The Moon and Sixpence Summary

THE corn liquor AND SIXPENCE Topic The theme revealed in the t give a flair ensembleegory The moonshine around and half-dozenpence Outline I. Summary whatsoever sourceand thenovel The moon andsixpence II. TwothemesrevealedinthenovelThemoonandsixpence 1. The revolt of an individualfulness against the well- established conventions of burgess parliawork forcetary procedure 2. No roomsfor trivial and mine runpleasures of sojournlinessinGreat nontextual matter III. Conclusion Summary close the writer and the novel The moon and sixpence 1. WilliamSomerset Maugham (1874-1965) W. S.Maugham is famous side of meat writer, well- make don as a novelist, playwright and shortstory writer. In his writings he kept to the principles of Realism, unless his method of writing was besides influenced by Naturalism, Neo-ro arrange of musicticism and Modernism. W. S. Maugham was born(p) in Paris where his breed worked as solicitor for the English Embassy. At the mature of 10, Maugham was orphaned and send to England to live with his uncle, thevicar of Whitstable. Before becoming a writer he was educated at Kings School, Canterbury, and Heidelberg Univer gravely, Maugham then studied six years medicine incapital of the United Kingdom.William worked in a hospital of fear Thomas, which attributed in a vile block of capital of the United Kingdom the realisefound itsreflection inthe 1st novel. During World War, Maugham volunteered for the Red Cross, and was stati wizd in France for a period. in that location he met Gerald Haxton (1892-1944), an Ameri chiffonier, who became his companion. Disguising himself as a reporter, Maugham served as an espion frustrate on with teleph angiotensin converting enzyme numberor for British Secret Intelligence Service in Russia in 1916-17, besides his stuttering and unretentive health hindered his carry oner in this field. In 1917 he conjoin Syrie Barnardo, an interiordecorator they were ivorced in 1927-8. On hisreturn from Rus sia, he pass ayear in a sanatoriumin Scotland. Maugham then set withdraw with Haxton on a series of travels to eastern Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Mexico. In umpteen novels the surroundings in oblige contend populacener ar international. Maughams or so famous story much(prenominal) as Ashenden or the British agent Maugham died in Nice, a low- defeat French town from pneumonia on December 16, 1965. During the war, Maughams best- shaftn novel, Of Hu gentle human being Bondage(1915) was published. This was keep an eye oned by a nonher successful harbour,The Moon and sixpence(1919).Maugham also developed areputation as a fine short-story writer, one story,Rain, which appeared in The Trembling of aLeaf(1921), was also turned into a successful feature film. Popular plays written by Maugham include The Circle(1921),East of Sue(1922), The Constant Wife1926) and the anti-war play,For Services Rendered (1932). In his later yearsMaugham wrote his autobiography,Summing Up (1938) and works of fiction much(prenominal) as The Razors Edge (1945),Catalina (1948) and Qu nontextual matteret (1949). later the 1930s Maughams reputation abroad was dandyer than in England.Maugham once said, approximately deal john non wait on alone occasion, but I spate se what is in front of my nose with extreme c visualiseessthe niftyest writers fucking see through a brick wall. My vision is non so penetrating. His literary sustains Maugham collected in The Summing Up, which has been used as a guide confine forcreative writing. William Somerset Maugham died in 1965 in a small French town frompneumonia. I deliver neer pretended to be eachthing but a story teller. It has divert me to tell stories and I present got t gray a great many an(prenominal).It is a accident for me that the telling of a story just for the sake of thestory is non an activity that is in favor with theintelligentsia. Inendeavortobearmymisfortuneswithfortitude. (fromCreaturesofCircumstance, 19 47) The novel Themoon and sixpence Charles Strickland, a just, dull, holiest,plain man who isa pompous stockbroker. He isprobably a fitting member of corporation, a good husband and arrest, an honest broker, but he surrendered his married woman and deuce nice looking and healthy children, a boy and a girl. A supposition is putforth Charles manner of walkings out upon his wife torun later or so woman.A g contrivanceer of Strickland is sent to Paris to hear out who the woman is and if possible to channel him to come back to his wife. After a yearn talk with Strickland, the man under jumps that the real rationality that inspires him to run a focusing is not woman. He firm to be a key stoneer. Living in Paris,Stricklandcomes intocontact withaDutch blusherer, DirkStrove . Stroveis presentedas an antipode to Strickland. Strove is a kind hegraphicsed man but a mischievous painter. He is the first to discover the real talent of Strickland. When Strickland fire ups earnest ly ill, it is Strove who comes to help.Strovepersuades his wife to permit him bring the operative home to look later on him. Tohis surprise, his wife falls in sleep together with Strickland who she h senile(a)s in disgust. Later his wife, a housemaid pull through by Strove, kills herself by drinking acid afterwards Strickland diverges her. What Strickland necessitys from Blanche is not knowledgeable relation but the unclothed picture of her beautiful figure. Leaving France for Tahiti, Strickland is in search of a valet de chambre of his own. In Tahiti, he marries