The multifaceted artistic talent of Maugham, a brilliant storyteller and virtuoso stylist, was fully demonstrated in his critical works. Maugham never claimed to be a proclaimer of truths. Both in the selection of writers' names and in the story about them, he proceeded from his own experience and taste. His taste, trained on classical models, was almost unerring, and in terms of wealth of experience few of his contemporaries could compete with him. For this edition we have chosen a preface and four essays: On Fielding, Austen, Dickens and Flaubert.