Debauchery of W. Somerset Maugham

Author, playwright and playboy W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) was well-placed to utter his wonderful description of the French Riviera - 'a sunny place for shady people'. Somerset Maugham dominated the stage and silver screen with his portrayal of humanity - from The Razor’s Edge which explored war and wartime generations to Of Human Bondage which explored drugs and the underworld of women and men. The most louche of all the expatriates who congregated on the beautiful stretch of coast between Nice and Monaco before World War II, the prolific writer held court at his fabulous mansion, the Villa Mauresque, in glamorous Cap Ferrat.
Sources:
Glenys Roberts, "The First Superstar Novelist", The Daily Mail, www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/ar...
Maugham's Gay Life, Library Thing, www.librarything.com/topic/10...
#somersetmaugham #wsomersetmaugham #ofhumanbondage #rain #sadiethompson #hollywoodhistory #syriemaugham #lizamaugham #goldenhollywood #somersetmaughambiography #somersetmaughamdocumentary #wsomersetmaughambiography #wsomersetmaughamdocumentary #ww2spy #ianfleming #jamesbond #frenchriviera #worldwartwospy #worldwar2spy #razorsedge

[@NinjaGrrrl7734]

Wow I knew none of this. I always enjoy your videos. This sounds so wooden but I'm half asleep and commenting to bump you in the algorithm. I really do love your work, though.

[@RadioWhoPoo]

Thank you! That means a lot. Glad you're enjoying :)

[@1969lumbee]

wow.

[@oldishandwoke-ish1181]

I love Somewrset Maugham's work, he described the human condition and did not hesitate to write about people of all social classes. He also recognised that - shock horror - women have sexual desires just as strong as men's. An interesting character who lived life to the full.

[@granthurlburt4062]

Thanks for posting. A fascinating man. I've seen it written that he took great care of life and indeed lived to a great age, and that had he pushed himself a bit more he might have written a work of genius. He was a great writer but not a Joyce or a Waugh. I am quite happy to re-read him every decade and listen to his recorded books even more frequently.

[@RadioWhoPoo]

So glad you enjoyed it.

[@2msvalkyrie529]

Yes. He was modest about his talents and rated himself " in the first rank of the second raters "..I That's probably too harsh..? His style is just effortless .

[@user-hb2ku5oq5r]

"Of Human Bondage" and "The Razor's Edge" are so amazing novels¡¡¡Human condition is explored by W.Somerset M,.to show us our fragility and happiness choise¡¡

[@kimberleyblair3392]

❤😊Thanks friend!❤

[@RadioWhoPoo]

Always happy to have you!

[@philiphema2678]

I wish AI readers would learn the nuances of English and French speech, AI spoils the content of the story.

[@RadioWhoPoo]

Maybe you can send a petition to all of the AI developers in the world about that

[@michaelblankenau6598]

Don’t worry . It won’t be long and you won’t be able to tell the difference between AI and human narration .

[@user9xyz836]

​@@RadioWhoPooMaybe youtubers should stop using AI and return to the good old human narrators.

[@RadioWhoPoo]

Cool you going to write to KZbin about it? Or?

[@billdauphine951]

I wonder if they called him "Bill" ???

[@mr.m8123]

How much worse can AI get? Ths bot cannot prounce words correctly, plus some of the pictures of the villa Mauresque have been altered. There are many, many inaccuracies in this video, which seemed little more than a cheap distortion of a man's life. You would think that the bot/producer could at least get the date of death right; they were off by two years. There are several excellent biographies of Maugham, certainly they are more accurate and less sensational. Homosexuality was a crime in England at this time; that was the real problem, not homosexuality. Could this bot narrator be any more flat and insipid?

[@RadioWhoPoo]

Sodomy isn't a human right, cry more

[@raleighsmalls4653]

Kubrick is PISSED !

[@houseofscott5259]

Wait what?!?

[@2msvalkyrie529]

His later years were a nightmare . All his " companions " and family members behaved like a pack of hyenas around a dying zebra as his faculties declined . He was betrayed - for financial gain of course - by all of them . His short stories displayed the highest level of understanding of Human Nature and yet he was unable to grasp how his own behaviour inevitably led to the ghastly final years he endured. ? As for being " persecuted " : like Noel Coward / Terence Rattigan Ivor Novello and countless others it was common knowledge that they were " gay " . The notion that they lived in fear of being imprisoned is quite ludicrous ! Regardless of all that : he ranks alongside De Maupassant ( his role model ) as one of the very greatest short story writers !

[@RadioWhoPoo]

Great comment!

[@carolleenkelmann3829]

De-cadence??? AI again. It's sickening.

[@davidtroy1522]

I was going too read one of his books. After this? Yuk!

[@RadioWhoPoo]

Tons of better authors out there....T.S. Eliot, Yeats, Fitzgerald... !

[@aevans-jl9ym]

Revolting. Buying a "12-year-old Siamese girl for the price of a can of condensed milk" puts him in the same category as Gary Glitter.

[@RadioWhoPoo]

Have to agree.

[@Playsinvain]

You forgot a conclusion

[@RadioWhoPoo]

You literally worship Satan.

[@Playsinvain]

@@RadioWhoPoo ….lol. Ok. I’m very bad at it, I’m sure.

[@Playsinvain]

Debauchery? What’s a Bauch?

[@RadioWhoPoo]

dictionary.com

[@Nagolobo2023]

😂😂

[@alidabaxter5849]

I can't stand the unbearable mispronouncing of Names, place names and just about everything by AI and I loathe the happy tearing to shreds of dead people that is carried out by people without a trace of their talent. Somerset Maugham had an extraordinary insight into the human condition, and lived at a time when being Gay was to risk imprisonment and total disgrace. He went to live abroad, not as a self indulgence, but because he had worked in the equivalent of the British Secret Service during the First World War (described in the Ashenden stories) and hated it's cruelty, deciding to leave England for good. He was incredibly clever, nearly twenty years older than Noel Coward, who always envied his ability to write brilliant short stories, which he attempted to emulate, and I don't care a damn what his sexuality preferences or habits were - are you setting about Pablo Picasso next, who was a monstrously uncaring and unfaithful womaniser? Maugham left us a wealth of novels and short stories in the most wonderful prose, with incredible insight into every sort and kind of human being, and I am enormously grateful for that. His private life was his own business.

[@RadioWhoPoo]

Suggest you get AI banned then AND there's a video about Picasso on this channel, seriously how stupid can you get

[@lauralaladarling3775]

As with another commentor, this AI narrator's appallingly incorrect pronunciation of English and French words are jarring and horribly distracting, to say the least. The content, however, was extremely interesting, thank you.

[@scotsexile1]

I´ve read virtually everything Maugham wrote and several biographies and find this tabloid approach to his life with no sourcing of the statements absurd. Obviously he was not a pleasant individual and was homosexual but to accuse him of debauchery???

[@RadioWhoPoo]

Check the sources in the description thx

[@2msvalkyrie529]

Read his biography.! It's pretty eye opening . His coterie of " friends / lovers " fell upon him like a pack of hyenas round a dying zebra as he neared the end of his Life . Literally , anything not nailed down was stolen and flogged for cash...! Very sad..