a domestic girl Ata and hehas about three years of happiness. He has 2 children. Strickland contracts leprosy and later becomes cunning.He wants to forsake the family but Ata doesnt let him do it. His eyesight gets worse but he continues house word picture. Ata couldnt go to the town and cloud apprizevases he uses the walls of his house. Strickland gets rid of some pixilated irresistible obsession impris oning his soul with the help of those scenes. He has achieved what he longs foron this land. He has painted his masterpiece. acute that he is going to die, he scrams his wifepromise to burn bring down his masterpiece after his death in fear that it result be contaminated by the commercial world of money.Two themesrevealed in thenovel The moon and sixpence 1. The revolt of anindividual against the well- established conventions of bourgeois society In many of his stories, Maugham reveals to us the unhappy aliveness history and the revolt against the set cordial order. TheMoon and sixpence waswrittenin thisline. Itis astory of the battle between the nontextual matterist and the conventional society based on the intent of a painter. The revolt of an individual against the well-established conventions of bourgeois society was shown in the pastime ii aspects 1. 1. Money worship societyThe bourgeois society with its vices much(prenominal) as snobbishness money worship, prete nse, self-interest do their profit of the frailties of mankind. To them, money was a useful tool to dominate both economics and politics. Money also helped the bourgeois maintain their regal tone and it connected the members in family, on the other hand, husband had obligated to support his wife and children for altogether his flavour. Therefore, the oddment generations of the bourgeois forced the young generation to continue their domination. It was mentioned in the colloquy betweenStrickland and his champ. I rather wanted to be apainter when I was a boy, butmy father made me go intobusiness because he said in that respect was no money in art. In this society, art was non-profitable. Therefore, it moldiness be looked down upon. In their sign of view, art was nought more than just a job to earn money. They did not see the beautiful things that art brings. When Strickland decided to follow in his fathers footsteps, his woolgather and aspiration were hidden on the bottom of his heart. After working sonorous for ages, he became aprosperous stockbroker. He is probably a worthy member of society.However, on that point is in streets of the poorquarters a thronging zip which excites the blood and prepares the soul forthe unexpected. It was actually happened in Paris, because Strickland gave up the luxury life and got acquainted with hard life just wholly wanted to get together a long-cherished imagine. He had to give up his dream to follow his fathers wishes. I want to paint. Ive got to paint. The brief answer show his pull up s maintainsingness to get out of ideology ties which were imposedby his father. And his hand and head word would express his big dream by painting masterpieces. I couldnt get what I wanted inLondon. Perhaps I croupe here. I tell you Ive got to paint. The author said that I seemed to relish in him some ardent power that was strugglingwithin him, itgave me the whiz ofsomething actually strong, overmastering, that heldhi m And Strickland cannot deliver a comfortable life any more. I behavent any money. Ive gotabout a blow pounds. We could probably see itthrough Stricklands appearance when he came to Paris. sitting thither in his old Norfolk jacket and his unnourished bowler, his trousers were baggy, ishands were not invigorated and his face, with the red drinking straw of the unshaved chin, the little eyes, andthe large, aggressive nose, wasuncouth and coarse. 1. 2 Family and sociable responsibilities Painting is not solo a dreamy moon of Strickland but also of many progressive people inbourgeois society. According to bourgeois concepts, all the men have to be trusty for hisfamily and children. Hes forced to have a strong data link with what is considered to belong tohim. Stricklands life is tied tightly down to familys contract. However, all that sort of things pixilateds nothing at all tohim.He doesnt let those reasons impact onhis way chasing his rage any extended. It can be obvious ly proved through the conversation between two men, Strickland and the author, in chapter II of thenovel. Hang it all, one cant dedicate awoman without a bob. Why not? How is she going to live? Ive supported her for s plainteen years. Why shouldnt she support herself fora switch over? Let her try. Dont you apportion forher anymore? not a bit When Strickland talks about his children, his attitude is revealed to be heartlessly scornful. Theyve had a good many years of comfort. Its much more than the mass of children have. Dirk Stroeve was one of those unlucky persons whose more or less sincere emotions are ridiculous. On the spirit of art Why should you mobilise that beauty, which is the most precious thing in the world, lies comparable a stone on the beach for the careless passer-by to pick up lazily? Beauty is something wonderful and contrary that the artist fashions out of the chaos of the world in the torment of his soul. And when he has made it, it is not given to all t o know it. To have intercourse it you must(prenominal) take up the adventure of the artist. It is a agate line he sings to you, and to hear it again in your own heart you want knowledge and sensitiveness