The Happy Man
Гушан Елена
3 курс 304 группа
Analysis of the text:
The happy man
William Somerset Maugham (1974 - 1966), a well-known English novelist, short-story writer, playwright and essayist, was the son of a British diplomat. He was educated at King’s School in Canterbury, studied painting in Paris, went to Heidelberg University in Germany and studied to be a doctor at St. Thomas Hospital in England. Although Somerset Maugham did not denounce the contemporary social order, he was critical of the morals, the narrow-mindedness and hypocrisy of bourgeois society. It was his autobiographical novel “Of Human Bondage” (1951) and the novel “The moon and Sixpence” (1919) based on the life of the French artist Paul Gauguin, that won him fame. Somerset Maugham was also a master of the short story. His style of writing is clear and precise. He does not impose his views on the reader. He puts question and leaves it to the reader to answer it. When criticizing something he sounds rather amused than otherwise. William Somerset Maugham for his life wrote numerous interesting essays and short stories, further publications including Cakes and Ale (1930), The Narrow Corner (1932), Don Fernando (1935), The Summing Up (1938), Up At The Villa (1941), The Razor's Edge (1944), Then And Now (1946), Creatures of Circumstance (1947), Catalina (1948).
One of the best Maugham’s literary works is a short story “The Happy man”. In this text the author tells us about a successful man, who had a good job, a family, a nice flat in London, but he wasn't satisfied with his life, he wasn’t happy and made up his mind to give up everything for uncertainty.
The story was written as the 1-st person narration. It can be logically divide into three main parts. The first
3 курс 304 группа
Analysis of the text:
The happy man
William Somerset Maugham (1974 - 1966), a well-known English novelist, short-story writer, playwright and essayist, was the son of a British diplomat. He was educated at King’s School in Canterbury, studied painting in Paris, went to Heidelberg University in Germany and studied to be a doctor at St. Thomas Hospital in England. Although Somerset Maugham did not denounce the contemporary social order, he was critical of the morals, the narrow-mindedness and hypocrisy of bourgeois society. It was his autobiographical novel “Of Human Bondage” (1951) and the novel “The moon and Sixpence” (1919) based on the life of the French artist Paul Gauguin, that won him fame. Somerset Maugham was also a master of the short story. His style of writing is clear and precise. He does not impose his views on the reader. He puts question and leaves it to the reader to answer it. When criticizing something he sounds rather amused than otherwise. William Somerset Maugham for his life wrote numerous interesting essays and short stories, further publications including Cakes and Ale (1930), The Narrow Corner (1932), Don Fernando (1935), The Summing Up (1938), Up At The Villa (1941), The Razor's Edge (1944), Then And Now (1946), Creatures of Circumstance (1947), Catalina (1948).
One of the best Maugham’s literary works is a short story “The Happy man”. In this text the author tells us about a successful man, who had a good job, a family, a nice flat in London, but he wasn't satisfied with his life, he wasn’t happy and made up his mind to give up everything for uncertainty.
The story was written as the 1-st person narration. It can be logically divide into three main parts. The first