The Moon and Sixpence

W. Somerset Maugham

Language: English

Publisher: Penguin

Published: Dec 31, 1918

Description:

Based on the life of Paul Gauguin, The Moon and Sixpence  is W. Somerset Maugham's 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. **

Review

"[A] witty, compelling roman à clef...that mock[s] the way the world makes saints of the sinners who are often its best artists."  - The Boston Globe

"It is very difficult for a writer of my generation, if he is honest, to pretend indifference to the work of Somerset Maugham.... He was always so entirely there."  -Gore Vidal

From the Trade Paperback edition.

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