Moon and Sixpence
As a fictionalized account of the tumultuous career of Paul Gauguin, W. Somerset Maugham's classic story captured the hearts of a generation. First published in 1919, it provided just the exotic antidote a war-weary world desired. At first, Charles Strickland's life was unremarkable. A stock broker in London, he dwelled quietly with his wife and two children. All who knew him described him as “very dull.” How shocking it was, then, when he abandoned this respectable identity to wander the world, make a home in Tahiti, and become an unconventional artist who captured passionate images of primitive life. Soon after the publication of The Moon and Sixpence, hordes of young men fell prey to the dreams and wanderlust of its hero. They, too, would leave comfortable middle-class lives for the lure of far off, exotic lands
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| Subject |
| Fiction. |
| Genre |
| Electronic books. |
- ISBN: 9781470399979 (electronic bk.)
- Physical Description 1 online resource : multiple file formats.
- Publisher Salt Lake City : Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, 1995.
Content descriptions
| General Note: | Records generated from Project Gutenberg RDF data. |
| Additional Physical Form available Note: | Downloadable applications available for access via iOS 4.0+ devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) and Android 2.1+ devices. |
| Terms Governing Use and Reproduction Note: | Applicable license: http://www.gutenberg.org/license |
| Source of Description Note: | Title from resource description page (Recorded Books, viewed August 16, 2013). |
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Library Journal Review
The Moon and Sixpence
Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
W. Somerset Maugham's short stories are his most highly regarded work, and the structure of The Moon and Sixpence reveals his preference for episodes and anecdotes. Partly inspired by the life of Gauguin and partly by Maugham's own life, the novel depicts a great artist as a driven, surly outcast, literally a leper. The characters are essentially one-dimensional and some stereotypes are quaint at best, but Maugham's sophisticated voice, spiked with barbed philosophical insights, remains amusing. Reader Neil Hunt does a good job voicing each character. The 1919 best seller may have a nostalgic appeal for older audiences, but most collections can safely give it a miss.ÂMichael Barrett, San Antonio P.L. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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