To my mind the most interesting thing in art is the personality of the artist; and if that is singular, I am willing to excuse a thousand faults.

Maugham had been writing steadily since the age of 15 and fervently wiW. Somerset Maughamd to become an author but as he was not of age he refrained from telling his guardian. A. Based on the novel Theatre.

The first run of his first novel Liza of Lambeth (1897) sold out so rapidly that Maugham gave up medicine to write full time. During and after the war he traveled in India and Southeast Asia; all of these experiences were reflected in later short stories and novels.