W. Somerset Maugham: The Moon and Sixpence

Table of Contents

The Moon and Sixpence: All artists should read this book. It is a fictionalization of the life of post-impressionist artist Paul Gaugin. The main character is sent on a mission to find the remiss husband of a friend. Once he finds this man, Charles Strickland, he is unable to make him come back to his wife in England. Charles has left his life of relative ease to become an artist - and not a very good one, according to some. How do you reason with a man who doesn't care what anyone thinks of him? How do you persuade him to do what society tells him he must do? Most importantly, how do you prevent yourself from being corrupted by him - and should you? (Fiction, 1919, 241 pages)