Salvatore by W. Somerset Maugham About the author. Rarely has English literature produced such a prolific short story writer, playwright, and novelist as Dr. Somerset Maugham(1874-1965). This literary genius, born in a family of legal luminaries, spurned a career in law, although it offered him assured success.

He studied medicine, and qualified as a doctor, but rarely practiced what he had been trained for. Except a stint with the Red Cross, Somerset Maugham never took to treating patients. However, his encounter with many poor suffering patients during his medical education had a profound influence on him. He began writing when he was in college studying to become a doctor. His first novel, ‘Liza of Lambeth’ dealt with infidelity prevalent among middle class men and women during those times, and the painful consequences of such unfaithfulness among spouses. The book soon flew off the shelves, giving Maugham a flying start to Maugham’s literary ambitions. Maugham was born in France, educated in England, and lived in Spain.

He travelled extensively throughout South East Asia and India observing the ways of the Eastern societies. In his six decades of writing life, he turned out many spectacular novels, short story collections and even thrillers. ‘The Magician’ (1908) captivated thriller-loving readers. At one time, London’s four opera houses were simultaneously running four of Maugham’s plays. This speaks volumes about the way the readers loved Maugham’s writings. Maugham had a flawed romantic life, that raised eyebrows in the contemporary Victorian society, but his literary brilliance overshadowed this little distortion.

Somerset Maugham ebooks: read or download for free. Somerset Maugham: download and read ebooks. Rain: and other stories. Various1 book in pdf formatAbraham Lincoln451 books in djvu formatWilliam Shakespeare490.

About this story ‘Salvatore’. This short story is set in a tiny remote fishing village in Italy. It centers around Salvatore, a young 15-year-old happy-go-lucky lad who had grown up in a fisherman’s family. He whiled away his time blithely in the sea beach. Salvatore had two young siblings, who gamboled in the shallow waters of the sea.

When they went a bit far, Salvatore used to yell at them to come ashore. Salvatore found his sweet-heart, but draft duty came first The scrawny Salvatore stepped into his adulthood sooner than later. He was enamoured of a girl from Grande Marina who bore her charm with dignity.

The courtship went on, but Salvatore couldn’t marry his sweetheart. He had to complete his conscription in the navy, before he could settle down. It was a daunting, but inescapable obligation that made Salvatore nervous and fearful. It was not the horrors of battle, but the prospect of leaving home that made Salvatore anxious. Aboard the naval ship, in a sailor’s uniform, Salvatore gazed at the horizon and remembered the sunset over Ischia that he used to watch every evening.

This island situated to the north of the Gulf of Naples looked majestic when the sun dipped into the horizon. Salvatore yearned for Marina. The pangs of separation from her filled his mind with gloom. Salvatore was very forlorn. In far away China, lonely and sick His ship passed through Spezzia, Venice, and Bari before reaching China. Misfortune awaited Salvatore at China.

He was afflicted by a debilitating disease, and had to be admitted to a hospital in that distant country. The doctor said that Salvatore had contacted a virulent strain of rheumatism, and wouldn’t be able to do heavy manual work for the rest f his life. The hospital’s findings came as bolt from the blue for Salvatore, but it brought huge relief to the home-sick and love-sick young man. He knew he would be discharged from the navy forthwith.