Somerset Maugham before he turned a full fledged novelist was an illustrious playwright. And even though he never got too involved in the workings of the theatre, was a close observer. It is some of this experience that eventually made its way into the novel he wrote later on in 1937.
Theatre or/and its 2004 literary adaptation, Being Julia (directed by director István Szabó), is the story of an exquisitely talented and alluring stage actress Julia Lambert, and her trysts with various men.
In Julia, Maugham creates a memorable and life and blood female character, who is as despicable as she is delightful, as artificial as she is alluring, and as capricious as she is charming. It's easy to read her as scheming and manipulative, but that would be a surface reading of this extremely complex woman. Linda Goodman would easily identify her as a Geminine - who is many women at the same time. Her airy superficiality and self-absorption make her difficult to like, and yet, Maugham does not condemn her. He writes her part with stunning constancy and depth, and even though he depicts what is truly pathetic about her state, one guesses Maugham is quite taken in by her spirit and allure to let her slip into being anything dismal. He allows her a grand comeback, from the brink of despair. ( )