Stylistic analyses of English text. The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham

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Stylistic analyses of English text. The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham

Автор:                                 
Черноклинова Ольга Андреевна        
Класс:  10 «А»                        
школа: МОУ « Средняя                
общеобразовательная школа №2»
г. Кременки» Жуковский район        
Калужская область                        



Руководитель:                          
Бурмистрова Елена Валерьевна        
должность: преподаватель         иностранных языков                
место работы: МОУ « Средняя        
общеобразовательная школа №2»
г. Кременки» Жуковский район         Калужская область                        

г. Кременки
2012 г

Contents

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………3
2. About the book The Moon and Sixpence   by W. Somerset Maugham……………………….4
3. Stylistic analysis………………………………………………………………………………….5
4. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………11
5. Appendix………………………………………………………………………………………..12
6. List of literature………………………………………………………………………………...23

Introduction.

«The Moon and Sixpence» by Somerset Maugham. The choice of the novel is explained by its artistic dignity and sharpness of problems.

The aim of my work is to give stylistic analyses of English text, widening of lexical diapason and possibility of discussing problems of the novel, to find some words which can be famous quotes.

Complex of assignments has various aims:

• Working with dictionary
• Improves memory
• A good practice in translation
• Giving an opportunity to check up understanding of what we have read  

At a glance:

• First Published: 1919
• Type of Work: Novel
• Type of Plot: Biographical
• Time of Work: Late nineteenth, early twentieth centuries
• Setting: England, France, and Tahiti
• Genres: Long fiction, Biographical fiction, Novel
• Subjects: France or French people, Nineteenth century, England or English people, Adultery, Creative process, Ethics, Painting or painters, Leprosy, South Pacific, Pacific Ocean
• Locales: France, Europe, Paris, France, London, England, Marseilles, France, Tahiti, Central America and West Indies, United Kingdom

About the book The Moon and Sixpence   by W. Somerset Maugham

The Moon and Sixpence is a novel by W. Somerset Maugham, told in episodic form by the first-person narrator as a series of glimpses into the mind and soul of the central character, Charles Strickland, a middle-aged English stockbroker who abandons his wife and children abruptly to pursue his desire to become an artist. The story is said to be loosely based on the life of the painter Paul Gauguin.

The novel is written largely from the point of view of the narrator, who is first introduced to the character of Strickland through his (Strickland's) wife and strikes him (the narrator) as unremarkable. Certain chapters are entirely composed of the stories or narrations of others which the narrator himself is recalling from memory (selectively editing or elaborating on certain aspects of dialogue, particularly Strickland's, as Strickland is said by the narrator to be limited in his use of verbiage and tended to use gestures in his expression).

Strickland is a well-off, middle-class stockbroker in London sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. Early in the novel, he leaves his wife and children and goes to Paris, living a destitute but defiantly content life there as an artist (specifically a painter), lodging in run-down hotels and falling prey to both illness and hunger. Strickland, in his drive to express through his art what appears to continually possess and compel him inside, cares nothing for physical comfort and is generally indifferent to his surroundings, but is generously supported while in Paris by a commercially successful but hackneyed Dutch painter, Dirk Stroeve, a friend of the narrator's, who immediately recognizes Strickland's genius. After helping Strickland recover from a life-threatening condition, Stroeve is repaid by having his wife, Blanche, abandon him for Strickland. Strickland later discards the wife (all he really sought from Blanche was a model to paint, not serious companionship, and it is hinted in the novel's dialogue that he indicated this to her and she took the risk anyway), who then commits suicide - yet another human casualty (the first ones being his own established life and those of his wife and children) in Strickland's single-minded pursuit of Art and Beauty.

After the Paris episode, the story continues in Tahiti. Strickland has already died, and the narrator attempts to piece together his life there from the recollections of others. He finds that Strickland had taken up with a native woman, had two children by her (one of whom dies) and started painting profusely. We learn that Strickland had settled for a short while in the French port of Marseilles before traveling to Tahiti, where he lived for a few years before finally dying of leprosy. Strickland left behind numerous paintings, but his magnum opus, which he painted on the walls of his hut before losing his sight to leprosy, was burnt down after his death by his wife by his dying orders.

Stylistic analysis

The goal of improving the textual analysis of information access systems is a motivating factor for stylistic research. In addition, readers, authors, and information specialists of whatever persuasion are aware of stylistic variation. This provides us with the added philological motivation for research: that of understanding text, readers, and authors better. Style may be roughly defined as the “manner” in which something is expressed, as opposed to the “content” of a message. Stylistic variation depends on author preferences and competence, familiarity, genre, communicative context, expected characteristics of the intended audience and untold other factors, and it is expressed through subtle variation in frequencies of otherwise insignificant features of a text that, taken together, are understood as stylistic indicators by a particular reader community. Modeling, representing, and utilizing this variation is the business of stylistic analysis.

