Books like The Best Short Stories of William Somerset Maugham

"The Voice of the Turtle" by William Somerset Maugham is dedicated to the same topic, which is later used in his novel "Theater". The author presented his views about actresses.The main character of the story, an opera singer - a bitchy, greedy, selfish, heartless woman who turns any conversation to discussion about her roles, plans, stories of her life and so on. Under the magic of her talent, some people see her exactly the way she wants to be seen - as an unselfish servant of art, a bright and pure creature. Maugham wrote the novel "Theater" a few years after this story. The two main characters which were revealed in his works represented the view of the writer for actresses as a type of personality. Because Maugham was a rather famous and successful playwright, his point of view toward actresses was based on the experience of personal communication with them. Nevertheless, the attitude of the writer towards the main character of the story was more complicated. He wrote at the end of the story - "... people blame me because I rather like people who are a little worse than is reasonable. She was hateful, of course, but she was irresistible."This is the link to the text of the story:http://indbooks.in/mirror1/?p=284329