As a contribution to Twayne's Masterwork Studies on great literature, Archie Loss offers a description and analysis of Somerset Maugham's great novel Of Human Bondage. In successive chapters, Mr. Loss considers the historical background of the novel, importance of the work, its critical reception, its major themes, and the style of writing. Of Human Bondage tells the story of Philip Carey, and Mr. Loss offers a critical judgement of the novel through examination of Philip's childhood, his education and choice of profession, his sexuality, and his philosophy. Also provided is a chronology of W. Somerset Maugham's life and work.

Mr. Loss considers Of Human Bondage to be an important work, and labels it a major achievement in 20th century fiction. He views it from the perspective of French naturalistic fiction, as well as the Bildungsroman, the fictional narrative of a character's life that rose to popularity in 19th century Europe. Given that Of Human Bondage has many semi-autobiographical elements, he also relates Philip Carey's life and character to those of Maugham himself.

In my view, Mr Loss' analysis is adequate but pedestrian, with no deep insights. I can see where a student of the novel could benefit from this analysis if it led him or her to think more carefully about aspects of the novel. In particular, it may be helpful for the reader to recognize ways in which England's 19th century class system are manifested. One arguable flaw in Loss' analysis is his reliance on biographer Ted Morgan's interpretation of the sexuality of the main character. In Maugham: A Biography, Morgan argues without real evidence that the model for Mildred, the lower- class waitress with whom Carey is obsessed, was actually male, reflecting Maugham's own sexuality. Although Mr. Loss lends more credibility to this postulate than any evidence warrants, he does ask an interesting question that I've not seen posed explicitly before: would we interpret Mildred as being male (and Philip as homosexual) if we weren't already aware of elements of Maugham's own sexuality? The question is not trivial (if we care about such matters, as many will not), since Morgan and others may be reading Maugham's own nature into the character -- making for a weak circular argument with no external corroboration.

In an Appendix, Mr. Loss compares the 1934 film with Bette Davis to the novel itself. He finds the former to be incomplete and lacking the complexities and subtleties of the book. In a second Appendix, he attempts to reconstruct a chronology of Philip Carey's life based on information in the novel, and finds some historical anachronisms and minor discrepancies. Also provided is a bibliography of Maugham's major works (novels, short story collections, non-fiction, and plays) and a bibliography of secondary sources.

Overall, this work may be useful to some readers, but I found it to be of little value. Oddly, Mr. Loss never explains why Of Human Bondage ought to be considered an important work of fiction, other than its popularity among readers. Perhaps that's enough. Somerset Maugham happily labelled himself a "Teller of Tales" and would surely have been pleased to find that we are still reading his great novel with great enjoyment and appreciation, nearly a century after its publication. I imagine he would have been amused at works such as this one by Archie Loss, on the grounds that his novel speaks for itself. ( )