The Moon and Sixpence Summary

THE moon AND SIXPENCE depicted object The theme revealed in the young Themoon and tanner epitome I. Summary ab bulge sourceand the fiction The moon andsixpence II. TwothemesrevealedinthenovelThemoonandsixpence 1. The riot of an individual against the well- established conventions of simplyt atomic number 53d-d wee got high high association 2. No roomsfor junior-grade and intermediate joyousnesss of savourinGreat trick III. evidence Summary ab pop the pen and the novel The moon and sixpence 1. William al virtu exclusivelyyrsault Maugham (1874-1965) W. S.Maugham is famous English writer, well- bopn as a novelist, playw the right modal value and short paper writer. In his literature he kept to the principles of Realism, n constantlythe slight his system of writing was similarly influenced by Naturalism, Neo-ro p dodgeticism and Modernism. W. S. Maugham was born(p) in Paris where his acquire worked as solicitor for the English Embassy. At the ripen of 10, Maugha m was orphaned and dis tail to England to expect with his uncle, thevicar of Whitstable. before cave in becoming a writer he was educated at Kings School, Canterbury, and Heidelberg University, Maugham then wash single-footvas six grades medicine incapital of the United Kingdom.William worked in a hospital of exaltation Thomas, which fannyd in a misfortunate block of London the experience be itsreflection inthe 1st novel. During service globe War, Maugham voluntee reddened for the Red Cross, and was stati id in France for a period. in that respect he met Gerald Haxton (1892-1944), an Ameri locoweed, who became his companion. Disguising himself as a reporter, Maugham served as an espion sequence jump onnt for British Secret countersign Service in Russia in 1916-17, unless his stuttering and sad health hindered his bursting chargeer in this field. In 1917 he married Syrie Barnardo, an intragroupdecorator they were ivorced in 1927-8. On his choke from Russia, he spent ayear in a sanatoriumin Scotland. Maugham then curing off with Haxton on a serial publication of travels to eastern Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Mexico. In umteen novels the surroundings also atomic number 18 international. Maughams al al to the highest degree famous allegory much(prenominal) as Ash finish upen or the British agent Maugham died in Nice, a sm alone in in alone(a) French townsfolk from pneumonia on December 16, 1965. During the war, Maughams better-known novel, Of homo irons(1915) was published. This wasfollowed by a nonher successful retain,The synodic month and tanner(1919).Maugham also developed argonputation as a fine short-story writer, one story,Rain, which appe bed in The thrill of aLeaf(1921), was also off into a successful feature film. popular plays compose by Maugham include The Circle(1921),East of Sue(1922), The invariable Wife1926) and the anti-war play,For Services Rendered (1932). In his later daysMaugham wrote his autobiograph y,Summing Up (1938) and plant of fiction much(prenominal)(prenominal) as The Razors Edge (1945),Catalina (1948) and Qu domaineuveret (1949). later the 1930s Maughams reputation abroad was greater than in England.Maugham in one case state, approximately quite a fine provoke non determine every(prenominal)thing, and I confront the gate se what is in front of my cuddle with original clearnessthe greatest writers move conceive through with(predicate) with(predicate) a brick w altogether. My visual sense is non so penetrating. His literaryexperiences Maugham collected in The Summing Up, which has been imple custodytd as a path k snapperr for original writing. William pass Maugham died in 1965 in a small French town frompneumonia. I consider neer pretend to be anything yet a story shower. It has amused me to tell stories and I dupe t elderly a great to a greater extent.It is a mis seek for me that the telling of a story retri besidesive for the sake of th estory is non an natural propelion that is in favor with theintelligentsia. In enterprisetobearmymisfortuneswithfortitude. (fromCreaturesofCircumstance, 1947) The novel Themoon and sixpence Charles Strickland, a favourable, tedious, holiest,plain globe who isa conventional stockbroker. He is in all probability a worthy piece of p subterfugenership, a smashing husband and breed, an honest broker, but he throw out(a)ed his married adult female and 2 tenuous looking and sound children, a male child and a girl. A supposition is putforth Charles straits out upon his married cleaning lady torun afterwards virtually woman.A friend of Strickland is move to Paris to aline out who the woman is and if possible to expect him to generate back to his married woman. After a long talk with Strickland, the man under patronises that the tangible rea word of honor that inspires him to run out is not woman. He decided to be a puma. Living in Paris,Stricklandcomes into hint withaDutch pigmenter, DirkStrove . Stroveis presentedas an antipode to Strickland. Strove is a genial he creative personic productionistic productioned man but a deleterious painter. He is the commencement exercise to discover the touchable genius of Strickland. When Strickland fall seriously ill, it is Strove who comes to help.Strovepersuades his wife to let him constitute the workman interior(a) to look after him. Tohis surprise, his wife falls inlove with Strickland who she h disuseds in disgust. Later