and imagination. Besides, somebody will look after them. When it comes to the point, the Mac Andrews will pay fortheir schooling. I the likes of them all right when they were kids, but now theyve growing up I havent got any particular intuitive smell outinging for them. He all in all gives up on his own family, children and phonesthat they could live by themselves without his care. Even if they cant make arrangement for their life, his relatives might come to help. Strickland also doesnt mind whatpeople execrate and despise him. E rattlin deceased will retrieve you aperfect swine. Let them. Wont it mean anything to you that people loathe and despise you? NoYou dont care ifpeople think you an utterblack-guard? Not a damn. He in truth doesnt care any longer. You wont go bac k to your wife? neerYou dont care if she and your children have to beg their bread? Not a damn. He does everything abandoned wife and children left his successful calling basis justbecause he totally hates that gloomysociety and its oldcustoms. just by a short conversation between two men, the author already describes the strongly reactive mind of Strickland, a man who dares to stand up and fight over the old customs of that wispy society and bourgeois.Regarding to Stricklands point of view, his escape is the tho decision its also the solution to release his imprisoning mind. He doesnt regret or be ashamed ofwhat hes done. He accepts the eyes of society because he doesnt care. Actually, its neer evermeant anything to him. The only thing that he really cares ishis mind right now freely to follow anddo everything he ever dreams of in his own dreamy moon. 2. No rooms for trivialand ordinary pleasures of life inGreat Art 2. 1Sacrifice everything to be an artist. At the beginning , the stockbroker Strickland had a stable life with happy family.However,when he started to chase his path as an artist, he had to experience a poor situation. Moreover, he waswillingtogetridofeverythingtobeanartist. Great artdont dependon ageas longas you have real passion. Even though at the age of fortythe come abouts are a million to one, Strickland save wants to be apainter. I can learn quicker than I could when I was eighteen, said he. He wanted to be a painter when he was a boy but his father didnt allow him. His fatherconsumed that there was money in art. Therefore, he had to give up his passion for such a long time. However,his fire for art wasntstampedout.And thiswasthe perfecttimefor him to implement his dream again. Onhis way chasing that dream, he had tosacrifice everything. Hepassed by the material and the sensual to contact spiritual needs. He got rid of a happy family with acomfortable life to go to Parisand lived in destitute life there Although he k young that hi s family compulsory him and they had to suffer ruggedies in life without him, he didnt intend to switch his mind and he accepted to be considered as a inconsiderate man. He understood that his action werent super appreciated however, he still wanted to espouse art in his own way.Strickland accepted to live in a bad condition, without money, job, food and at know he found a Shelter at a hotel. Afterward, notwithstanding the fact that he got a serious disease and becameblinded he stilltried tofulfillhis masterpieceon thewalls of hishouse. During thefirst daysstaying in Paris, he only found a cheap hotel to live. He appeared with such a miserable, untidy image. He sat there in his old Norfolk jacket and his unnourished bowler, his trousers werebaggy, his hands were not clean and his face, with the red stubble of the unshaved chin, the littleeyes, and the large, aggressive nose, was uncouth and coarse.His mouth was large his lips wereheavy and sensual. He sought after to paint . He repeated his speech many times when answering his mate. I want to paint. Ive got to paintI tell you Ihave to paint. 2. 2. Strickland protects Beauty and Art. Art is verypure. It can not bemeasured by the value of money or sexual relation. Stricklandstruggled to abandon his appetence for art. Let me tell you. I imagine that for months the matter neer comes into your head, and youre ableto persuade yourself that youve finished with it for good and all.You rejoice in your freedom, andyou feel that at last you can call your soul your own. You seem to walk with your head among thestars. And then, all of a sudden you cant stand it any more, and you notice that all the time yourfeet have been walking in the mud. And you want to roll yourself in it. And you image some woman,coarse and low and vulgar, some beastly creature in whom all the horror of sex is blatant, and youfall upon her like a wildanimal. You drink till youre blind with rage. He assumed that as an artist he shouldnt h ave trivial fun such as commit ofwomen.For Strickland, woman is like an invisible rope tightening his life. It is very hard to escape fromthem. Therefore,hetriedtoavoidit. Hewaswillingtogiveherupaswellashis unsatisfactory painting. He did everything to be a honest artist even though it made him become acruel man. Finally, he achieved what he wanted. He peed a masterpiece. It was worth what hed spent. He devote all his life to pursue art. As an artist, he didnt care about fame or wealth. Hepainted pictures only to satisfy his love to art. He never interchange his pictures to get money.He did not toaccept his masterpiece to be contaminated by the commercial world of money. His dream was verybeautiful III. Conclusion Based on the life of Paul Gauguin, The Moon and Sixpenceis W. Somerset Maughamsode to the powerful forces rat creative personality. Charles Strickland is a staid banker, a man ofwealth and privilege. He is also a man have of an unquenchable appetite to create art. As Strickland pursues his tasteful vision, he leaves London for Paris and Tahiti, and in his quest makes sacrifices that leave the lives of those closest to him intatters.Through Maughams openhearted eye Stricklands tortured and cruel soul becomes asymbol of the gentleness andthe curse of transcendent artistic genius, and the cost in humans lives it sometimes demands. Topic 2 Impression of personalityistic THE ANALYSISOF STRICKLAND use 1. Strickland as an ordinary man 1. 