A
S TUTTERING FOUND A TION TRIBUTE
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM THE GREATEST WRITER OF HIS TIME ∙ 1874 -1965
“For much of his long life – he lived to be over 90 – Somerset Maugham was the most famous writer in the world. He was known everywhere for his superb short stories and for his novels, the immensely acclaimed, Of Human Bondage, becoming one of the most widely read works of fiction of the twentieth century. His books were translated into almost every known tongue, filmed, dramatized, and sold in the millions, bringing him celebrity and enormous wealth. Wherever he went he was pursued by journalists, eager for information: this extraordinary man seemed to know everyone, from Henry James to Winston Churchill, from Dorothy Parker to D.H. Lawrence.” 1
Though immensely successful in his later years, Somerset Maugham's youth was filled with hardship on account of his speech. A withdrawn child on account of his stutter, he especially suffered during his years at The King’s School in Canterbury. “When a fierce master there asked him to translate a passage and he began to stammer, the boys burst out laughing and the master shouted: ‘Sit down, you fool. I don’t know why they put you in this class.’ Seventy years later Maugham recalled this degradation, the laughter from his teacher and peers, and the subsequent demotion that followed." 2
“Once there was a long queue outside the third-class ticket office at a train station," Maugham recalled, "so I took my place in the queue. But when it came to my turn to ask for my ticket to Whitstable, I couldn’t get the word out. I just stood there stammering. People behind me were getting impatient, but I still couldn’t say ‘Whitstable.’ Suddenly two men stepped out of the queue and pushed me aside. 'We can’t wait all
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