Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
Considered W. Somerset Maugham's most enduring contribution to literature, Of Human Bondage is a powerful, moving work that should be read by everyone. Widely regarded as Maugham's masterpiece, this deeply personal novel follows Philip Carey from a lonely childhood through a painful, obsessive love affair and into a hard-won understanding of what it means to be free.
Maugham draws on his own life to portray a man's search for meaning in a world that offers little comfort, exploring ambition, rejection, faith and the quiet cruelty people inflict on one another and themselves. Its unflinching honesty about human weakness is part of what has kept the novel in print, and in readers' hands, for more than a century.
This book is featured on The Book Club with Michael Knowles, PragerU's show dedicated to the great books of Western civilization. In this episode, Michael Knowles is joined by radio host Larry Elder to discuss the universal search for unconditional love found in the pages of Maugham's novel, and how it speaks to finding meaning in a world filled with cruelty.
📺 Watch the episode: Larry Elder — Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
Read Maugham's classic novel of love, ambition and self-discovery, and discover why it remains one of the most honest accounts of the human search for meaning ever written.
