Of Human Bondage is a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. It is generally agreed to be his masterpiece and to be strongly autobiographical in nature, although Maugham stated, "This is a novel, not an autobiography, though much in it is autobiographical, more is pure invention." Maugham, who had originally planned to call his novel Beauty from Ashes, finally settled on a title taken from a section of Spinoza's Ethics. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Of Human Bondage #66 on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. The book begins with the death of the mother of the... nine-year-old protagonist, Philip Carey. Philip's father had already died a few months before, and the orphan Philip is sent to live with his aunt and uncle. His uncle is vicar of Blackstable, a small village in Kent. Philip inherits a small fortune but the money is held in custody by his uncle until he is twenty-one, giving his uncle a great deal of power over him until he reaches his maturity. Early chapters relate Philip's experience at the vicarage.
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| Author: | W. Somerset Maugham |
| Genre: | Künstlerroman, Fiction, Children's literature |
| Year published: | 1915 |
| Number of editions: | 43 |