Of Human Bondage

About this book

Philip Carey, orphaned at nine and born with a club foot, is raised by his narrow-minded uncle, a country vicar, and his kind, timid aunt. Painfully shy and ashamed of his foot, he loses his faith at school, studies in Heidelberg, tries to become a painter in Paris and finally trains as a doctor in London. There he falls into an obsessive, humiliating passion for Mildred, a cold and careless waitress who uses him again and again, while he searches for the meaning of a life that seems to have none.

Context and significance

W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965), who was himself orphaned as a boy, had a stammer and trained as a doctor at St Thomas's Hospital in London, published this largely autobiographical novel in 1915. Its title comes from Spinoza's Ethics, where human bondage means our slavery to the passions, and it is often counted among the great novels of the twentieth century. Read also The Moon and Sixpence.

About the author