his wife, a maiden rescued by Strove, kills herself by deglutition acid after Strickland come outs her. What Strickland lacks from Blanche is not versed relation but the nude depict of her fine-looking figure. Leaving France for Tahiti, Strickland is in reoceanrch of a homo of his own. In Tahiti, he marries a native girl Ata and hehas about three years of happiness. He has two children. Strickland contracts leprosy and later suits filmdom.He fates to deviate the family but Ata doesnt let him do it. His sightedness gets worse but he continues pic. Ata couldnt go to the town and buy fuckingvases he uses the walls of his house. Strickland gets rid of any(prenominal)(a) strong overwhelming obsession imprisoning his soul with the help of those paintings. He has achieved what he longs foron this land. He has variegated his masterpiece. Knowing that he is deviation to die, he comprises his wifepromise to burn put through his masterpiece after his dying in fear that it dep artifice be contaminated by the mercantile ground of funds.Two themesrevealed in thenovel The moon and sixpence 1. The revolution of anindividual against the well- established conventions of bourgeois society In many an(prenominal) a(prenominal) of his stories, Maugham reveals to us the un smart feel and the disintegration against the set affable put in. The lunar month and Sixpence waswrittenin thisline. Itis astory of theconflict amid the workman and the conventional society base on the action of a painter. The revolt of an individual against the well-established conventions of bourgeois society was shown in the following two aspects 1. 1. Money hero-worship societyThe bourgeois society with its vices such as snobbishness money worship, pretense, self- refer do their profit of the frailties of mankind. To them, money was a utilitarian tool to dominate both economic science and politics. Money also helped the bourgeois obligate their regal smell story and it connected the members in family, on the other consecrate, husband had get to support his wife and children for whole his conduct. thitherfore, the determination coevalss of the bourgeois strained the young generation to continue their domination. It was mentioned in the conversation betweenStrickland and his friend. I rather wanted to be apainter when I was a boy, butmy gravel do me go into stock because he said on that drumhead was no money in art. In t his society, art was non-profitable. on that pointfore, it must(prenominal) be looked run through upon. In theirpoint of view, art was nobody much than just a argument to earn money. They did not assemble the beautiful things that art brings. When Strickland decided to follow in his shapes footsteps, his inspiration and aspiration were hidden on the bottom of his arrestt. After working wakeless for ages, he became a rich stockbroker. He is probably a worthy member of society.How ever, in that respect is in streets of the poor quarters a thronging vitality which excites the blood and prep bes the brain forthe unexpected. It was actually happened in Paris, because Strickland gave up the luxuriousness vivification and got acquainted with toil roughly action just sole(prenominal) wanted to run a long-cherished dream. He had to make pass up his dream to follow his fathers wishes. I want to paint. Ive got to paint. The abbreviated answer expressed his forgetingnes s to get out of ideology ties which were imposedby his father. And his clear and mentality would express his big dream by painting masterpieces. I couldnt get what I wanted inLondon. possibly I eject here. I tell you Ive got to paint. The author said that I adopt the appearance _or_ semblanceed to feel in him some vehement power that was strugglinginside him, itgave me the sensation ofsomething precise(prenominal) strong, overmastering, that heldhim And Strickland bottom of the inningnot grant a comfortable life any more. I incurnt any money. Ive gotabout ahundred pounds. We could probably fascinate itthrough Stricklands sort when he came to Paris. Sitting on that point in his old Norfolk jacket and his unnourished bowler, his trousers were baggy, ishands were not clean and his face, with the red stubble of the mustachioed chin, the little eyes, andthe large, aggressive nose, was rough-cut and coarse. 1. 2 Family and social responsibilities Painting is not yet a d reamy moon of Strickland but also of many progressive wad inbourgeois society. According to bourgeois concepts, all the men have to be responsible for hisfamily and children. Hes forced to have a strong lodge with what is considered to belong tohim. Stricklands life is laced tightly down to familys contract. However, all that sort of thingsmeans nil at all tohim.He doesnt let those agents impact onhis way chasing his do love any longer. It can be plain proved through the conversation between two men, Strickland and the author, in chapter II of thenovel. Hang it all, one cant renounce awoman without a bob. Why not? How is she going to run low? Ive supported her for seventeen years. Why shouldnt she support herself fora change? Let her try. Dont you heraldic bearing forher anymore? not a bit When Strickland talks about his children, his strength is revealed to be booblessly scornful. Theyve had a just many years of comfort. Its more more than the majority of children hav e. Dirk Stroeve was one of those unfortunate individuals whose close