Orienting Masculinity Orienting Nation

Although their settings span a wide geographical area from the South Pacific to India Maugham''s exotic short stories novels and travelogues all ultimately focus on the creation of a masculine British identity. In this first book to address Maugham''s fiction in light of recent developments in postcolonial gender and cultural theory Holden argues that Maugham''s work can be understood as an attempt to negotiate between two alternative masculine identities: those of private homosexual and public writer. Holden identifies Maugham''s attempts to cultivate a public persona as a writer whose heterosexuality is confirmed through a process of control of language. Furthermore Holden illuminates the fluidity of language that Maugham in contrast to his public persona associated with homosexuality. The basis of this study is the provocative notion that Maugham''s texts despite their exotic locations ultimately dramatize a struggle over masculine British identity.