story writer . Yes, dozens of read Maugham stories convince me that he was indeed a literary genius and a gift to all humanity. What never gets dated is a good STORY . He always SEES people of all classes and ethnic groups. No false optimism about human beings , no false sentimentality , very real COMPASSION and TOLERANCE . A great writer's instinct for a STORY . One of my favorite novels is still Maugham's " Of Human Bondage " . I noticed the two volume set of his Collected Short Stories at the Cellar Stories used book store in downtown , Providence, Rhode Island. Better buy it soon before New Years Day.

  • @nabarajbastola9153
    @nabarajbastola91533 жыл бұрын

    My most favourite writer (Noel Bastola from Nepal). I am glad to find your channel so interesting. Thank you so much

  • @nicjones6782
    @nicjones678210 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for a very thoughtful, well put together tribute. I am just reading his short stories and I think he should be remembered as an insightful writer who never goes out of fashion,

  • @MyMaughamCollection

    @MyMaughamCollection

    10 жыл бұрын

    Thank you very much for your comment, Nic!

  • @jenniechen24

    @jenniechen24

    3 жыл бұрын

    I admire this great writer as soon as reading his " The Moon and Sixpence "!

  • @trevorfevin4379
    @trevorfevin437910 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for making plain so much the great charm of Maugham. What a delightful tribue.

  • @MyMaughamCollection

    @MyMaughamCollection

    10 жыл бұрын

    Thanks! I am glad that you enjoyed the video.

  • @ivanhart6675
    @ivanhart66756 жыл бұрын

    Liza Of Lambeth , first published in 1897 and here he is being interviewed on television , a truly great author.

  • @tidningsboije5568

    @tidningsboije5568

    4 жыл бұрын

    Ivan Hart Was he ever on any talkshow?

  • @arcaneARCADES
    @arcaneARCADES10 жыл бұрын

    Thank you very much indeed for posting this! I am indebted to Maugham, who is my favorite author. I discovered him years ago in a high school literature class through the short story "Jane." Owing to his formidable ability to flesh out characters, he has provided me enduring company with characters whose society is generally more fascinating than those who generally surround me. You are very much alive to me, Willie....

  • @MyMaughamCollection

    @MyMaughamCollection

    10 жыл бұрын

    Thanks very much for leaving a comment! And greetings to a fellow Maugham admirer.

  • @MarquisMorillot
    @MarquisMorillot8 жыл бұрын

    Thank you very much for sharing these footages of The Divine Maugham. I can't understand why hasn't been produced at least one good documentary about Him. Anyway, as I see, there is still people with intelligence, sensitivity and taste... honoring Willie!

  • @MyMaughamCollection

    @MyMaughamCollection

    8 жыл бұрын

    +Marquis Morillot Thanks for the comment. Yes, that's really a pity. I'm glad that you like the video; it's such an enjoyment to make it. The British Library is going on with its project to give open access to its sound files, I hope we'll have more to see/listen soon.

  • @jennyoshea1958
    @jennyoshea19586 ай бұрын

    Brilliant writer.

  • @x.x.7646
    @x.x.76468 жыл бұрын

    I´d like to thank you for documentary. I was in my late 20s when I accidently came across Somerset Maugham and immediately got addicted to his work. The undesirable side effect of this was, that after I read everything he wrotef I rom than on I found it hard to find any other contemporary author who could match him. Well to be fair: I enjoyed Graham Greene and Georges Simenon.

  • @susanpritchard2477

    @susanpritchard2477

    7 жыл бұрын

    My feeling exactly. Forgive me but I have only just found out about KZread and all the wonderful things to see and hear on there. Try Eric Ambler, he was the inspiration for Le Carre and co.

  • @XX-gy7ue

    @XX-gy7ue

    6 жыл бұрын

    try Evelyn Waugh and James Hilton , these three made me able to live !

  • @mr.FRESHWATER
    @mr.FRESHWATER4 жыл бұрын

    He is my favourite author. I very much enjoyed this! Thanks for the upload.

  • @hjalmarschacht2559
    @hjalmarschacht25599 жыл бұрын

    Thank you very much indeed for posting this. I had never heard the great man before.

  • @tristandebrave
    @tristandebrave10 жыл бұрын

    I really liked your video! And I'd wish that I also could call it a day!! ;-)

  • @MyMaughamCollection

    @MyMaughamCollection

    10 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the comment! Yeah, isn't it great to be able to say it?

  • @XX-gy7ue
    @XX-gy7ue6 жыл бұрын

    thank you very much for posting this treasure !

  • @valerianoherrera7248
    @valerianoherrera72485 жыл бұрын

    Uno de mis escritores favoritos.Me encantan sus cuentos y narraciones cortas.Y la joya SERVIDUMBRE HUMANA.

