A medical classic: Liza of Lambeth

摘要

William Somerset Maugham was extremely prolific in his writing of novels, short stories and plays. Maugham was perhaps one of the most successful medical writers of the twentieth century, alongside other notable doctors such as the 1881 Edinburgh medical graduate Arthur Conan Doyle and 1884 Moscow medical graduate Anton Chekhov. Maugham's first novel, Liza of Lambeth, was published in 1897, the year he became a doctor. The vivid observations of society portrayed in the novel suggest that perhaps the complex relationships of the local people he found in Lambeth, London, during his training there, and their challenging living conditions, captivated his imagination and inspired him to focus on writing rather than medicine. Maugham described the squalid living conditions of factory workers, involving long hours and little pay, in a close, inner-city community. More than 100 years later, many of these conditions persist in the borough and other areas of the UK. Maugham's stark portrayal of his, and to some extent our, society should catch our imaginations today.