Maugham Short Stories – serie

This classic collection of stories moves from England, France and Spain to the silver sands of the South Pacific. It includes the famous story 'Rain', the tragedy of a narrow-minded and overzealous missionary and a prostitute, and 'The Three Fat Women of Antibes,' an extravagantly sardonic tale of abstention and greed, as well as a host of other brilliant tales.

Across colonial outposts, drawing rooms and remote plantations, Maugham watches human weakness come quietly to light..The stories in this second volume of W. Somerset Maugham’s collected short fiction move from Malaya to America, England, Borneo, China, Russia and Central America. They include some of Maugham’s most famous tales: ‘Flotsam and Jetsam’, the story of an old woman trapped for years in a loveless marriage in the remote rubber plantations; ‘The Man with the Scar’; and notably the opening story, ‘The Vessel of Wrath’, in which unexpected love grows between a devout missionary nurse and a drunken reprobate. These classic short stories are linked by Maugham’s wry perception of human foibles and his gift for revealing the drama beneath social surfaces. Across plantations, ships, drawing rooms and colonial outposts, he writes about desire, loneliness, self-deception, compromise and the revelations that disturb even the most carefully arranged lives. A classic short story collection for readers of literary fiction, colonial fiction and twentieth-century classics, this volume shows Maugham’s elegant storytelling at its most observant.

The third volume of Somerset Maugham's Collected Short Stories, introduced by the author, contains the celebrated series about Ashenden, a secret service agent in World War I. Based on Maugham's own experiences with the British Intelligence service in Switzerland, the stories are vignettes in which he dramatises both the romance and absurdity of espionage as well as its ruthlessness and brutality. Accountable only to 'R', Ashenden travels all over the Continent on assignments which entangle him with such characters as the traitor Grantley Caypor, the passionate Guilia Lazzari, and the sinister 'hairless Mexican'.

This final classic collection of stories reveals Somerset Maugham's unique talent for exposing and exploring the bitter realities of human relationships. Brilliant tales of love, infidelity, passion and prejudice, the stories range from 'The Lotus Eater' in which a man has a vision of a life of bliss in the Mediterranean, to the astringent tales of 'The Outstation' and 'The Back of Beyond' in Malaya and South East Asia. Largely set in favourite Maugham country, this colourful collection brilliantly evokes the numbered days of the British Empire.

This classic collection of stories moves from England, France and Spain to the silver sands of the South Pacific. It includes the famous story 'Rain', the tragedy of a narrow-minded and overzealous missionary and a prostitute, and 'The Three Fat Women of Antibes,' an extravagantly sardonic tale of abstention and greed, as well as a host of other brilliant tales.

Across colonial outposts, drawing rooms and remote plantations, Maugham watches human weakness come quietly to light..The stories in this second volume of W. Somerset Maugham’s collected short fiction move from Malaya to America, England, Borneo, China, Russia and Central America. They include some of Maugham’s most famous tales: ‘Flotsam and Jetsam’, the story of an old woman trapped for years in a loveless marriage in the remote rubber plantations; ‘The Man with the Scar’; and notably the opening story, ‘The Vessel of Wrath’, in which unexpected love grows between a devout missionary nurse and a drunken reprobate. These classic short stories are linked by Maugham’s wry perception of human foibles and his gift for revealing the drama beneath social surfaces. Across plantations, ships, drawing rooms and colonial outposts, he writes about desire, loneliness, self-deception, compromise and the revelations that disturb even the most carefully arranged lives. A classic short story collection for readers of literary fiction, colonial fiction and twentieth-century classics, this volume shows Maugham’s elegant storytelling at its most observant.

The third volume of Somerset Maugham's Collected Short Stories, introduced by the author, contains the celebrated series about Ashenden, a secret service agent in World War I. Based on Maugham's own experiences with the British Intelligence service in Switzerland, the stories are vignettes in which he dramatises both the romance and absurdity of espionage as well as its ruthlessness and brutality. Accountable only to 'R', Ashenden travels all over the Continent on assignments which entangle him with such characters as the traitor Grantley Caypor, the passionate Guilia Lazzari, and the sinister 'hairless Mexican'.