Another wide-ranging volume of essays from the prose master Eclectic and illuminating, these essays are the last that Maugham published. Ranging from an appreciation of Goethe's novels, to an encounter with an Indian holy man, with a considered analysis of the form at which Maugham himself excelled - the short story - they present the enduring views and opinions of this eminent writer.

A tale of passionate love affair within the vividly realistic portrayal of 19th century working-class London life by the neglected 20th century master. Down among the drab slums of Lambeth, eighteen-year-old Liza is the darling of Vere Street. Vibrant and bewitching, she is adored by the steady, loyal Tom. But then Liza meets Jim Blakeston, charming and worldy, new to the area, and married. Soon the streets are wise to their passionate affair and Liza's fall from grace is fast and fatal. Written while Maugham was a medical student, and his first published novel, Liza of Lambeth is a vividly realistic portrayal of working-class London life.

A masterpiece of modern literature that mirrors Maugham’s own career. Of Human Bondage is the first and most autobiographical of Maugham's novels. It is the story of Philip Carey, an orphan eager for life, love and adventure. After a few months studying in Heidelberg, and a brief spell in Paris as a would-be artist, Philip settles in London to train as a doctor. And that is where he meets Mildred, the loud but irresistible waitress with whom he plunges into a formative, tortured and masochistic affair which very nearly ruins him.

After a lonely boyhood, and the painful ordeal of his schooldays, Philip's yearning for adventure takes him to Germany and later Paris where he tries to make his mark as an artist before returning to London to study medicine. Here, a tortured and one-sided love affair with Mildred, a vulgar yet irresistible waitress, changes the course of his life for ever. Commenting later on the novel’s autobiographical aspects, Maugham recalled how in writing the book he mingled fact and fiction and 'found myself free from the pains and unhappy recollections that had tormented me'.However, like Dickens’s David Copperfield to which it is often compared, Of Human Bondage goes far beyond autobiography, and is Maugham’s most ambitious and unsparing novel, revealing the author’s undoubted gift for storytelling as he explores the timeless theme of human freedom - freedom to act, to think and to love.

Вниманию читателей предлагается наиболее известный и читаемый роман классика современной английской литературы Сомерсета Моэма. Увлекательный сюжет, психологическая глубина и языковое мастерство принесли автору заслуженную славу. Роман повествует о сложной судьбе талантливой актрисы, побеждающей в борьбе за личное счастье и независимость и успешно преодолевающей творческий кризис. Данное произведение часто используется во многих странах мира в качестве пособия для изучения современного английского языка. Издание рассчитано на массового читателя.

Уильям Сомерсет Моэм - один из выдающихся английских писателей начала XX века, подаривший миру множество пьес, эссе и романов. Среди последних - "Театр" - произведение, в котором есть место улыбке и печали, быту и глубочайшей философии, любви предательству, низости и наивности, нищете и роскоши, корысти и преданности. Стройный сюжет, четкость фраз, простота и в то же время красота языка - вот что выделяет Моэма среди многих новеллистов своего времени и что заставляет читателя закрыть книгу только один раз - на последней странице... Предлагаем вниманию читателей неадаптированный текст романа на языке оригинала, снабженный комментариями и словарем.

Crippled sixteen-year-old Catalina is the one person unable to join in the festivities of the Feast of the Assumption. But then she has a vision of the Virgin, and is miraculously cured. In the dark days of the Spanish Inquisition, such a claim to blessedness has serious consequences, especially when Catalina seems more inclined to obey her heart than the demands of the Church. The last of Maugham's novels, Catalina is a romantic celebration of Spain and a delightfully mischievous satire on absolutism.

Maugham's set of stories about his wartime spy John Ashenden, who prefigured James Bond with his exploits with exotic enemies and exotic women When war broke out in 1914, Somerset Maugham was dispatched by the British Secret Service to Switzerland under the guise of completing a play. Multilingual, knowledgeable about many European countries and a celebrated writer, Maugham had the perfect cover, and the assignment appealed to his love of romance, and of the ridiculous. The stories collected in Ashenden are rooted in Maugham's own experiences as an agent, reflecting the ruthlessness and brutality of espionage, its intrigue and treachery, as well as its absurdity.

Julia Lambert is in her prime, the greatest actress in England. On stage she is a true professional, in full possession of her emotions. Off stage, however, she is bored with her husband, less disciplined about her behaviour. She is at first amused by the attentions of a shy but ambitious young fan, then thrilled by his persistence - and at last wildly but dangerously in love Although Maugham is most celebrated as a novelist and short-story writer, it was as a playwright that he first knew success. Theatre is both a tribute to a world from which he had retired and a persuasive testimony to his enthusiasm for drama and the stage.

