Of Human Bondage

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Of Human Bondage (1915) is a novel by William Somerset Maugham. While generally agreed to be his masterpiece and strongly autobiographical in nature, Maugham himself did not quite subscribe to this, stating in a signed inscription of a copy of the book (dated August 28, 1957) that belonged to the renowned collector Ingle Barr: This is a novel, not an autobiography, though much in it is autobiographical, more is pure invention.

Nevertheless the book deals with the life of its main character Philip Carey, who, like Maugham, was orphaned and brought up by his pious uncle. Maugham's severe stutter has been replaced by Philip's clubfoot. The novel takes the form of a bildungsroman, tracing the protagonist's travels to Germany, Paris, and London, while exploring his intellectual and emotional development and later, in the London period, his destructive relationship with the main female character, Mildred, a self-centered, crude Cockney waitress.

[edit] Film versions

Of Human Bondage - Filmed in 1934 with Leslie Howard as Philip and Bette Davis as Mildred, the girl who torments him through her rejections of him.
Of Human Bondage - The novel was directed by Edmund Goulding in 1946 with Paul Henreid and Eleanor Parker in the lead roles.
Of Human Bondage - The 1964 film featured Laurence Harvey and Kim Novak taking the lead roles.