Forrest D. Burt

As a contribution to Twayne's English Authors series, this book explores the life and work of W. Somerset Maugham, with an emphasis on his longer fiction. It takes a chronological approach to the author's work, focusing on five of Maugham's best known novels, and to a lesser extent, on his plays and memoirs. Although most of this book's territory has been thoroughly covered by several other such works, what sets this one apart is the author's attempt to analyze Somerset Maugham's personal psychology from his fiction.

While much of this work consists of summaries of his novels, its interpretations are based on two dubious premises: (a) that Maugham's fiction is largely autobiographical and deeply revealing about his personality; and (b) that a reader who has never met the author can analyze his psychology in terms of the influences that shaped him. Whatever small truths these premises may contain, they nevertheless are conjectural, since neither is accessible to empirical test and falsification. In fact, being based on ideology, the conclusions are inherent in the initial assumptions. Among Forrest Burt's conclusions are the following: that because of his stammer, Somerset Maugham believed strongly in the importance of clarity in communication; that Maugham was "always an outsider, more passive than active, living through the characters of his invention;" and that throughout his career Maugham compensated in his fiction for his "deep seated sense of inferiority." The last of these claims is a running theme in the book, and reflects Forrest Burt's acknowledged adherence to the Adlerian school of psychology, a school in which inferiority- compensation is a central assumption.

Overall, this book is no better or worse than other such works, and seems to be motivated by the same spirit. A self- appointed critic or biographer seeks association with (if not ownership over) the accomplishments of famous figure by branding them with their own judgments and interpretations. Were we to be so unkind as to apply Mr. Burt's own methods, we could conclude that books of this type result from their authors' attempt to compensate for their own feelings of inferiority. No matter; the critics come and go, and works like this one are seldom read and soon forgotten.

Meanwhile, Somerset Maugham's work lives on, and on.… (més)