  • @vijay7415
    @vijay74159 жыл бұрын

    I have been ardent lover of Maugham's writings since i was 21. Now I am 63. Most of his novels and short stories have enlightened me to peek into lives of inordnary characters available in his novels. The magician, razor's edge, of human bondage, painted veil were my favourites.

  • @MyMaughamCollection

    @MyMaughamCollection

    9 жыл бұрын

    Vijay Mohan Rao Gundimeda Thanks! Very glad to meet another person who feels the same about Maugham.

  • @vijay7415

    @vijay7415

    9 жыл бұрын

    /thank you.,

  • @vijay7415

    @vijay7415

    9 жыл бұрын

    i agree with you.

  • @MyMaughamCollection

    @MyMaughamCollection

    9 жыл бұрын

    ***** The same here. I have read them again and again too, and every time I sigh with satisfaction when I close the books.

  • @vijay7415

    @vijay7415

    9 жыл бұрын

    The character I liked very much in 'razor's edge' was Elliot Templeton. He throws parties to elite and speaks behind them saying that lady sleeps with her chauffeur. Do you remember? When he is sick in old age, he expects to be invited to a party thrown by a noble lady. He dresses up as per the code and awaits. No body calls him. He knew that he is out dated and curses "rain will kill that party" expressing his jealousy.

  • @JOHN-tk6vl
    @JOHN-tk6vl Жыл бұрын

    This takes us back to a bygone age.

  • @donggliims2608
    @donggliims260810 жыл бұрын

    I like this video! Thank you very much!

  • @MyMaughamCollection

    @MyMaughamCollection

    10 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for taking the time to comment!

  • @capt.molyneaux7037
    @capt.molyneaux70375 жыл бұрын

    Lovely video. Thank you.

  • @adbadhed
    @adbadhed Жыл бұрын

    I've only read the Razors edge, but what a great book it is.

  • @cruiseny26
    @cruiseny2610 жыл бұрын

    Thank you!

  • @samsum3738
    @samsum37386 жыл бұрын

    A magnificent author and playwright .I have just finished reading Liza of Lambeth , for the third or fourth time and i am sure it gets better with each reading .

  • @JC-oz6xn
    @JC-oz6xn Жыл бұрын

    Looks pretty damn good for 140!

  • @timnorling3598
    @timnorling35989 жыл бұрын

    Very nice. Having come to Maugham only in the past few years I do think the academy has slighted him somewhat - superb short stories and excellent novels which, as far as I'm concerned, have stood the test of time, as they've survived the fifty year mark. I hope his reputation continues in the ascendant. I'm currently reading several of the most recent biographies ('04 and '10, don't ask me the authors). Very interesting to see him on the screen and hear his "Edwardian" accent.

  • @carlospagi
    @carlospagi8 жыл бұрын

    Wise words. Jolly good show.

  • @MyMaughamCollection

    @MyMaughamCollection

    8 жыл бұрын

    +Carlos Pagi Thanks Carlos! Perhaps you may be interested in listening to Maugham reading his own work: kzread.info/dash/bejne/aI2LtZmJoq7Lgbw.html

  • @HeidiIvy
    @HeidiIvy10 жыл бұрын

    really like this guy ; )

  • @MyMaughamCollection
    @MyMaughamCollection9 жыл бұрын

    If you like this video, I have prepared another one for the celebration of Maugham birthday this year, alongside with the 100th anniversary of Of Human Bondage: kzread.info/dash/bejne/pISCp6qOidjAo5c.html

  • @lucindawilson5510
    @lucindawilson55103 жыл бұрын

    great author

  • @rompellini
    @rompellini10 жыл бұрын

    unbelievable writer, i read him to fall asleep but I end up staying awake

  • @vijay7415
    @vijay74159 жыл бұрын

    +TheMousal: Yes.I am from India (Hyderabad) : The character Larry in Razor's Edge visited India and met Saint called Sri Ganesha. This is fiction. Actually Maugham visited India and met a saint by name Ramana Maharshi who is South Indian Tamil Brahmin and at tender age of 14? he became silent loin cloth saint and settled in Tiruvannamalai (Tamil Nadu state, India) on hillock and lead a saintly life and passed away there. Only last year I visited this place and walked steep hill up and visited place where he stayed and perhaps, I recalled, Maugham must have sat here and spoken to the Saint?. Larry was shown as though he acquired healing powers.

  • @vijay7415

    @vijay7415

    9 жыл бұрын

    i read RE for abt 6 times back in 70s. india is hot but with full of fake GODMEN & ue Godwomen. but r,maharshi was true saint

  • @2msvalkyrie529

    @2msvalkyrie529

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thank you Vijay. It's good to know that somehow the ties which connect India and Britain still exist even today ! In fact : our Home Secretary and our Chancellor are both from Indian heritage ! Isn't History strange. ?