1 Strickland is lordly inconsiderate toward his wife Strickland used be a good husband to his wife. Actually, he owns a happy family and goodeconomic condition. For many people, Strickland is good businessman and has good status insociety.However, he utterly abandoned his wife andwent another place. Strickland leaved his wife and children behind without a word. His leaving makes her very miserable and she had asuspicion that he run international with other women. His wife- Army is a pleasant hospital woman. Strickland cant find any reasons which belong to Arm to leave her. When Army sends himmany garner to persuade him to come back, Strickland doesnt read any letters from her. Itmeansthat he doesnt concern anything related to his wife. When making conservation with friend sent to persuade him, Strickland expresses a coollyattitude to his wife. I can not describe the extraordinary(p) callousness with which he made this replyAlthough Strickland acknowledged his action, he stilldoes like that. Has she deserved that you should treat her like that? NoThen, isnt it monstrous to leave her inthis fashion after seventeen years of married life withouta fault to find with herMonstrousAbandoning wonderful wife is faulty. However, letting a woman without a bob is more pitiless. He also knows onward that his wife and children will have to suffer difficulties in life withouthim. save he still leaves them topursue his aim. Hang it all, one cant leave a woman without abobWhy not? Dont you care for her any more? Not a bitStrickland does not try thinking whether a weak woman can live without support from manespecially she has to nurse two children. They dont know what they should do in order to support their life and what will wait for them in the future. He supposed that he no longer haveany function to his family and all things that hedid before be enough. 1. 2 Strickland is irresponsible egotistic father Strickland does not want to take any responsibility to his children. His children are very youngand innocent.They have never done any psychic trauma toStrickland. Damn it all. There are your children to think of. Theyve never done you any harm. They didnot ask to be bought in to the world. If you chuck everything like this, theyll be propel on thestreet. They have had a good many years of comfort. Its much more than the majority of childrenhave. Besides, somebody will look after them. When it comes to the point, the Mac Andrewswill pay for their schooling. How can childr en live without support from their father? He did not care about his children anymore, even though they could be thrown out in the street.Read alsoMoon By Chaim PotokFor many people, rearing children isvery holly duty and happiness. For children, father is the material and spiritual favor. It is verypoor for children when he entrusts them to the care ofMac Andrews. Especially, Strickland thought that he did not have any special feeling tohis children. For many men, children are unceasingly very special and take really authorized part in their emotional life. Strickland only had special feeling to his children when they were small. When they growup, heno longer loves them. It seems that the constitution of a father in Strickland has disappeared. Hebecame an unemotional father. 1. Strickland is ungrateful to his friend Dirk Strove is a very kind- hearted person. Dirk Strove is the person who recognizes the talentof Strickland and helps him everything in bad days. When Strickland fa lls severely ill, it isStrove who comes to help. Strove persuades his wife to let him bring the artist home to lookafter. Strickland must have gratitude all the things that Strove had done for him. On the otherhand, Strickland has an adulterous affair with his best friends wife. Moreover, Strickland justwants to take use of her body forthe nude picture and causes the death of Strove. 2. Stricklandas anartist . 1 Strickland is areally passionate painter .He compares his passion to paint is like the desire to breath. He abandoned his wife andchildren to pursuit his dream of painting. He gives up a happy life to go strange place to learn painting. He gets divorced with his wife without any reasons and lets his children alone to devotefor art. I have got to paint is repeated four times in conservation with the friend. It means thatthe desire to paint is fullof in his head all thetime. When familys friend is sent to persuade Strickland, he used all the tactics and arguments tochange Str icklands decision.However, Strickland still expresses a consistent attitude to allarguments. Strickland believes that his wife could take care of herself and also is ready toprovide all necessary background for her to divorce. His children can grow without his support. Strickland reckons that it is the high time for him to realize his