Errata: Stott & Maugham (1973): Section D

Kaye & Ward, Hardback, 1973.
8vo. 320 pp. Revised and Extended edition.

Section D:

Contributions to Periodicals by W. Somerset Maugham

This section contains 186 entries, including nearly all of Maugham's short stories (often under different titles) and quite a few of his non-fiction pieces; even most of his novels were first serialized. Seldom did he write anything that was first published in book form.

                                              

First, it is useful to identify the 21 short stories that have made it into book form posthumously:

·    Seventeen Lost Stories (1969, B36): D1-3, 5, 7-8, 10-12, 14-16. Mr Stott notes all cross-references except D1, 12, 14-16. The other five stories, all of them from Orientations (1899), appear never to have appeared in magazine.

·   Four short stories can be found in A Traveller in Romance (1984): D13, D17, D99. Mr Stott misses ''The Spanish Priest'', Illustrated London News, 1906.

Various other pieces, including some of Maugham's earliest dramatic attempts, are also to be found in the same book. These include: D4, 9, 20, 24, 27, 54, 117, 124, 134, 136, 138-40, 142, 145-49, 151, 156, 171, 180, 183.

Pieces in A Traveller in Romance (1984) that are not in Stott, and which have not been mentioned above:

·        The Ionian Sea by George Gissing. Review in Sunday Sun, 1901.

·        ''How Novelists Draw Their Characters'', Bookman, 1922.

·        ''On the Approach of Middle Age'', Vanity Fair, 1923. Cf C62.

·        Growing-Up – Twenty-Five by Beverly Nichols. Review in Sunday Times, 1926.

·        ''The Noblest Act'', This Week, 1942.

·        ''Books of the Year'', Sunday Times, 1955.

·  ''On His Ninetieth Birthday – W. Somerset Maugham talking to Ewan MacNaughton'', Sunday Express, 1964. Not written by Maugham himself. A patchwork with quotations from his books and his thoughts guided by Ewan MacNaughton who found the almost 90 years old Maugham feeble and with a good many blanks in his memory. The piece was approved by Maugham before publication.

Pieces in Stott that are not known to have been collected anywhere and which do not seem to consist of such material:

·        D69. ''Advice to a Young Author'', New York Times, 2 March 1927.

·        D125. ''Give Me a Murder'', Sat. Eve. Post, 28 December 1940.

·        D126. ''What Tomorrow Holds'', Redbook, January 1941.

·        D127. ''They are Strange People'', Redbook, February 1941.

·        D150. ''In Defence of Who-done-its'', Scholastic, 25 May 1945.

·        D154. ''Function of the Writer'', Writer, 25 May 1946.

·        D159. ''What Should a Novel Do?'', Scholastic, 3 March 1947.

·        D178. ''The Bidding Started Slowly'', The Connoisseur, June 1952.

·        D179. A Letter to the Editor, John O'London's Weekly, 8 October 1952.

Mistakes and anomalies in Stott, plus some speculations:         

·  D45. ''The Woman Who Wouldn't Take a Hint'' is a variant title of what appears in The Complete Short Stories as ''Mabel''.

·   D19. ''Pygmalion at Home and Abroad''. Not a piece by Maugham at all. A review comparing Maugham's The Land of Promise with Shaw's Pygmalion.

·   D37. Wrong cross-reference. ''A50'' should be ''A42''.

·  D82. ''Through the Jungle'' might possibly be excerpt from The Gentleman from the Parlour. Of course, and alas, there are no photos in the book.

·  D87. ''Maltreat the Dead in Fiction'', Literary Digest, November 8, 1930. Not a piece by Maugham but a critique of his ''portrayal'' of Hardy in Cakes and Ale (Moore lists the piece as ''Mistreating the Dead in Fiction'').

·   D91. ''Maugham Discusses Drama'', an interview listed twice. Cf. G21.

· D92. The material about Arnold Bennett also appears in the essay ''Some Novelists I Have Known'' from The Vagrant Mood (1952, A74).
· D109. Wrong year (“1939” should be “1938”) and missing cross-reference (an extract from The Summing Up).

·  D110. Pretty blatant error that ''The Lion's Skin'' has never been reprinted in book form. It has, of course, in The Mixture as Before (A58) and in the later complete/collected editions.

·  D120. ''Britain Views the French Navy'', July 1940. The title suggests excerpt from France at War (1940). Indeed, it is, but Mr Stott got the title wrong. It is "A Briton Views the French Navy", courtesy of My W. Somerset Maugham Collection.

·  D133. ''Mr. Tomkin's (sic) Sitter''. An interview with Maugham: Geoffrey T. Hellman and Harold Ross, The Talk of the Town, ''Mr. Tompkin's Sitter'', The New Yorker, June 7, 1941, p. 9. Should be in Section G.

·  D147. Savenkoff is not, of course, the Duke Sergius but his assassin.

· D172. ''Ten Best Sellers'', September 1948. Probably excerpts from Great Novelists and Their Novels, perhaps from the introductory chapter.

Omissions from Stott:

·   ''W. Somerset Maugham discusses the Cinema'', Film Weekly, November 19, 1938. Probably an interview, should have been in Section G.

·      ''Strasbourg: City of Death'', People, Topics, Opinions, April 1940. Excerpt from France at War (1940).

·        ''I'm Glad To Be Old'', English Digest, International Edition, April 1951.

·      ''The Wisdom of W. S. Maugham'', Playboy Magazine, January 1966. Spurious, as has been argued by John Whitehead in the introduction to A Traveller in Romance (1984).