The Land of Promise: Canada, as Somerset Maugham Saw it in 1914

Abstract

The Land of Promise enjoyed much popularity in England and the United States between December 1913 and August 1914. The American run was scheduled to be extended to Canada in March 1914, but Canadian indignation influenced the cancellation of the tour. This paper analyzes the sources of the indignation: Somerset Maugham depicted Canadians as very uncouth, and he suggested that Canada was not the land of promise of the immigration advertisements. In 1918 Phyllis Neilson-Terry and her English company toured across Canada in this play without untoward incident.