This interesting and thorough study evaluates the whole of Maugham's huge literary output as dispassionately as possible. The author, formerly with the London Times Literary Supplement, is guided by his affection and sympathy with the man and his work. In tracing the ideas which influenced Maugham, the social background which formed him, and the intellectual climate of the times, the author offers a portrait of a man whose one real passion was literature. Maugham wrote short stories, novels, and plays which are discussed and analyzed in detail. This is not a biography of the man, but of the writer, and the struggles and successes he found in his chosen profession.