What is the theme in Cakes and Ale: Or the Skeleton in the Cupboard by W. Somerset Maugham?

Fame is a central theme in the book. A central and fairly cynical theme in Cakes and Ale is that the English people revere old age and as a result laud authors twenty years after they have ceased to write anything useful. No longer viewing them as potential rivals, younger writers can afford to praise them and, since intelligent people cease to read after age thirty, they prefer the books of their youth and encourage their authors to continuing knocking out inconsequential works.