Cakes and Ale
"Cakes and Ale" (1930) tells about the life of Edward Driffield in whom the contemporaries of the writer easily recognize another great English writer - Thomas Hardy. Somerset Maugham fills the story with splendid dialogues and charming wit, typical of him. He does not hide his cynical attitude to human ambitions and weaknesses. The tension, seeped through the novel, slowly reveals the secrets of the characters and keeps the reader in suspense until the last page.
The title of that novel the author drew from the remark of Sir Toby Belch to Malvolio in William Shakespeare's comedy, “Twelfth Night”, or “What You Will”: “Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?".
In one of his interviews, in 1958, Somerset Maugham stated that „Cakes and Ale“ was his favorite of all his novels.
W. Somerset Maugham
Considering the prints of his books, Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) is the most read English writer after Dickens. He lived 92 years and left a huge literary heritage: twenty novels, thirty-one plays, great number of travel notes, essays and short stories. Somerset Maugham is noted for his clarity of style and skill in storytelling.
Some of the titles of Maugham's early novels were well-known amongst a whole generation of readers: "Of Human Bondage" (1915), "The Moon and Sixpence" (1919), "Ashenden": or, "The British Agent" (1938), and "Cakes and Ale": or, "The Skeleton in the Cupboard" (1930). Among his plays, perhaps best known and much produced was "Rain" (1922). An early autobiography is "The Summing Up" (1938).
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