Героиня романа Джулия Ламберт - талантливая актриса, подобно Моэму, принадлежит к числу людей с "холодным рассудком", все время "подглядывающих" за другими и за самой собой. Автор проводит свою героиню через ее любовь к мужчинам достаточно незначительным, можно сказать, безликим. И все это время Джулия живет другой своей жизнью - сценой. Перевоплощаясь в своих героинь, становясь из вечера в вечер другой индивидуальностью, она находит в этом спасение от своей глупой любви. Любовь и страдания, пережитые Джулией в жизни, обогатили ее как личность, и, принося на сцену не эмоции, а духовный опыт, она поднимается на новую ступень как актриса. Учебное пособие снабжено поурочными упражнениями для закрепления активной лексики урока и для развития навыков устной речи, а также комментарием, словарем и ключами к заданиям. Для всех, кто любит хорошую литературу и стремится расширить свои знания английского языка.

В книгу вошли рассказы знаменитого английского писателя У. С. Моэма. Разнообразные упражнения к рассказам направлены на расширение словарного запаса учащихся, приобретение навыков перевода и умение выражать свою точку зрения на английском языке. Все рассказы и фонетические упражнения записаны на компакт-диск, что позволит школьникам и студентам совершенствовать свое произношение, привыкать к звучанию живой английской речи и воспринимать содержание текста на слух. Книга предназначена для старших классов школ с углубленным изучением английского языка, студентов и широкого круга людей, самостоятельно изучающих английский язык.

Уильям Сомерсет Моэм - выдающийся английский писатель, подаривший миру множество рассказов, пьес и романов. В сборнике представлены 11 рассказов писателя. Занимательный сюжет, неожиданная и неоднозначная развязка, простой и в то же время изящный язык, легкая ирония делают каждый рассказ уникальным и запоминающимся. Написанные в разные годы рассказы объединяет интерес автора к исследованию человеческой натуры, тайных страстей, слабостей и скрытых возможностей обычных людей. Делясь своими наблюдениями и размышлениями на тему выбора судьбы и смысла жизни, Моэм не дает однозначных ответов, заставляя читателя задуматься. Неадаптированный текст на языке оригинала снабжен комментариями и словарем.

A coming-of-age novel that moves from genteel British society to the grim underworld of Paris before the war. At the age of twenty-three, Charlie Mason is endowed with good looks, good manners and a cheerful disposition. Following three years at Cambridge and one working in his father's business, he is looking forward to a jaunt in Paris with one of his oldest friends. Yet Paris is not what he expects - in just a few days his young eyes are opened to the tragedies and ugly dramas of its underworld.

Here is Maugham's famous heroine - the intelligent, spirited and passionate Mrs Craddock Bertha Ley comes of age, inherits her father's money and promptly marries a handsome, calm and unimaginative man. Bertha is wildly in love with Edward and believes she can be happy playing the role of a dutiful wife in their country home. But, intelligent and sensual, she quickly becomes bored by her oppressively conventional life, and finds her love for her husband slipping away. Originally rejected by publishers, Mrs Craddock was first published only on condition that certain 'shocking' passages were removed. It was thirty years before the full text could be published.

Another classic travel book from Maugham; fierce and colourful throughout. Considered by Graham Greene to be Maugham's best work, Don Fernando is a paean to a golden age of enormous creative energy. It discusses the writings of St. Teresa and the paintings of El Greco, and comments with sagacity and wit on such illustrious figures as Cervantes, Velazquez and the creator of Don Juan. This vibrant assessment of a great people at their greatest hour is full of happy surprises, curious facts and stimulating opinions that reflect Maugham's lifelong enchantment with the landscape and people of Spain.

Though W. Somerset Maugham was also famous for his novels and plays, it has been argued that in thethe short story he reached the pinnacle of his artwas his true mйtier. These expertly told tales, with their addictive plot twists and vividly drawn characters, are both galvanizing as literature and wonderfully entertaining. In the adventures of his alter ego Ashenden, a writer who (like Maugham himself) turned secret agent in World War I, as well as in stories set in such far-flung locales as South Pacific islands and colonial outposts in Southeast Asia, Maugham brings his characters vividly to life, and their humanity is more convincing for the author's merciless exposure of their flaws and failures. Whether the chasms of misunderstanding he plumbs are those between colonizers and natives, between a missionary and a prostitute, or between a poetry-writing woman and her uncomprehending husband, Maugham brilliantly displays his irony, his wit, and his genius in the art of storytelling.