The Moon and Sixpence - Softcover

Maugham, W. Somerset

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1484917979 ISBN 13: 9781484917978

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013

Synopsis

In the “The Moon and Sixpence”, Somerset Maugham narrates the story of Charles Strickland, a well off London stock broker who abandons his wife and children in midlife to become a painter. Strickland is convinced that he must paint, despite the fact that he has never done so. Inspired by the life of Paul Gauguin, Maugham’s characterization of Strickland reveals that the pursuit of his personal artistic vision is not without considerable sacrifice and the callousness of his character often falls under question. Told in Maugham’s absorbing story telling style, the novel gains depth and complexity in revealing the narrator’s struggle to appreciate Strickland’s genuine artistic expression in view of his often incomprehensible behavior.

About this title

From the Publisher:

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From the Back Cover:

This is the story of an artist who was willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of art. In much of its general outline, this famous novel follows the life of Paul Gauguin, famous French post-impressionist painter, but it is not a novelized biography of Gauguin. Rather it is a sharply delineated, carefully wrought "private life", written by one of the most vivid and penetrating contemporary literary masters.

Charles Strickland, the central character, was a stock broker in London. One day, at the age of forty, he left his business, his wife and their children and went to Paris. He had neither money nor prospects. He knew almost nothing of art. But he was seized with a passion to paint and for the rest of his life nothing else mattered to him. He gave up everything to which he had been accustomed for extreme poverty, social ostracism and the freedom to paint. When he finally died of leprosy in Tahiti, where he had gone native, the few paintings which turned up for sale brought only six to ten francs apiece. But he had achieved his desire to create beauty and with the years, the world fully recognized his blazing genius.

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1484917979
• ISBN 13: 9781484917978
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 206