The Happy Man
«Life is full of compensations»
Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham is one of the best known English writers of the 20th century. William Somerset Maugham (1874-1966), a well-known English novelist, short-story writer, playwright and essayist, was the son of a British diplomat. He was born in 1874 in Paris and educated at King's School in Canterbury, studied painting in Paris, went to Heidelberg University in Germany and studied to be a doctor at St. Thomas Hospital in England. Although Somerset Maugham did not denounce the contemporary social order, he was critical of the morals, the narrow-mindedness and hypocrisy of bourgeois society.
Maugham became internationally celebrated; his plays were performed all over the world. Now independent and well able to enjoy life Maugham began to travel. He traveled a lot and spent long periods in the United States, the South Seas and China. But his favourite country was Spain and a great deal of his works devoted to it. For instance «The Happy man» that was written in 1927. Somerset Maugham's style of writing is clear and precise. He does not impose his views on the reader. He puts a question and leaves it to the reader to answer it. When criticizing something he sounds rather amused than otherwise.
I’d like to analyze the text, which is entitled “The happy man”. The author is William Somerset Maugham, an English writer. He wrote novels, short stories and plays and most of them had a great commercial success. He is known to have explored many professions including doctor, spy, and playwright. There are many biographical details in his stories and characters, for example in the text “The happy man” the narrator and the second main character are the doctors; and the narrator is, at the same time, a writer, because he wrote the book about Spain, and the story itself in some way concerned with the process of travelling. The genre of the story is narration.
The theme of the novel is the act of giving advice. At the
Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham is one of the best known English writers of the 20th century. William Somerset Maugham (1874-1966), a well-known English novelist, short-story writer, playwright and essayist, was the son of a British diplomat. He was born in 1874 in Paris and educated at King's School in Canterbury, studied painting in Paris, went to Heidelberg University in Germany and studied to be a doctor at St. Thomas Hospital in England. Although Somerset Maugham did not denounce the contemporary social order, he was critical of the morals, the narrow-mindedness and hypocrisy of bourgeois society.
Maugham became internationally celebrated; his plays were performed all over the world. Now independent and well able to enjoy life Maugham began to travel. He traveled a lot and spent long periods in the United States, the South Seas and China. But his favourite country was Spain and a great deal of his works devoted to it. For instance «The Happy man» that was written in 1927. Somerset Maugham's style of writing is clear and precise. He does not impose his views on the reader. He puts a question and leaves it to the reader to answer it. When criticizing something he sounds rather amused than otherwise.
I’d like to analyze the text, which is entitled “The happy man”. The author is William Somerset Maugham, an English writer. He wrote novels, short stories and plays and most of them had a great commercial success. He is known to have explored many professions including doctor, spy, and playwright. There are many biographical details in his stories and characters, for example in the text “The happy man” the narrator and the second main character are the doctors; and the narrator is, at the same time, a writer, because he wrote the book about Spain, and the story itself in some way concerned with the process of travelling. The genre of the story is narration.
The theme of the novel is the act of giving advice. At the