Details

ISBN-10: 0140185224
ISBN-13: 9780140185225
Publisher: Penguin Group
Publish Date: 03/01/1992
Dimensions: 7.70" L, 5.10" W, 1.60" H

Of Human Bondage

Introduction by: Robert Calder

Paperback

Price: $14.00

Overview

Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time

“It is very difficult for a writer of my generation, if he is honest, to pretend indifference to the work of Somerset Maugham,” wrote Gore Vidal. “He was always so entirely there.”

Originally published in 1915, Of Human Bondage is a potent expression of the power of sexual obsession and of modern man’s yearning for freedom. This classic bildungsroman tells the story of Philip Carey, a sensitive boy born with a clubfoot who is orphaned and raised by a religious aunt and uncle. Philip yearns for adventure, and at eighteen leaves home, eventually pursuing a career as an artist in Paris. When he returns to London to study medicine, he meets the androgynous but alluring Mildred and begins a doomed love affair that will change the course of his life. There is no more powerful story of sexual infatuation, of human longing for connection and freedom.

“Here is a novel of the utmost importance,” wrote Theodore Dreiser on publication. “It is a beacon of light by which the wanderer may be guided. . . . One feels as though one were sitting before a splendid Shiraz of priceless texture and intricate weave, admiring, feeling, responding sensually to its colors and tones.”

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

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Reviews
"It was the book that . . . called me to medicine. . . . It suggested to me that anyone with a curiosity and empathy for their fellow human beings and a willingness to work hard could be a good physician and be rewarded by work that has great meaning." –Abraham Verghese, bestselling author of Cutting for Stone and The Covenant of Water, quoted in The New York Times
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Details

ISBN-10: 0140185224
ISBN-13: 9780140185225
Publisher: Penguin Group
Publish Date: 03/01/1992
Dimensions: 7.70" L, 5.10" W, 1.60" H
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