Preface
_ The Magician
A NOVEL By SOMERSET MAUGHAM
TOGETHER WITH A FRAGMENT OF AUTOBIOGRAPHY
1908
A FRAGMENT OF AUTOBIOGRAPHY
In 1897, after spending five years at St Thomas‘s Hospital I passed the examinations which enabled me to practise medicine. While still a medical student I had published a novel called _Liza of Lambeth_ which caused a mild sensation, and on the strength of that I rashly decided to abandon doctoring and earn my living as a writer； so, as soon as I was ‘qualified‘, I set out for Spain and spent the best part of a year in Seville. I amused myself hugely and wrote a bad novel. Then I returned to London and, with a friend of my own age, took and furnished a small flat near Victoria Station. A maid of all work cooked for us and kept the flat neat and tidy. My friend was at the Bar, and so I had the day (and the flat) to myself and my work. During the next six years I wrote several novels and a number of plays. Only one of these novels had any success, bu

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