On a Chinese Screen - Couverture souple

Maugham, W. Somerset

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0195838637 ISBN 13 : 9780195838633

Editeur : Oxford University Press (China) Ltd, 1985

Synopsis

Maugham presents, in a sequence of vignettes the extraordinary range of European types resident in China during his travels there between 1919 and 1920. The book, which shows Westerners out of depth in Chinese civilization, has since become somewhat of an important historical document.

A propos du livre

Biographie de l'auteur

William Somerset Maugham, famous as novelist, playwright and short-story writer, was born in 1874, and lived in Paris until he was ten. He was educated at King's School, Canterbury, and at Heidelberg University. He spent some time at St. Thomas' Hospital with a view to practising medicine, but the success of his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, published in 1897, won him over to letters. Of Human Bondage, the first of his masterpieces, came out in 1915, and with the publication in 1919 of The Moon and Sixpence his reputation as a novelist was established. His position as a successful playwright was being consolidated at the same time. His first play, A Man of Honour, was followed by a series of successes just before and after World War I, and his career in the theatre did not end until 1933 with Sheppey.

His fame as a short story writer began with The Trembling of a Leaf, subtitled Little Stories of the South Sea Islands, in 1921, after which he published more than ten collections. His other works include travel books such as On a Chinese Screen, and Don Fernando, essays, criticism, and the autobiographical The Summing Up and A Writer's Notebook.

In 1927, he settled in the south of France, and lived there until his death in 1965.

Quatrième de couverture

'Evokes a nostalgic China replete with rickshaws, coolies and singsing girls' Los Angeles Times

Maugham spent the winter months of 1919 travelling fifteen hundred miles up the Yangtze river. Always more interested in people than places, he noted down finely crafted sketches of those he met on countless scraps of paper. In the resulting collection we encounter Western missionaries, army officers and company managers who are culturally out of their depth in the immensity of the Chinese civilisation. Maugham keenly observes, and gently ridicules, their dogged and oblivious persistence with the life they know.

See also: The Gentleman in the Parlour

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Oxford University Press (China) Ltd
• Date d'édition: 1985
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0195838637
• ISBN 13: 9780195838633
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 246
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: Ufficio Anagrafiche Messaggerie; ufficio.anagrafiche@meli.it; ; Via Verdi, 8; Assago Milano; 20090; Italie