dream. For Strickland, painting is the air of life, an interest. The painting is all. He does not concernabout all the worst things people can think about him. Everyone will think you are perfect swineLet themWont it mean anything to you toknow that people loath and despise you?NoShort answers arrest a terrible determination. It seems that the artis the only meaningful thingto him now. The passion of painting is covering all his body andwill. Behind the dull appearance, Strickland has the true passion to art. Strickland- a man with oldNorfolk jacket, unnourished bowler, his trouser was bagging, his hand were not clean, his facewith red stubble of theu nsaved chin, little eye, the large aggressive nose, his mount large and hislip were heavy and sensual. On the surface, he was not born for art. The rude and sensualappearance is completely contrary to deep passion on art and artist soul.The storyteller feelspowerful desire to paint in his voice and vehement power. There is strong struggle between willand passion inside this man. Strickland decides to leave all his family and material values, loveand lust behind to puncture for art. Strickland accepts a poor life to devote for art and passion. From a prosperous stockbroker,Strickland became a poor man for only reason of being a painter. Hecan live in cheap hotel withabout hundred pounds to learn painting. When coming Tahiti, Strickland marries with a nativegirl and lives in forest far-off away from town. They live in misery. When there was no food to behad, he seemed capable. It seems that he lived a life wholly of the spirit . All the materialvalues do not have any meaning to hi m. He wants to spend the rest of the life painting. He couldsuffer the poorest conditions to draw. Strickland decides to paint at the age of 40. Do you think it is likely that a man will do any good when he starts at your age? near peoplebegin painting when they were eighteen. I can learn quicker than I could when Iwas eighteen. The age is one of the most important barriers for Strickland to overcome. People mainly paintwhen they were eighteen.In spite of acknowledging this, Strickland still decides to paint by allmeans. In fact, there is no limitation of age in art. However, Strickland must have had the trulystrong desire to art because it is very difficult and unusual for people to start learning painting atthis age. Strickland had dream of painting when he was very small. At his time, the values ofman are measured in equipment casualty of money. His father said that there was no money in art and obligedhim to do business. Obeying his fathers speech, Strickland became a prospero us stockbroker. He owns a happy family and good social status.Strickland does not satisfy with the current life. He feels the life is so boring and not meaningful. After 40 years, the dream of childhood stillobsesses him and wins other things. It seems that the man is cut for painting. At the age of 40,after many years of empty soul, he realizes clearly what he wants, what is important to his life. panting is the job which he really wishes to do andsucceed. 2. 2 Strickland understands the rotten society and he is very support man who sacrifices for the real art When Strickland abandons his wife and spends all the rest of life for painting, many peoplewould think he is not usual.His action is different from the normal people in society. In thebourgeois society, money is highly appreciated and most of people live for money. They supposethat there is no money in art and artists are not highly evaluated in social order. In contrary,Strickland can give up everything to pursue art. Stri ckland wishes to paint because of truepassion, but not for money. He never sold a single picture and he was never satisfied with whathe had done. In the end, Strickland obliged his wife to burn all his picture and house so that allhis merchandises are not survived for commercial invention.He has the great art concept and is acourageous man who devotes everything to art. With the endowed talent and passion, Strickland creates the wonderful pictures which containthe great content and perfect beauty. Strickland can go anywhere to find inspiration for hispicture. He decides to move from London to Paris, after that he came to Tahiti and live in aforest. Strickland is in search of a world of his own. When he contracts leprosy, he still draws. As he becomes blind, he continues painting until he died. Strickland is worth tobe great and realartist. 3. Conclusion For Stricklands family, he is a bad father and husband.In term of the normal concepts in the society, Strickland is considered to be a selfish person who can abandon all important things topursue his own passion. Strickland is a real artistand brave man in bourgeois society. He abandons all the normal thingsincluding family, money, social status, moral values to sacrifice for the real art. With deep enthusiasms, Strickland creates the great product and paints until his the last breaths. Hesupposes that the true art should not be contaminated by the commercial world of money. He isthe typical artist who can scarify for thereal art in the bourgeois society. Some commentsThis is a fictionalized flier of the life of artist Paul Gaugin. Its the best fictionalized biography Ive ever read. From the act I learned hes left his wife and children to the death of his mistress, Ive been captivated by this intense personality. Im reminded of Steve Jobs, a heartless man obsessed by work, by a vision. just the most interesting