毛姆William-Somerset-Maugham.ppt

4.University . At sixteen, Maugham refused to continue at The Kings School. His uncle allowed him to travel to Germany, where he studied literature, philosophy and German at Heidelberg University. （Heidelberg University） During his year in Heidelberg, Maugham met and had a sexual affair with John Ellingham Brooks, an Englishman ten years his senior 5.sexual affairs 6.Marriage and family Although Maughams first and many other sexual relationships were with men, he also had sexual relationships with a number of women. He had an affair with Syrie Wellcome, the wife of Henry Wellcome, the American-born English pharmaceutical magnate. They had a daughter named Mary Elizabeth Wellcome, (1915–1998). Henry Wellcome sued his wife for divorce, naming Maugham as co-respondent. In May 1917, following the decree absolute, Syrie Wellcome and Maugham were married. Syrie Maugham became a noted interior decorator who in the 1920s popularized the all-white room. Their daughter was familiarly called Liza and her surname was changed to Maugham. Syrie finally divorced him in 1929, finding his relationship and travels with Haxton too difficult to live with. 7.career His grandfather, had been a prominent lawyer ,and his father and three older brothers were all distinguished lawyers so Maugham was asked to be excused from the duty of following in their footsteps. Maugham had been writing steadily since the age of 15 and fervently wished to become an author, but as he was not of age, he refrained from telling his guardian. For the next five years, he studied medicine at St Thomas Hospital in Lambeth, London. During these 5 years, he not only had a chance to know the living condition of the lowest class people, but developed keen eyes to analyse human and society as well. 8.Expriences During World War1, he worked to save the wounded soilders at the frontline, especially the firing line, in Belgium. Later, he worked as a secret agent