For much of his long life, English author Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) was wildly popular with the public. He first attracted attention with his plays, but it was his off-stage fiction—short stories like “Rain” and novels like “Of Human Bondage”—that won him worldwide acclaim and made him one of the most famous authors of the 20th century. Hollywood produced successful films of both these stories, as well as many others, which added to his renown. Even after his death, movies based on his work, like “The Painted Veil” and “The Razor’s Edge,” proved to be box office hits.
However, the scorn showered on Maugham by many critics during his lifetime, who judged his work as second-rate and lowbrow, have taken the shine off that popularity. Far fewer people read Maugham these days. Far fewer still have heard of Maugham’s last play, his 1933 “Sheppey.”