thing so far is the art itself. The narrator, a writer, admits that the first time he sees Charl es Stricklands paintings, hes disappointed. The oranges are increase and lopsided. He doesnt have the craftsmanship of the old masters. (And no wonder. Hes only been painting for five years. Yet he says to himself, its because its a new style. This is key. Would anything ever make it in art if it werent new? It goes through a couple of stages. full(a) rejection, then wild acclaim. The narrator is disappointed in himself for not recognizing genius. Only later, after hes seen these works in museums, acclaimed by others, is he able to recognize the hand of a master. It brings to mind Tom Wolfes The Painted Word. Nothing is art until a story makes it so. And yet A major character in The Moon and Sixpence is a hackneyed artist who has great technological skill yet paints for the vulgar masses, making a comfortable living.He sees the genius of Gaugin (or in this case Charles Strickland) as no one does. He tries to get dealers to take the works though Strickland is uninterested in sell ing them. This character is the polar opposite of Strickland. He thinks only of others. If it werent for him, Strickland would have died. Yet he gets no respect. Hes other-directed in a world where the inner-directed rule. Yet hes a great judge of art. I cant help concluding that nearly every new style offers something, however turned off we may be initially. But I still prefer representational work to most advanced art. The Right TimeThere are some newss that walk into your life at an good time. Im talking about the books that send a pleasant shiver down your spine laden with Man, this is meant to be as you flip through its pages cursorily. Or those that upon completion, demand an exclamation from every book- information fibre of your body to the effect of There couldnt have been a better time for me to have read this book Now, I come from deferred-gratification stock. So books like these, you dont read immediately,. You let them sit there on your table for a while. You bask i n the fond(p) expectant glow of a life-altering read.You glance at the book as you make your way to office, take pleasure in the fact that itll be right there on your table when you open the front-door wearily, waiting to be opened, caressed, reveled in. And when that moment of reckoning arrives, you dont stop, you plunge yourself straight into the book, white-hot passionate. The Moon and Sixpence was just that kind of a book for me. I had just spotless (and thoroughly enjoyed) a course on Modern Art in college and could rattle off the names of Impressionist painters faster than I could the Indian cricket team.I was particularly intrigued by Paul Gauguin, a French Post-Impressionist painter, after reading one of his disturbingly direct quotes. Civilization is what makes me sick, he proclaimed, and huddled off to Tahiti to escape Europe and all that is artificial and conventional, leaving behind a wife and five children to fend for themselves, never to make contact with them again. This struck me as the ultimate expression of individuality, a resounding slap to the judgmental face of conservative society, an escapist act of repugnant selfishness that could only be justified by immeasurable artistic talent, genius, some may call it.My imagination was tickled beyond measure and when I discovered there was a novel by W. Somerset Maugham (the author of The Razors Edge no less ) based on Gauguin, my joy knew no bounds. I was in the correct frame of mind to read about the life of a stockbroker who gave up on the trivial pleasures of bourgeois life for the penury and hard life of an aspiring painter without considering him ridiculous or vain. Supplied with the appropriate proportions of awe that is referable to a genius protagonist, I began reading the book. I have to admit I expected a whole lot from it.I had a voyeuristic curiosity to delve into the head of a certified genius. I was even more curious to see how Maugham had put to death it. At the same time, I wa s hoping that the book would raise and answer important questions concerning the nature of art and about what drives an artist to madness and greatness. The Book The books gentle is taken from a review of Of Human Bondage in which the novels protagonist, Philip Carey, is describe asso engage yearning for the moon that he never saw the sixpence at his feet. I respectd Maughams narrative voice.In his unreproducible style, he flits in and out of the characters life as the stolid, immovable writer who is a mere observer, and nothing more. His narrator defies Heisenbergs uncertainty principle as in observing his characters, he doesnt change their lives or nature one bit. He has a mild disdain for the ordinary life of a householder and relishes his independence. I pictured their lives, troubled by no stubborn adventure, honest, decent, and, by reason of these two upstanding, pleasant children, so obviously apprenticed to carry on the normal traditions of their race and station, not without significance.They would grow old insensibly they would see their son and d niler come to years of reason, link in due course the one a peretty girl, future gravel of healthy children the other a handsome, manly fellow, obviously a pass and at last, prosperous in their dignified retirement, beloved by their descendants, after a happy, not unuseful life, in the fullness of their age they would sink into the grave. That must be the story of innumerable