Word: maughamism
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Morgan, a journalist and author (On Becoming American), builds a sound psychological case for Maugham's character and behavior. Young Willie spent his first ten years in France, until he was orphaned and sent to Kent to live with an aunt and clergyman uncle. Suffering from the cultural bends and deeply scarred by the death of his mother, Maugham acquired a lifelong stammer and a taste for masochistic relationships. "I have never experienced the bliss of requited Slove," he once wrote. "I have most Sieved people who cared little or nothing for me and when people have loved...
When he and Syrie divorced in 1929, Maugham had already established residence on the Riviera with his secretary-lover. Gerald Haxton was a sociable charmer, but he was also unscrupulous, a gambler and a drunk. "Their relationship," writes Morgan, "had a dark, unpleasant side in which the roles of master and servant were interchanged and each tried to make the other suffer." When Haxton died in 1944, his place was taken by Alan Searle, a lower-keyed companion who enjoyed reading muscle magazines...
Society columnists portrayed life at Villa Mauresque as a prize stop for the rich, titled and famous. For Maugham it was a closet as big as the Ritz, where he could work and pursue his pleasures. Near the end of his life the house became the scene of jealousies, conflict and intrigue. In 1962 the 88-year-old novelist adopted Searle, 58, as his son. Daughter Liza challenged the relationship in court and won. Father and daughter had other legal problems. The previous year, Maugham had auctioned his art collection for nearly $1.5 million. Many of the paintings had been...
Throughout his life and work, Maugham had defined the fine line between love and suffering. Senility blurred it. He ranted, failed to recognize friends and reverted to infantile toilet habits. There were occasional good days. On one, a week after a visit with the aging Churchill, he observed, "If you think I'm gaga, you should see Winston...
Morgan treats this decline with a detachment that Maugham would have appreciated if not welcomed. Elsewhere the book covers the minutiae of 91 years so thoroughly that a subsequent biography is unlikely. One fact remains: although it was lived in tumultuous times, surrounded by power and prestige, Maugham's life lacked transcending drama. The strain of maintaining his facade against a threatening world exacted its price. He survived; he did not prevail. -R.Z. Sheppard