Literary Therapeutic Research On Somerset Maugham’s Novels

William Somerset Maugham(1874-1965)was an outstanding playwright and novelist between the late 19th century and early 20th century in England.Maugham was not recognized by the mainstream critics for a long time,and was regarded as a lesser writer lacking in thought and depth The author believes that this is closely related to the great soothing and healing effects contained in Maugham’s novels.Through the analysis of Maugham’s life experience,psychological appeal and artistic pursuit,it can be seen that Maugham’s literary works are a good medicine for him to cure himself and others.However,the significance of literary therapy in Maugham’s works has been neglected by researchers.At present,there are no systematic papers or monographs that cut into the study of Maugham’s novels from the perspective of literary therapy.Therefore,this paper will adopt the method of biographical criticism and the close reading of the text,and combine the psychological criticism of literary anthropology and literary therapy theory Narrative theory,find out examples to analyze the role of Maugham’s therapeutic consciousness in his creation process and its therapeutic effect on readers.In the introduction part,the author sorts out the research status of Maugham,the research methods of the article and the significance of the topic,summarizes the criticism experience of predecessors,and points out the significance of analyzing Maugham’s novels from the perspective of literary therapy.The first chapter mainly analyzes the general situation of Maugham’s creation,analyzes the source of his trauma and its influence on literary creation according to his life history,and puts forward the relationship between Maugham’s creation and literary therapy.The second chapter will sort out the novels involving literary therapy in Maugham’s novels,divide them into three categories,and summarize how Maugham’s novels achieve the therapeutic effect.First,it analyzes the therapeutic effect of autobiographical narrative on the author and readers in The Bondage of Life.Secondly,starting from The Veil,it analyzes the living conditions and spiritual ups and downs of people in the plague disaster.The third part starts from The Moon and Sixpence and The Razor’s Edge to analyze the power of salvation and healing found in the Eastern wisdom by the deviants who fled from the West in Maugham’s novels.The third chapter analyzes the promotion of Maugham’s own experience and the characteristics of his writing style to literary therapy.The conclusion points out that Maugham’s unique thinking on the living state and spiritual dilemma of modern people is the important value of his works.It is also hoped that through the analysis of the therapeutic value of Maugham’s novels,more people can realize the ideological value and social value of Maugham’s works,so that more people can pay attention to their own spiritual health and personality integrity.