 The story under the title “The Moon and Sixpence” was written by famous English writer - W. Somerset Maugham.

         The extract under the discussion acquaints us with the protagonists – Captain Nichols and his wife and describes us the situation in this family. Reading the text we find out the main problem lying in the power of wife on her husband and complete obedience and silence of Captain Nichols. While reading on we realize he reconciled this fact and continues such an existence.

         Let’s turn to the general definition of the text under the study. First of all we should say it is told in the first person narrative and we constantly feel and see the presence of the author: “I am certain that…”, “I never heard her speak…” etc.

         Then we should note the narration is interlaced with descriptive passages and basically these exact passages present us full sketch of the characters.

         It is enough to have a look at the first sentence of the text. There we obtain the most significant characteristic of Captain Nichols. It is conveyed through a wonderful case of oxymoron, which is a feature of Maugham’s style: “married bachelor”. Indeed, it gives us the key image of the hero. The rest of his traits of character such as fear of wife, submission, inactivity are just included in his portrayal.

        What concerns his wife, while describing her the author twice used intensifiers, which demonstrate she wasn’t a usual “bird”: “She gave me an impression of extraordinary tightness”, “Captain Nichols was frightened to death of her”. The following sentence depicts her nature at full rate: “Her plain face with its narrow lips was tight, her skin was stretched tightly over her bones, her smile was tight, her hair was tight, her clothes were tight…” The case of parallel construction together with the repetition of the word “tight” proves that Maugham attempted to underline this feature of hers.

         Besides, a very specific and even philosophic metaphor applied by the author also illustrates her world: “inexorable as fate and remorseless as conscience”. Thus, we realize Mrs. Nichols wasn’t a match for her husband; she possessed callousness, cunning and insincerity which for sure were not the nouns suitable to portray Captain Nichols.

         Furthermore, reading the following sentence combined with the case of parallel construction we can imagine that she had no desire to leave him, as he was a convenient victim for her: “He could as little escape her as the cause can escape the effect.”

         To crown it all, she didn’t show her higher position to people, she tried not to address to him directly, but for example send a daughter, and all that proves she was a rational and reserved person.

          “She did not call him; she gave no sign that she was aware of his existence; she merely walked up and down composedly.” Here the repetition of pronoun “she” reveals her strict and reticent but complete power on him.

         We can assume that even her daughter lacked her love and support, as the author shows her as “a pale-faced, sullen child of seven”. Is that the influence of mother? I guess so.

         Speaking about the extract, we can add that the prevailing mood of it is rather pessimistic. The majority of the sentences is quite long, as they bare some description to the reader.

         We can outline the inner conflict of man in the extract. Surely Captain Nichols realizes his position in the family, but he undertakes no steps to make himself free, and this is his greatest problem. Thus, the extract provokes contradictory assessments, as we see Captain is able to change his life but has no wish to do that.

          When I was reading the book I found some words   which can be famous quotes. I think here they are:

           “When a woman loves you she's not satisfied until she possesses your soul. Because she's weak, she has a rage for domination, and nothing less will satisfy her.”   

           “It is one of the defects of my character that I cannot altogether dislike anyone who makes me laugh.”

           “Women are constantly trying to commit suicide for love, but generally they take care not to succeed.”

           “There is no cruelty greater than a woman's to a man who loves her and whom she does not love; she has no kindness then, no tolerance even, she has only an insane irritation.”

           “The world is hard and cruel. We are here none knows why, and we go none knows whither. We must be very humble. We must see the beauty of quietness. We must go through life so inconspicuously that Fate does not notice us. And let us seek the love of simple, ignorant people. Their ignorance is better than all our knowledge. Let us be silent, content in our little corner, meek and gentle like them. That is the wisdom of life.”

           “Sometimes people carry to such perfection the mask they have assumed that in due course they actually become the person they seem.”

           “Why should you think that beauty, which is the most precious thing in the world, lies like a stone on the beach for the careless passer-by to pick up idly? Beauty is something wonderful and strange that the artist fashions out of the chaos of the world in the torment of his soul. And when he has made it, it is not given to all to know it. To recognize it you must repeat the adventure of the artist. It is a melody that he sings to you, and to hear it again in your own heart you want knowledge and sensitiveness and imagination.”
“Each one of us is alone in the world. He is shut in a tower of brass, and can communicate with his fellows only by signs, and the signs have no common value, so that their sense is vague and uncertain. We seek pitifully to convey to others the treasures of our heart, but they have not the power to accept them, and so we go lonely, side by side but not together, unable to know our fellows and unknown by them. We are like people living in a country whose language they know so little that, with all manner of beautiful and profound things to say, they are condemned to the banalities of the conversation manual. Their brain is seething with ideas, and they can only tell you that the umbrella of the gardener's aunt is in the house.”