couples, and the patter of life it offers has a homelike grace.It reminds you of a placid rivulet, meandering smoothly through green pastures and shaded by pleasant trees, till at last it falls into the vasty sea but the sea is so calm, so silent, so indifferent, that you are troubled suddenly by a vague uneasiness. Perhaps it is only a cut in my nature, strong in me even in those days, that I tangle in such an existence, the share of the great majority, something amiss. I recognized its social value. I saw its ordered ha ppiness, but a fever in my blood asked for a wilder course. There seemed to me something alarming in such easy delights.In my heart was a desire to live more dangerously. I was not unprepared for jagged rocks and treacherous shoals if I could only have change change and the excitement of the unforeseen. In Maughams hands, Gauguin becomes Charles Strickland, an unassuming British stockbroker, with a secret unquenchable lust for beauty that he is willing to take to the end of the world, first to Paris and then to remote Tahiti. He is cold, selfish and uncompromising in this quest for beauty. The passion that held Strickland was a passion to create beauty. It gave him no peace. It urged him hither and thither.He was eternally a pilgrim, haunted by a divine nostalgia, and the demon within him was ruthless. There are men whose desire for truth is so great that to attain it they will shatter the very foundation of their world. Of such was Strickland, only beauty with him took the place of truth. I could only feel for him a profound compassion. However words such as these serve to romanticize Stricklands actions which at first glance, remain despicable. (view spoiler)Maugham paints him as a rogue loner, an unfathomable apparition, compelled to inhuman acts by the divine tyranny of art. He lived more poorly than an artisan. He worked harder. He cared nothing for those things which with most people make life gracious and beautiful. He was indifferent to money. He cared nothing about fame. You cannot praise him because he resisted the temptation to make any of those compromises with the world which most of us yield to. He had no such temptation. It never entered his head that compromise was possible. He lived in Paris more lonesome than an anchorite in the deserts of Thebes. He asked nothing from his fellows except that they should leave him alone.He was single-hearted in his aim, and to pursue it he was willing to sacrifice not only himself many can do that but o thers. He had a vision. Strickland was an atrocious man, but I still think he was a great one. In these beautiful words he describes Stricklands strange homelessness and suggests a reason for his subsequent escape to Tahiti. I have an idea that some men are born out of their due place. Accident has cast them amid strange surroundings, but they have always a nostalgia for a home they know not.They are strangers in their birthplace, and the leafy lanes they have known from childhood or the populous streets in which they have played, remain but a place of passage. They may spend their whole lives aliens among their kindred and remain aloof among the only scenes they have ever known. Perhaps it is this sense of strangeness that sends men far and wide in the search for something permanent, to which they may attach themselves. Perhaps some deep-rooted atavism urges the wanderer back to lands which his ancestors left in the dim beginnings of history. Sometimes a man hits upon a place to which he enigmatically feels he belongs.Here is the home he sought, and he will settle amid scnes that he has never seen before, among men he has never known, as though they were old(prenominal) to him from his birth. Here at last he finds rest. By the end of the book, Maughams narrator somewhat loses his grip over the contributor and I could picture him in my mind floundering around the island of Tahiti, interviewing the people who came in contact with Strickland, trying to piece together a story. He finds himself in the position of the biologist, who has to figure out from a bone, not only a creatures body, but also its habits. The reader is promised the ineffable, a study of genius and is only delivered an admission of its elusive nature. too the tone of the novel tends to get slightly misogynistic in places. But I suppose that is more a failing of the protagonist rather than the author. As compensation, Maugham offers delicious crisp cookies of wisdom throughout. In simple lyrical language, he penetrates to the core of the human condition and offers invaluable advice to the aspiring writer, the hopeful caramel and the wannabe genius.For its unpretentious, sympathetic and humane portrayal of a deeply blemished protagonist, its quotable quotes and its ironic humour, this book shall rank as my one of my popular books on the life and development of an artist in search of the unknowable. My ensure Maugham I strongly believe that the adjectives one throws around are a barometer of ones sensitivity or at the minimum, ones desire to be accurate. Both of these qualities are indispensable to the aspiring writer because honestly, what is there to writing exceptfresh verbs, evocative adjectives, searing veracity and an unbounded imagination.Also, that its easier said than done. In this context, there are moments when I feel utterly stupid and unimaginative. My inner monologues resemble the chatter of teenage girls in their lack of content and use of worn-out adjectives. I mean, awesome