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Born to British parents on January 25, 1874, William Somerset Maugham spent his early childhood years in Paris, France, where his father worked for the British Embassy. When Maugham was orphaned at age ten, his uncle took him in and sent him to school in England. While most of the men in his family worked as lawyers, Maugham bucked tradition by studying medicine. He completed his medical studies in 1897, but he never practiced medicine. The same year his debut novel Liza of Lambeth was published. The book's small success allowed Maugham to abandon medicine for a career in literature. Maugham travelled the world and focused on his writing for the next several years. In 1908, four different Maugham plays were performed in London's West End at the same time.

During World War I, he drove an ambulance for the Red Cross and volunteered as a spy for the British government while his writing career served as a cover for his intelligence work. Maugham's experiences with Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) inspired him to write spy fiction. In 1917, Maugham married Syrie Wellcome with whom he had fathered a daughter in 1915. They remained married for twelve years, although throughout that time and beyond he was in a relationship with Gerald Haxton, with whom he travelled extensively. He lived primarily on the French Riviera from 1938 on. After Haxton died in 1944, Alan Searle became Maugham’s companion for the remainder of his life. Maugham died at the age of 91 in 1965.

Maugham continually observed and recorded ideas during his extensive travels, and many of his work—including “Salvatore”—reflect those travels. He wrote 32 plays but stopped writing them after 1932 to focus on novels and short stories. Two of his best-known plays were adapted from short stories he had written, including Rain (1921), which was adapted by others, and The Letter (1927), which Maugham adapted from his 1926 short story. His best-known novels include the semi-autobiographical Of Human Bondage (1915) as well as The Moon and Sixpence (1919) and The Razor’s Edge (1944). Among his final published works were three popular short story collections, Quartet (1948), Trio (1950), and Encore (1952).

Next section Historical Context: The Literary Magazine & Short Fiction Pieces

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