The Moon and Sixpence (Vintage International) (Dover Value Editions) (The collected edition of the works of W. Somerset Maugham)

by W Somerset Maugham

Based on the life of Paul Gauguin, this “witty, compelling” novel (The Boston Globe) by the internationally acclaimed author of The Razor’s Edge is a dazzling ode to the powerful forces behind creative genius.

Charles Strickland is a staid banker, a man of wealth and privilege.  He is also a man possessed of an unquenchable desire to create art.  As Strickland pursues his artistic vision, he leaves London for Paris and Tahiti, and in his quest makes sacrifices that leave the lives of those closest to him in tatters.  Through Maugham's sympathetic eye Strickland's tortured and cruel soul becomes a symbol of the blessing and the curse of transcendent artistic genius, and the cost in human lives it sometimes demands.

• ISBN10: 0375724567
• ISBN13: 9780375724565
• Publish Date: 9 May 2000 (first published 1 January 1970)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Vintage Books
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 288
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780375724565

Reviews

[jamiereadthis]

Someone would have had to physically pry this book out of my clutches last night to get me to eat dinner. Finished it in five hours flat without intending anything of the sort. I couldn’t put it down. I know I say this a lot but Maugham, goddamn.

“But who can fathom the subtleties of the human heart? Certainly not those who expect from it only decorous sentiments and normal emotions.”

And this:

I remember saying to him: “Look here, if everyone acted like you, the world couldn’t go on.”

“That’s a damned silly thing to say. Everyone doesn’t want to act like me. The great majority are perfectly content to do the ordinary thing.”

And once I sought to be satirical.

“You evidently don’t believe in the maxim: Act so that every one of your actions is capable of being made into a universal rule.”

“I never heard it before, but it’s rotten nonsense.”

“Well, it was Kant who said it.”

“I don’t care; it’s rotten nonsense.”