This title was borrowed from a line by Noel Coward and it aptly
describes a thoroughly engaging personal book which is a mixture of
memoir cum genealogy cum record- straightener. The author's father
was Lord Chancellor of England and his uncle was the High Priest of
successful storytellers and they cordially detested each other to
the grave. Two things the Maugham brothers seem to have agreed on
in their dotage - that family history was a waste of money and time
and that (this on the verge of 90) they had both been inflicted
with frail constitutions. Robin Maugham, a successful novelist and
scenarist, had nearly completed his research on the family just
before Somerset Maugham's death. He turned up some entertaining and
intriguing material on their English forebears, and an American
branch. These are casual inserts among the most compelling passages
of his book, which deal with the immediate background of Somerset
Maugham and with aspects of Maugham's life and books. A portrait of
the artist as an old man emerges which is neither sentimental nor
indulgent. The last difficult years saw the master storyteller
wrenched by turns of depression and a waspishness in conversation
that often became vicious. He wept and bewailed his mother's death,
his own homosexuality and attitude toward it right into his last
days. In discussing this open secret, Robin Maugham is quite frank
and unsensational although it is this view of his Uncle Willie's
relationship to his younger secretary/companions that will
stimulate more than the usual amount of comment reserved for
partial autobiography. (Kirkus Reviews)
General
| Imprint: |
Praeger Publishers Inc
|
| Country of origin: |
United States |
| Release date: |
February 1977 |
| First published: |
February 1977 |
| Dimensions: |
216 x 140 x 19mm (L x W x T) |
| Format: |
Hardcover
|
| Pages: |
312 |
| Edition: |
New Ed |
| ISBN-13: |
978-0-8371-8236-0 |
| Categories: |
Books >
Sport & Leisure >
General
Promotions
|
| LSN: |
0-8371-8236-0 |
| Barcode: |
9780837182360 |
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