Global Modernism Reconsidered: W. Somerset Maugham's Journey to the East

Abstract

This study recovers modernist themes and literary techniques of W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965), a ‘popular’ British writer, from existing postcolonial (mis)reading of his Eastern fiction. It argues that Maugham’s intellectual and aesthetic connections with the East formulate his subtle but powerful critique of Western imperialism, providing a transcultural perspective of conceptualising the world and human life. Eastern philosophy plays a definitive role in Maugham’s literary experimentation with form and narrative.

The thesis begins by locating Maugham in the emerging scholarship of global modernism, mapping out his transnational life and non-conventional narrative strategies. It then conducts a strategic historical survey of East–West interconnectedness to build up a tripartite methodology: ‘East as Other’, ‘East as Reference’, and ‘East as Method’, proposing three models of how modern Western writers tend to view the East. Comparing Maugham’s fiction with that of James Joyce, Ford Madox Ford, Joseph Conrad, and George Orwell, this thesis uncovers Maugham’s acute sense of global modernity from a European context to Eastern sites of Oceania and Asia. Specifically, this study examines Maugham’s philosophical connection with China and India, observing how Daoism assimilates into Maugham’s modernist aesthetics that undo binaries and overcome the limits of language, and how Indian schools of Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta have informed Maugham’s realisation of spiritual liberation in his three philosophical novels. Each chapter takes a cross-cultural approach with attention to both Western and Eastern cultural traditions.

This study covers a wide range of genres: novel, short story, play, memoir, essay, travel notes, literary criticism, and archival materials including unpublished manuscripts, letters, speeches, and Maugham’s annotated personal books, aiming to present a comprehensive survey of Maugham’s life and works in relation to global modernism.