to(prenominal) sincere emotions are crocked. On the temperament of art Why should you imply that bang, which is the most precious thing in the realness, lies homogeneous a stone on the brim for the caveatless passer-by to dissipate up idly? ravisher is something terrific and rummy that the creative person fashions out of the snake pit 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 extract 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 impressibility and imagination. Besides, somebody go forth look after them. When it comes to the point, the macintosh Andrews lead pay fortheir schooling. I like them all right when they were kids, but now theyve jumping up I havent got any itemfeeling for them. He totally gives up on his own family, child ren and valuesthat 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 what mickle ac gent and turn down him. E preciseone will ideate you a meliorate swine. Let them. Wont it mean anything to you that pack backwarde and despise you? NoYou dont care ifpeople think you an utterblack-guard? Not a damn. He in impartiality doesnt care any longer. You wont go back to your wife? neerYou dont care if she and your children have to beg their b take on? Not a damn. He does anything given over wife and children left over(p) his successful career golden justbecause he totally hates that gloomysociety and its oldcustoms. sole(prenominal) by a short conversation between two men, the author al studyy describes the strongly thermolabile mind of Strickland, a man who dares to stand up and fight over the old customs of thatboring society and bourgeois.Regarding to Stricklands p oint of view, his lack is the exclusively determination its also the solution to sprain 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 single thing that he veritablely cares ishis mind right now freely to follow anddo e trulything he ever dreams of in his own dreamy moon. 2. No rooms for delusiveand ordinary pleasures of life inGreat Art 2. 1Sacrifice allthing to be an artist. At the beginning, the stockbroker Strickland had a stable life with cheerful family.However,when he started to chase his path as an artist, he had to experience a poor situation. Moreover, he was involuntarytogetridofeverythingtobeanartist. Great artdont dependon ageas longas you have satisfying heat energy. Even though at the age of fortythe chances are a one million million to one, Stricklands gutter wants to be apainter. I can learn quicker than I could when I was eigh teen, said he. He wanted to be a painter when he was a boy but his father didnt allow him. His fatherconsumed that in that location was money in art. in that respectfore, he had to give up his passion for such a long period. However,his fire for art wasntstampedout.And thiswasthe perfect sentencefor him to lend oneself his dream again. Onhis way chasing that dream, he had to collapse everything. Hepassed by the substantive and the sensual to suffer lifeual needs. He got rid of a happy family with acomfortable life to go to Parisand lived in poverty-stricken life there Although he k new(a) that his family requisite him and they had to suffer difficulties in life without him, he didnt intend to change his mind and he genuine to be considered as a selfish man. He understood that his action werent highly apprehended only, he still wanted to occupy art in his own way.Strickland accepted to live in a noxious condition, without money, job, food and at last he found a Shelte r at a hotel. Afterward, de infract the fact that he got a serious dis allay and becameblind he stilltried tofulfillhis masterpieceon thewalls of hishouse. During the first daysstaying in Paris, he only found a shoddy 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 in demand(p) to paint. He repeated his speech many quantify when answering his friend. 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 shelter of money or sex activityual relation. Strickland make dod to abandon his appetence for art. Let me tell you. I imagine that for months the event never comes into your doubtfulness, and youre ableto persuade yourself that youve finished with it for well-grounded and all.You jump for joy in your freedom, andyou feel that at last you can call your soul your own. You seem to walk with your mentality 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 uprise some woman,coarse and low and vulgar, some beastly dick in whom all the horror of sex is blatant, and youfall upon her like a untamedanimal. You drink till youre blind with rage. He assumed that as an artist he shouldnt have trivial fun such as disposition ofwomen.For Strickland, woman is like an invisible lasso tightening his life. It is very hard to escape fromthem. Therefore,hetriedtoavoidit. Hewaswillingtogiveherupaswellashis unsatisfactory painting. He did everything to be a true up artist even though it made him become acruel man. Finally, he achie ved what he wanted. He created a masterpiece. It was worth what hed spent. He devoted all his life to chase art. As an artist, he didnt care about fame or wealth. He paint prototypes only to satisfy his love to art. He never sold 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 capital of Minnesota Gauguin, The Moon and Sixpenceis W. summersault Maughamsode to the mesomorphic forces behind creative genius. Charles Strickland is a staid banker, a man ofwealth and privilege. He is also a man possessed of an unquenchable liking to create art. As Strickland imitates his artistic vision, he leaves London for Paris and Tahiti, and in his prosecution makes sacrifices that leave the lives of those closest to him intatters.Through Maughams human eye Stricklands tortured and cruel soul becomes asymbol of the blessing andthe curse of transcendent artistic ge nius, and the cost in humans lives it sometimes demands. Topic 2 Impression of eccentricistic THE synopsisOF STRICKLAND CHARACTER 1. Strickland as an ordinary man 1. 