Exploring the Narrative Techniques Practiced in the Novel of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham

Name of Author : Mrs. A Vasanthi

Abstract: Somerset Maugham is a prodigious writer who was famous in four distinct media such as the novel, short story, drama, and film. It is only in the novel and the short story that he excels in a masterly manner. He was born in Paris in 1874. When he was nine years old he was admitted to the French school but taken away from there to the apartment of the English clergyman at the church attached to the Embassy. He had a difficulty in pronouncing the words properly so he was sent to the preparatory school. These autobiographical details are very much available in the select novel Of Human Bondage. At the age of nineteen, he was in annexe of the King’s school. In 1892 he entered St. Thomas’s Hospital during the autumn season but he proved himself as an unsatisfactory student there. He got the chance of living in London only because of this medical profession. He even got the chance of reading enormous books when he was in London. The writer hates stylistic decorations and eschews them consciously in his writings. Maugham was conscious of his limitations and he is not rated as one of the best modern writers. One could easily see in him the richness of life and the surprising dramatic twists that a human soul is capable of.

Keywords : Human Bondage, Annexe, Distinct media

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