William SomersetMaugham was a British playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was amongthe most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest-paid authorduring the 1930s.

After both his parents died before he was10, Maugham was raised by a paternal uncle who was emotionally cold. Notwanting to become a lawyer like other men in his family, Maugham eventuallytrained and qualified as a physician. The initial run of his first novel, Liza of Lambeth(1897), sold out so rapidly that Maugham gave up medicine towrite full-time.

During the First World War he served with the Red Cross and in the ambulance corps, before being recruited in 1916into the British Secret Intelligence Service, for which he worked inSwitzerland and Russia before the October Revolution of 1917. During and after the war, he travelled in India andSoutheast Asia; these experiences were reflected in later short stories andnovels.

In general, thestudy of Maugham and his works has started early, gone deeply and reached anadvanced level in the western world. The researches of his works and himselfhave continuously sprung up and comprehensively covered his novel, shortstories and play.

The researcheshave analyzed and thoroughly interpreted his life story and literary creation.The excellence of his short stories is universally acknowledged by thescholars.

In the view ofthe critics Maugham, merely a teller of tales with deficient forms and writingtechniques, belittles the serious literary value by simply pandering to thepublic and the pursuit of circulation and profit. Therefore though his workshas gained a mass s foundation among readers, his novels have always been in acontroversial situation among critics.

In spite of theceaseless controversy, undeniably Maugham is one of the most popular writerssince Dickens. Exactly as Dickens to the 19 century, Maugham affectedtremendously the whole 20 century. Writers such as George Orwell, VS Naipaul,Anthony Burgess and Graham Greene all expressly stated that they were inspiredby Maugham during their own writing. Against the verdict of his being asecond-rate writer, a large number of scholars try to defend Maugham in allsorts of ways.

Meanwhile all thedisputation drives the researches into the deeper and the more critical, provesits existing research value.

In the recent 30 years, increasing domesticscholars tend to focus on Maugham’s novel with deeper and versatile researchmethods and views. Simultaneously, the comparative literature parallel methodis commonly used to study the similarities and differences in his novel. Yetcompared to the researches of other contemporary writers, the study of Maughamstill shows its deficiency in numbers and research perspectives. The domesticscholars and researches should furtherly absorb the ideas and theories on ainternational base and breed the breath of vison and understanding towardsMaugham’s works.

The Moon and Sixpence and The Razor’s Edge are two of Maugham’s most successful novels. Thecomparison between two would reveal the theme of Maugham’s ideas, moreover, presents hischanging attitude towards humanity and spiritual salvation.