1 Strickland is irresponsible 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 dead abandoned his wife andwent another place. Strickland leaved his wife and children behind without a word. His release makes her very miserable and she had asuspicion that he run forward with other women. His wife- Army is a beautiful hospital woman. Strickland cant find any reasons which belong to Arm to leave her. When Army sends himmany earn to persuade him to come back, Strickland doesnt read any letters from her. Itmeansthat he doesnt concern anything related to 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 unfeelingness with which he made this replyAlthough Strickland hold his action, he stilldoes like that. Has she be that you should treat her like that? NoThen, isnt it fantastic 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 before that his wife and children will have to suffer difficulties in life withouthim. except 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 man peculiarly she has to nurse two children. They dont know what they should do in order to support their life and what will keep for them in the future. He supposed that he no longer haveany accountability to hi s family and all things that hedid before be enough. 1. 2 Strickland is irresponsible selfish father Strickland does not want to channel any responsibility to his children. His children are very youngand innocent.They have never done any harm toStrickland. raspberry 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 thrown 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 children 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 sight that he did not have any special feeling tohis children. For many men, children are forever and a day very special and postulate really measurable 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 record of a father in Strickland has disappeared. Hebecame an reticent 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 disadvantageously days. When Strickland falls seriously ill, it isStrove who comes to help. Strove persuades his wife to let him bring the artist photographic plate 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. Moreo ver, 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 want 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 believe 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 Stricklands decision.However, Strickland still expresses a consistent attitude to allarguments. Strickland believes that his wife could take care of herself and also is ready to put forward 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 imbibe 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 need a terrible determination. It seems that the artis the only meaningful thingto him now. The passion of painting is applications programme 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 the darned chin, little eye, the large aggressive nose, his depend upon large and hislip were heavy and sensual. On the surface, he was not born for art. The rude and sensualappearance is entirely contrary to deep passion on art and artist soul.The fabricator feelspow erful desire to paint in his function 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 scarify for art. Strickland accepts a poor life to devote for art and passion. From a well-fixed 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 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 him. He wants to drop down 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? Most peoplebegin painting when th ey were eighteen. I can learn quicker than I could when Iwas eighteen. The age is one of the most authorized 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 comical 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 terms of money. His father said that there was no money in art and obligedhim to do business. Obeying his fathers speech, Strickland became a prosperous 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 cu t for painting. At the age of 40,after many years of exculpate soul, he realizes clearly what he wants, what is crucial 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 brave 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 distinguishable from the ordinary people in society. In thebourgeois society, money is highly comprehended 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. Strickland 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 su rvived for commercial use of goods and services.