The story of a woman who elopes with a rubber planter from Malaysia was the basis for his play The Circle, and he wrote about the suicide of a second-rate pianist in his short story "The Alien Corn".
In his autobiography The Summing Up, he referred to himself as standing "in the very first row of the second-raters". The story of a woman who elopes with a rubber planter from Malaysia was the basis for his play The Circle, and he wrote about the suicide of a second-rate pianist in his short story "The Alien Corn". More famous characters created by this man include the prostitue Sadie whose charms lead to the suicide of a reverend in the short story "Rain," and Rosie Driffield, who is tracked down by Ashenden at the end of his novel Cakes and Ale. Best remembered for such characters as Charles Stickland and Peter Carey, for ten points, identify this English author of The Razor's Edge, The Moon and Sixpence, and Of Human Bondage.
In his autobiography The Summing Up, he referred to himself as standing "in the very first row of the second-raters".
William Somerset {Maugham}