           “I could have forgiven it if he'd fallen desperately in love with someone and gone off with her. I should have thought that natural. I shouldn't really have blamed him. I should have thought he was led away. Men are so weak, and women are so unscrupulous.”

           “For men, as a rule, love is but an episode which takes place among the other affairs of the day, and the emphasis laid on it in novels gives it an importance which is untrue to life. There are few men to whom it is the most important thing in the world, and they are not the very interesting ones; even women, with whom the subject is of paramount interest, have a contempt for them.”

“Women are strange little beasts,' he said to Dr. Coutras. 'You can treat them like dogs, you can beat them till your arm aches, and still they love you.' He shrugged his shoulders. 'Of course, it is one of the most absurd illusions of Christianity that they have souls.”

“A woman can forgive a man for the harm he does her...but she can never forgive him for the sacrifices he makes on her account.”

“I forget who it was that recommended men for their soul's good to do each day two things they disliked: it was a wise man, and it is a precept that I have followed scrupulously; for every day I have got up and I have gone to bed.”

“It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering, for the most part, makes men petty and vindictive.”

“Each one of us is alone in the world. He is shut in a tower of brass, and can communicate with his fellows only by signs, and the signs have no common value, so that their sense is vague and uncertain. We seek pitifully to convey to others the treasures of our heart, but they have not the power to accept them, and so we go lonely, side by side but not together, unable to know our fellows and unknown by them.”

“Because women can do nothing except love, they've given it a ridiculous importance. They want to persuade us that it's the whole of life. It's an insignificant part.”

“I think I was a little disappointed in her. I expected then people to be more of a piece than I do now, and I was distressed to find so much vindictiveness in so charming a creature. I did not realize how motley are the qualities that go to make up a human being. Now I am well aware that pettiness and grandeur, malice and charity, hatred and love, can find place side by side in the same human heart.”

“The writer is more concerned to know than to judge.”

“People talk of beauty lightly, and having no feeling for words, they use that one carelessly, so that it loses its force; and the thing it stands for, sharing its name with a hundred trivial objects, is deprived of dignity. They call beautiful a dress, a dog, a sermon; and when they are face to face with Beauty cannot recognise it.”

“With the superciliousness of extreme youth, I put thirty-five as the utmost limit at which a man might fall in love without making a fool of himself.”

“I do not suppose she had ever really cared for her husband, and what I had taken for love was no more than the feminine response to caresses and comfort which in the minds of most women passes for it. It is a passive feeling capable of being roused for any object, as the vine can grow on any tree; and the wisdom of the world recognises its strength when it urges a girl to marry the man who wants her with the assurance that love will follow. It is an emotion made up of the satisfaction of security, pride of property, the pleasure of being desired, the gratification of a household, and it is only by an amiable vanity that women ascribe to it spiritual value. It is an emotion which is defenceless against passion.”

“I shall beat you,' he said, looking at her.”

          “How else should I know you loved me,' she answered.”

“They say a woman always remembers her first lover with affection; but perhaps she does not always remember him.”

“The last words he said to me when I bade him good-night were:

         Tell Amy it's no good coming after me. Anyhow, I shall change my hotel, so she wouldn't be able to find me.'

         My own impression is that she's well rid of you,' I said.

         My dear fellow, I only hope you'll be able to make her see it. But women are very unintelligent.”

           “I did not believe him capable of love. That is an emotion in which tenderness is an essential part, but Strickland had no tenderness either for himself or for others; there is in love a sense of weakness, a desire to protect, an eagerness to do good and to give pleasure--if not unselfishness, at all events a selfishness which marvellously conceals itself; it has in it a certain diffidence.”

           “Unconsciously, perhaps, we treasure the power we have over people by their regard for our opinion of them, and we hate those upon whom we have no such influence.”
 

          I also found in each chapter phraseological units:

1. Phrases:

Out of the ordinary – необычный, отличающийся;

To be in office – находиться у власти;

At all events – во всяком случае, по крайней мере;
 To blaze the trail – прокладывать путь;
 To whet the appetite – возбуждать интерес;

To rub shoulders with smb. – общаться, водить компанию с кем-либо;

To gain currency – приобрести известность, распространиться;

In the flesh – во плоти, живой, собственной персоной;

To subject smb. – подвергать, подчинять что-либо кому-либо;

To stomach smth. – стерпеть, снести, вынести что-либо;

To come across – натолкнуться на кого-либо, встретить случайно;

To be at pains – упорно, усердно работать, подвергаться трудностям;

To make a great stir – наделать шуму, сделать сенсацию;

To be on the shelf – устареть, выйти из моды;

To screw up one`s courage – собрать все свое мужество;

To excite attention – привлекать внимание;

To take one`s revenge – отомстить;

To tear to pieces – разорвать на клочки, в пух и прах;

To have passion for smth. – иметь страсть к чему- либо, кому- либо;

To be bored to death – умирать от скуки;

To stop the gap – заполнить пробел

To be adequate to smb. /smth. – отвечать требованиям кого-либо, быть достаточным.