  • @garryowen852
    @garryowen8529 жыл бұрын

    the narrow corner I am reading is a fantastic book.

  • @MyMaughamCollection

    @MyMaughamCollection

    9 жыл бұрын

    leeth jarod Thanks for leaving a comment. Yes, I love that book too.

  • @laurenceharding2963
    @laurenceharding29635 жыл бұрын

    Like your storytelling, from my point of view, I am an visual artist, and fine art painter. Laurence.

  • @cstrum
    @cstrum10 жыл бұрын

    je suisvenu troptard dans unmonde trop vieux

  • @xyzllii
    @xyzllii7 жыл бұрын

    Those poor wild birds in tiny cages....awful

  • @dfdgfdgf0000
    @dfdgfdgf00004 жыл бұрын

    Comme dans ces nouvelles pour dames, de Somerset Maugham...

  • @nancymohass4891
    @nancymohass48915 жыл бұрын

    Such a big garden but small heart! How could he keep those birds in such small Cage?!!

  • @victorsilvester5459

    @victorsilvester5459

    4 жыл бұрын

    Nancy Mohass Maybe they got out to fly once in a while like lovebirds do?

  • @vijay7415
    @vijay74159 жыл бұрын

    Did anyone read "Gentleman in the Parlour" a travelogue written by Maugham. This was very engaging travelogue written by him

  • @MyMaughamCollection

    @MyMaughamCollection

    8 жыл бұрын

    +Vijay Mohan Rao Gundimeda Yes, I did, but that was a few years ago. It's not a "conventional" travel book. I find it interesting especially in how Maugham incorporated some stories that he had written before, transforming the settings of these to fit the trip he was narrating, such as "Princess September" and "A Marriage of Convenience". He did it seamlessly so that unless you know it's hard to tell.

  • @vijay7415

    @vijay7415

    8 жыл бұрын

    it is about south seas?

  • @vijay7415

    @vijay7415

    8 жыл бұрын

    i read it in '70s

  • @MyMaughamCollection

    @MyMaughamCollection

    8 жыл бұрын

    Vijay Mohan Rao Gundimeda It's about his journey from Rangoon to Haiphong. I am very ignorant about that part of the world. He has a chapter on Angkor Wat. Most impressive place when I checked the photos on the web. I don't know if one can still visit it. It's quite funny because he devoted a chapter on how impossible it is to describe the place.

  • @gloi2
    @gloi29 жыл бұрын

    Maugham is a talent novelist

  • @MyMaughamCollection
    @MyMaughamCollection8 жыл бұрын

    If you like this video, you may like to listen to Maugham himself reading his own work: kzread.info/dash/bejne/aI2LtZmJoq7Lgbw.html

  • @BranVan10k
    @BranVan10k9 жыл бұрын

    anybody know the title of the music at the beginning of the video?

  • @MyMaughamCollection

    @MyMaughamCollection

    9 жыл бұрын

    It's the very beginning of Vorspiel from Wagner's Meistersinger, one of Maugham's favourites.

  • @BranVan10k

    @BranVan10k

    9 жыл бұрын

    MyMaughamCollection thank you so much! i mistakenly said the beginning but i meant the beautiful music commencing at about 0:13. is it also from Meistersinger? you have a great channel here--much appreciated.

  • @MyMaughamCollection

    @MyMaughamCollection

    9 жыл бұрын

    BranVan10k It's Debussy's Pour l'Egyptienne played by Ensemble Musical de Paris, a rearrangement as I understand.

  • @MyMaughamCollection

    @MyMaughamCollection

    9 жыл бұрын

    BranVan10k Oh, and thanks a lot for the comments and very glad that you like it.

  • @patricaomas8750
    @patricaomas87504 жыл бұрын

    Hemingway could write this guy tells a story

  • @arturboras6615
    @arturboras6615 Жыл бұрын

    first pictures 😌

  • @igettogonow2253
    @igettogonow22534 жыл бұрын

    So he would have been 140 years old had he lived?

  • @arturboras6615
    @arturboras6615 Жыл бұрын

    Adam's family ???

  • @normanclemens7225
    @normanclemens722510 жыл бұрын

    try my book--Pots Did Stop

  • @arturboras6615
    @arturboras6615 Жыл бұрын

    Bronowski voice ..,?

  • @arturboras6615
    @arturboras6615 Жыл бұрын

    Parkinson's voice ?

  • @eymerichinquisitore9022
    @eymerichinquisitore9022 Жыл бұрын

    Too descriptive, the antithesis of Papa Hemingway, he yes, the greatest

  • @arturboras6615
    @arturboras6615 Жыл бұрын

    Adam's family ???

  • @arturboras6615
    @arturboras6615 Жыл бұрын

    Bronowski voice ..,?