- World War, 1914-1918, Fiction, Veterans, Upper class
This novel, supposedly based on the life of an acquaintance of Maugham, follows the fortunes of an American pilot who, traumatized by war, rejects his former conventional life to search for a more meaningful existence. After studying in Paris for two years he decides to travel, taking various menial jobs. Although being influenced by some of the people he meets it is not until he reaches India that he begins to find peace.
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Character
Classical in form, grave, contemplative and earnest.
- classical in formformally daring
- gravecomic
- contemplativerelentless
- earnestironic
- character-ledplot-driven
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About the book
- Author
- William Somerset Maugham
- First published
- 1944
- Pages
- 320
- Publisher
- VINTAGE (RAND), Bookcassette, Doubleday, Doran & co., inc.
- Editions
- 135
- Language
- Italian, Chinese, German, French
- ISBN
- 9785557022675
Where to read
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On Open Library, 29 have read it and 179 want to.
William Somerset Maugham was born at the British Embassy in Paris, France, where his father was an English lawyer handling the legal affairs of the British embassy. His mother died of tuberculosis while he was young, a death which traumatized him for life. Two years later, his father died of cancer, and he was sent to England to be cared for by his uncle, Henry MacDonald Maugham, the Vicar of Whitstable, in Kent. His uncle was cold and cruel, and the boarding school he attended, The King's School in Canterbury, was also miserable for him. At sixteen, he refused to continue at The King's School and he was allowed to travel to Germany, where he studied literature, philosophy and German at Heid
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