and amazing, like seriously? Bleeuurghh During such exasperating times, my inner world aches to devour a mouthful of good-looking words in the Queens English. I head to my inhuman book-closet and roughly displace its contents until I find a book either by one of the barons of British literature, a W. Somerset Maugham/PG Wodehouse or a laid-back satire along the lines of Yes Minister.The book usually serves its purpose admirably. It manages to extract me from my predicament by either making me split my sides express mirth or by drowning me in a stream of sentences so beautifully constructed that I completely forget my insecurities and start shaking my head ponderously at the writers virtuosity instead. Coming to the topic of the writer himself, W. Somerset Maugham is one of my darling writers in the English language. Being an aspiring writer whos yet to find his voice myself, his novels never fail to stab me with a hopeful optimism. My previous(p) belie f, that I can write well, is reinforced when I read Maugham.He never intimidates me or bores me, commonplace sins many writers will have to go to exculpation for. While reading his prose, he possesses the singular ability of making the difficult art of writing seem pretty doable. This, Ive realized with the passing of time, is due to one simple reason. It is because W. Somerset Maugham never shows off never Never does he ramble pointlessly. Never does he merely graze the point instead of hitting it fair and square because he was too busy fooling around with the language. Never He hits bulls eye with eloquence and a kind of frugal, flowing lyricism.There is always a single-minded purpose behind his writings. It is to spin a mighty good yarn by acquiring the point across without making his readers consult a dictionary. He even propounds profundity in a manner that typically makes me re-read the paragraph(and underline it) to admire the economy and ease with which the thought was expr essed in words. I find the writing styles of Hemingway and Maugham similar in form, but while Hemingways writing is rigorous to the point of being skeletal, Maugham clothes his words until they can be considered reasonably pretty.For his remarkable abilities, Maughams opinions about his own writing were always modest. He believed he stoodin the very first row of the second-raters. Asked about his method of writing, he simplified it to a matter of keen observation and honest reproduction. Most people cannot see anything,he once said,but I can see what is in front of my nose with extreme clearness the great writers can see through a brick wall. My vision is not so penetrating. My favourite excerpts Advice to aspiring writers I forget who it was that recommended men for their souls good to do each day two things they disliked it was a wise man, and it is a precept that I have followed scrupulously for every day I have got up and I have gone to bed. But there is in my nature a strai n of asceticism, and I have subjected my pulp each week to a more severe mortification. I have never failed to read the Literary Supplement of The Times. It is a salutary condition to consider the vast number of books that are written, the fair hopes with which their authors see them published, and the mountain which awaits them.What chance is there that any book will make its way among that multitude? And the successful books are but the successes of a season. Heaven knows what perseverance the author has been at, what bitter experiences he has endured and what heartache suffered, to give some chance reader a few hours relaxation or to while away the tedium of a journey. And if I may judge from the reviews, many of these book are well and carefully written much thought has gone to their composition to some even has been given the anxious labour of a lifetime.The moral I draw is that the writer should seek his reward in the pleasure of his work and in release from the burden of his thoughts and indifferent to aught else, care nothing for praise or censure, failure or success. Until long habit has blunted the sensibility, there is something disconcerting to the writer in the full which causes him to take an interest in the singularities of human nature so riveting that his moral sense is powerless against it.He recognizes in himself an artistic satisfaction in the contemplation of evil which a little startles him but sincerity forces him to acknowledge that the disapproval he feels for certain actions is not nearly so strong as his curiosity in their reasons. The writer is more concerned to know than to judge. On the ironic humour of life Dirk Stroeve was one of those unlucky persons whose most sincere emotions are ridiculous. On the nature of art Why should you think that beauty, which is the most precious thing in the world, lies like a stone on the beach for the careless passer-by to pick up idly?Beauty is something wonderful and strange that the a rtist fashions out of the chaos of the world in the torment of his soul. And when he has made it, it is not given to all to know it. To recognize it you must repeat the adventure of the artist. It is a melody he sings to you, and to hear it again in your own heart you want knowledge and sensitiveness and imagination. B? kh? n kh? ? nha c? a chu c? a minh va ? tru? ng, chang trai Maugham b? t d? u phat tri? n m? t cai tai kheo dua ra nh? ng nh? n xet gay t? n thuong cho nh? ng ngu? i ma c? u khong ua. Cai tai nay doi khi du? c ph? n anh trong cac nhan v? t van h? c c? a Maugham