Somerset Maughan & the 'Homintern'.

 

W. Somerset Maugham

Christopher Hitchens said that W. Somerset Maughan, "turned out third-rate prose by the yard, or the furlong." 

He was brought up in France. Both his parents died when he was young and he was brought up by relatives who sent him to monastic boarding schools where according to Hitchens, he was bullied, beaten and buggered. This left him with a speech impediment and a staunch commitment to homosexuality. 

Somerset Maughan qualified as a doctor, delivering babies in the socially deprived areas of Lambeth. He did marry a woman called Syrie Welcome partly as a cover and had a daughter with her. The Villa Mauresque where he lived was known as the 'Homintern'. Hitchens says the villa was a magnet for spongers and toadies and social climbers of all sorts. 

Two guest who came to stay at the Villa Mauresque, were Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy. Hitchens says they were slightly aghast when staff at the villa, unpacked and laid out all their belongings, including lubricant and the powder for warding off crab lice. Apparently, Maughan was always finding his bookshelves and wine cellar and bric-a-brac, had been subjected to shameless pilfering.