The qualities that attracted him were, (i) the natural ease with which the stories moved (“you do not seem to be reading stories at all”), (ii) lack of obvious cleverness in them, and (iii) a successful rendering of emotion into words and passing it to the reader making him his collaborator. This inclination was spontaneous rather than the result of a craze for Chekhov’s stories in England at that time.

In A Writer’s Notebook he tells us that during his secret mission to Russia in 1917 he came to know about the works of several Russian authors, and “in Chekhov he found a spirit greatly to his liking”. In the beginning he seems to have been very much drawn to Chekhov. When he took up the short story, two readily available models were Maupassant and Chekhov, two great exponents of the ‘plotted’ and the ‘plotless’ stories. Maugham dabbled into story-writing rather late in life at a time when he had earned quite a name as a novelist. It is a personal account by a craftsman describing the technique that suited him best, and the one that was the most remote from him. Though the later essay embodies his final judgment on a variety of literary production which he had himself practised in the past, yet the earlier one is the more balanced account of the theory and practice of the short story. The Altogether essay was written at the height of his power whereas the Points of View essay was written after all his stories were published.

These essays are widely separated in time during which he changed his mind on some points and revised his earlier judgments according to the demands of his craft. He is probably the leading influence on the last thirty years to stand against the Russian models.Īpart from various introductions to individual collections and three brief introductions to The Complete Short Stories, Maugham’s views on the short story can be found mainly in three essays: (i) the Preface to Altogether (1934) (ii) Introduction to A Choice of Kipling’s Prose (1952) and (iii) essay on the short story in Points of View (1958). He practised what he preached, yet it would be more to the point to say that he preached what he practised. He chose very deliberately to expound and to ally himself with certain methods and views by discussing leading exponents of the short story like Allan Poe, Maupassant, Chekhov, Henry James, Katherine Mansfield and Rudyard Kipling.

In addition to being a practitioner of the short story of almost unrivalled success and fame, he was a pre-eminent controversialist on the art of the short story. Somerset Maugham is one of those few creative writers who also possess the concern of a critic about the craft they practise.

W. somerset maugham short stories