Of Human Bondage Manufactured (人性的枷锁)

Of Human Bondage (1915) is a novel by William Somerset Maugham. While generally agreed to be his masterpiece and strongly autobiographical in nature, Maugham himself did not quite subscribe to this, stating in a signed inscription of a copy of the book (dated August 28, 1957) that belonged to the renowned collector Ingle Barr: This is a novel, not an autobiography, though much in it is autobiographical, more is pure invention.

Nevertheless the book deals with the life of its main character Philip Carey, who, like Maugham, was orphaned and brought up by his pious uncle. Maugham's severe stutter has been replaced by Philip's clubfoot. The novel takes the form of a bildungsroman, tracing the protagonist's travels to Germany, Paris, and London, while exploring his intellectual and emotional development and later, in the London period, his destructive relationship with the main female character, Mildred, a self-centered, crude Cockney waitress.

The first and most autobiographical of Maugham's masterpieces. It is the story of Philip Carey, an orphan eager for life, love and adventure. After a few months studying in Heidelberg, and a brief spell in Paris as a would-be artist, he settles in London to train as a doctor where he meets Mildred, the loud but irresistible waitress with whom he plunges into a tortured and masochistic affair.

Book Dimension
Height (mm) 174 　　　　　　　　　　　　　Width (mm) 105

Of Human Bondage (1915) is a novel by William Somerset Maugham. While generally agreed to be his masterpiece and strongly autobiographical in nature, Maugham himself did not quite subscribe to this, stating in a signed inscription of a copy of the book (dated August 28, 1957) that belonged to the renowned collector Ingle Barr: This is a novel, not an autobiography, though much in it is autobiographical, more is pure invention.

Nevertheless the book deals with the life of its main character Philip Carey, who, like Maugham, was orphaned and brought up by his pious uncle. Maugham's severe stutter has been replaced by Philip's clubfoot. The novel takes the form of a bildungsroman, tracing the protagonist's travels to Germany, Paris, and London, while exploring his intellectual and emotional development and later, in the London period, his destructive relationship with the main female character, Mildred, a self-centered, crude Cockney waitress.

The first and most autobiographical of Maugham's masterpieces. It is the story of Philip Carey, an orphan eager for life, love and adventure. After a few months studying in Heidelberg, and a brief spell in Paris as a would-be artist, he settles in London to train as a doctor where he meets Mildred, the loud but irresistible waitress with whom he plunges into a tortured and masochistic affair.

Book Dimension
Height (mm) 174 　　　　　　　　　　　　　Width (mm) 105

W. Somerset Maugham

W. Somerset Maugham (born Jan. 25, 1874, Paris, France-died Dec. 16, 1965, Nice) English novelist, playwright, and short-story writer. He abandoned a short career in medicine when his first novel, Liza of Lambeth (1897), had some success. His plays, mainly Edwardian social comedies, brought him financial security. His reputation rests primarily on the novels Of Human Bondage (1915), The Moon and Sixpence (1919), Cakes and Ale (1930), and The Razor's Edge (1944), all of which were adapted for film and some for television. His short stories often portray the confusion of Europeans in alien surroundings. His works, regarded less highly today than formerly, are characterized by a clear, unadorned style, cosmopolitan settings, and a shrewd understanding of human nature.