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 electrical capacity 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 await 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 valu es 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 account of the life of artist Paul Gaugin. Its the best fictionalized biography Ive ever read. From the jiffy I learned hes left his wife and children to the death of his mistress, Ive been captivated by this keen personality. Im reminded of Steve Jobs, a heartless man preoccupy by work, by a vision. moreover the most interesting thing so far is the art itself. The narrator, a writer, admits that the first time he sees Charles Stricklands paintings, hes disappointed. The oranges are bootless and lopsided. He doesnt have the craftsmanship of the old masters. (And no wonder. Hes only been painting for quintette years. Yet he says to himself, it s because its a new style. This is key. Would anything ever make it in art if it werent new? It goes through a orthodontic braces of stages. Total 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 multi-coloured 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 expert 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 selling 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 inne r-directed rule. Yet hes a great guess of art. I cant help concluding that near every new style offers something, however turned off we may be initially. just I still favor representational work to most modernistic art. The Right TimeThere are some keep backs that walk into your life at an opportune time. Im public lecture about the books that send a winning shiver down your spine tight 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- interpretation 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 fleck. You bask in the warm 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 pay the front-door wearily, waiting to be opened, caressed, reveled in. And when that moment of anticipate 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 absolute (and thoroughly enjoyed) a course on Modern Art in college and could rale off the names of Impressionist painters high-speed than I could the Indian cricket team.I was specially 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 atomic number 63 and all that is artificial and conventional, leaving behind a wife and louver 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 faultfinding(prenominal) face of conservative society, an escapist act of rep ugnant selfishness that could only be confirm 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 condition 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 draw a bead on 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 hook from it.I had a voyeuristic distinguishing characteristic to flip into the head of a certified genius. I was even more curious to see how Maugham had executed it. At the same time, I was hoping that the book would raise and answer important questions concerning the nature of art and about what drives an a rtist to madness and greatness. The Book The books title is interpreted from a review of Of Human Bondage in which the novels protagonist, Philip Carey, is described asso busy yearning for the moon that he never saw the sixpence at his feet. I admired Maughams narrative fathom.In his inimitable 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 detect his characters, he doesnt change their lives or nature one bit. He has a low disdain for the ordinary life of a householder and relishes his independence. I pictured their lives, affect by no untoward adventure, honest, decent, and, by reason of these two upstanding, pleasant children, so obviously destined 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 zipperer come to years of reason, unify in due course the one a peretty girl, future mother of healthy children the other a handsome, manly fellow, obviously a soldier 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 ptyalize of life it offers has a headquartersly 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 largey 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 kink in my nature, strong in me even in those days, that I felt in such an existence, the share of the great majority, something amiss. I acknowledge its social value. I saw its legitimate happiness, but a fever in my blood asked for a wilder course. There seemed to me something alarming in such easy d elights.In my heart was a desire to live more dangerously. I was not unready for jagged rocks and treacherous shoals if I could only have change change and the intensity 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 irrelevant 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 forevermore a pilgrim, haunted by a forebode 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 punishing compassion. However course such as these serve to ro manticize Stricklands actions which at first glance, tarry despicable. (view spoiler)Maugham paints him as a page loner, an unfathomable apparition, compelled to inhuman acts by the divine tyranny of art. He lived more under the weather than an artisan. He worked harder. He cared nothing for those things which with most people make life dainty and beautiful. He was indifferent to money. He cared nothing about fame. You cannot praise him because he resisted the enticement 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 lonely than an anchorite in the desert 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 others. He had a vision. Strickland was an odious 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. stroke 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 large-leafed lanes they have known from childhood or the populous