The Moon and Sixpence (Dover Thrift Editions)
by W. Somerset Maugham
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Book Summary Information
Author: W. Somerset MaughamEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-01-20
ISBN: 0486446026
Number of pages: 176
Publisher: Dover Publications
Book Reviews of The Moon and Sixpence (Dover Thrift Editions)
Book Review: The Artist as Stereotype
Summary: 4 Stars
There is a common stereotype in the arts of the artist as somehow divorced from the realities of life. Such an artist is misogynistic, hermetic, dispassionate, and generally unable to relate to his fellow man even as he creates monuments of art that suggest otherwise. In THE MOON AND SIXPENCE, Somerset Maugham tells the tale of Charles Strickland, an Englishman, who at age forty seems thoroughly conventional and unremarkable. He is a stockbroker, married, with two children, and reasonably affluent. Then one day, out of the blue, he tells his wife that he is leaving her. He gives no reason and off he goes. His wife is sure there is another woman who has twisted his reason, so she asks the narrator to hunt her husband down and demand the truth. This the narrator does. Strickland tells him that there is no woman. Instead, he left his wife to be free to paint. The narrator is astounded and he cannot believe that any rational man would use painting as a pretext for the end of a marriage. Most readers comment on the surface callousness of Strickland, a man who shows no concern for the fate of his family. Indeed, Strickland goes to great lengths to articulate this lack of concern, the result of which is to convince both narrator and reader that Strickland is worse than a cad and a bounder. The reality is less prosaic. Strickland is neither. Maugham has created a two dimensional portrait of a walking cliche. If such a person like Strickland has ever trod the earth and left his family in dire straits for the reason given, then he is surely the only one to have done so. Maugham was careful to portray a man who was clearly callous, insensitive, and totally self-centered, but evil? Certainly not. Strickland is a man consumed with a Vision. Everything else in life, including his own, is subservient to his goal of creating beauty from the sordidness of the world. It does not even matter to him if no one else sees his paintings. He sees them, and that is all that matters. Other readers view the book in the context of sociology. Does Strickland violate the implied social contract that mature men establish between themselves and family and friends? If any contract exists, it is of the internal sort, between one who works to live and one who lives to work. In the former case, Strickland often cares not a fig about keeping his body together. In the latter, his life has no meaning except to sanctify his work. There is at least one other character in the novel who can see this even if the narrator cannot. Dirk Stroeve, an expatriat Englishman, is a total fool and incompetent in life. He dabbles in painting all the while realizing that he has no talent with brush or easel. He opens his door to welcome a homeless Strickland, who promptly repays him by carrying on an affair with Dirk's wife. But even after this, Dirk cannot hold a grudge for he recognizes that Strickland's genius transcends such mere mortal foilbles as jealousy. If Strickland is willing to lay his life on the line for his art, then clods like Dirk must be willing to do no less. Later in the novel, a world full of art lovers slowly realize that genius is a gift from the gods that demands that the artist-genius must pay a high price for a fame that is as often rejected as sought. In THE MOON AND SIXPENCE, Maugham allows his readers to glimpse that behind the mask of genius lies a soul in torment that does not even recognize that it is in torment. This, then, is the paradox of the book.
Summary of The Moon and Sixpence (Dover Thrift Editions)
An uncompromising and self-destructive young man deserts his wife, family, business, and civilization for his art. Shedding harsh light on an artist's ego, Maugham reveals the lengths to which one man will go to focus on his art. Written in 1919, this unforgettable story is timeless in its appeal.
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