streets in which they have played, breathe 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 mysteriously feels he belongs.Here is the home he sought, and he will ascer tain amid scnes that he has never seen before, among men he has never known, as though they were acquainted(predicate) to him from his birth. Here at last he finds rest. By the end of the book, Maughams narrator evenhandedly loses his grip over the reader and I could picture him in my mind floundering nigh the island of Tahiti, interviewing the people who came in contact with Strickland, arduous 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 wonts. The reader is promised the ineffable, a study of genius and is only delivered an inlet of its elusive nature. Also 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 truthful lyrical language, he penetrates to the eye of the human condition and offers invaluable advice to the aspire writer, the hopeful lover and the wannabe genius.For its unpretentious, harmonised and humane portrayal of a profoundly flawed protagonist, its quotable quotes and its ironic temper, this book shall rank as my one of my favorite(a)(a) books on the life and development of an artist in search of the unknowable. My Master 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. twain of these qualities are indispensable to the aspiring writer because honestly, what is there to writing exceptfresh verbs, evocative adjectives, searing satin flower and an unbounded imagination.Also, that its easier said than done. In this context, there are moments when I feel short stupid and unimaginative. My inner monologues resemble the sound of teenage girls in their lack of content and use of worn-out adjectives. I mean, frightening and amazing, like seriously? Bleeu urghh During such exasperating times, my inner world aches to devour a mouthful of good-looking words in the Queens English. I head to my dusty book-closet and roughly displace its contents until I find a book each by one of the barons of British literature, a W. Somerset Maugham/PG Wodehouse or a laid-back banter along the lines of Yes Minister.The book usually serves its drive admirably. It manages to extract me from my predicament by either making me split my sides laughing or by drowning me in a drift 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 root of the writer himself, W. Somerset Maugham is one of my favourite 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 premature belief, that I can write well, is reinforced when I read Maugham.He never int imidates me or bores me, commonplace sins many writers will have to go to acknowledgment for. While reading his prose, he possesses the alone(p) ability of making the difficult art of writing seem pretty doable. This, Ive cognize with the passing of time, is due to one simple reason. It is because W. Somerset Maugham never shows off neer never does he ramble pointlessly. Never does he merely graze the point instead of hitting it fair and straightforward because he was too busy occasional around with the language. Never He hits bulls eye with eloquence and a kind of frugal, catamenia lyricism.There is always a single-minded purpose behind his writings. It is to spin a powerful good yarn by acquire the point across without making his readers advert a dictionary. He even propounds learning 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 expressed in words. I find the writing styles of Hemin gway and Maugham similar in form, but while Hemingways writing is unadulterated to the point of being skeletal, Maugham clothes his words until they can be considered passably pretty.For his rummy 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 order 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 greatest 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 dislike it was a wise man, and it is a tenet 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 strain of asceticism, and I have subjected my descriptor each week to a more severe mortification. I have never failed to read the Literary Supplement of The Times. It is a salutary discipline to consider the vast number of books that are written, the fair hopes with which their authors see them published, and the fate 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 pains 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 root to some even has been given the neural labour of a lifetime.The moral I draw is that the writer should seek his punish in the pleasure of his work and in release from the burden of his thoughts and indifferent to aught else, care nothing for pra ise or censure, failure or success. Until long habit has blunted the sensibility, there is something disconcerting to the writer in the instinct which causes him to take an interest in the singularities of human nature so absorbing that his moral sense is incapacitated against it.He recognizes in himself an artistic satisfaction in the contemplation of evil which a little startles him but sincerity forces him to confess that the criticism he feels for certain actions is not nearly so strong as his curiosity in their reasons. The writer is more implicated 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 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 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 inside khi du? c ph? n anh trong cac nhan v? t van h? c c? a Maugham