To rack one`s brains – ломать голову;

Within an inch of one`s life – до полусмерти;

Let bygones be bygones – забыть прошлое, предать прошлое забвению;

Walk in life – занятие, профессия, сфера деятельности;

To be possessed of a devil – быть одержимым;

To be keen on – любить что-либо, интересоваться чем-либо;

To potter about with smth. – забавляться, “баловаться” чем либо;

To cast a spell over smb. – очаровывать, околдовывать кого-либо;

To give a clue – дать ключ (к разгадке, решению);

To be at sea – быть в полном недоумении;

To be on the beach – быть в тяжёлом положении, на мели;

To keep body and soul togetherжить впроголодь, с трудом поддерживать существование;

To buy for a song – купить за бесенок;

To be black and blue – быть в синяках;

To sleep like a log – спать крепким сном, как убитый;

First-rate-excellent – превосходный, великолепный.

Conclusion

The story is written with a touch of tragedy

The author employs a number of stylistic devices that produce tremendous effect.

The author enhances the desired effect with the help of  suffering and despair.

The  epithets daze the emotional force they carry. The powerful effect produced by these expressive means is unquestionable. Due to the vivid stylistic colouring we understand the tragic role of characters.

W. Somerset Maugham  draws the reader's attention to  humaneness  and compassion. The author lends some stylistic colouring to the description of the man's portrait.

The metaphors  strike the reader with its vividness and makes him feel. The similes the author resorts to make the description far too picturesque and very illustrative

The syntax of the dialogue is very simple; plenty of  expressions   make the speech expressive and emotionally coloured.

In  the case of climax the sentences are so arranged that each of the consecutive sentences is more important, more significant and more emotionally coloured than the preceding one, all of them forming a chain of interdependent elements.

Amazing book! I was constantly changing my opinion of the character Charles Strickland. I hated him and then I loved him. His total indifference to societal views was contemporaneously inspirational and tragic. Strickland emotionally, and in once case physically, hurt many people who he came in contact with, but the greatness is in the fact that he did what he felt he was called or destined to do, PAINT, without letting any human being dissuade him from this. Did anyone else who read this book become enraged during passages involving the character Dirk Stroeve? Overall, he was good at heart, but I wanted to inject "manliness" into the "man" during the scenes where he would let people walk all over him

All assignments present good English language practice for me. I liked this book and I liked to analyzed  it.   I did a lot of work  I made a stylistic analysis of the book, found   phrases  that can be considered phraseological units,  selected    sentences  that can be read as  quotes, made tests, chatted   online with my penpals  analyzing this book.

Appendix
Working on the book, I made the tests

Multiple Choice Questions

Directions: Circle the correct answer.

1. What game does Amy say Charles is great at?
a) Polo.
b) Poker.
c) Bridge.
d) Golf.

2. Where did the author travel to during the war?
a) Tahiti.
b) Indonesia.
c) Peru.
d) Iraq.

3. What word does the author use to describe Mrs. Strickland's face in Chapter 9?
a) Sandy.
b) Rocky.
c) Earthy.
d) Glassy.

4. Where is Mrs. Strickland taking her family on holiday?
a) Norfolk.
b) Bristol.
c) Dorset.
d) Somerset.

5. Why does Strickland say he left his wife?
a) He wants to write.
b) He wants time on his own.
c) He has found another woman.
d) He wants to paint.

Multiple Choice Questions

Directions: Circle the correct answer.

1. What does Stroeve start doing twice a day?
a) Writing letters.
b) Visiting his wife.
c) Visiting Strickland.
d) Playing the piano.

2. Who has a dinner party in Chapter 6?
a) John Claridge.
b) George Crabbe.
c) Mrs. Strickland.
d) Rose Waterford.

3. What kind of beast does the Colonel call Strickland?
a) Fingerless.
b) Soulless.
c) Heartless.
d) Brainless.

4. What does Strickland say he hasn't come to Paris for?
a) Money.
b) Culture.
c) Happiness.
d) Women.

5. How did Blanche try to kill herself?
a) She tried to hang herself.
b) She took sleeping pills.
c) She slit her wrists.
d) She took poison.

Quiz: Chapters 19-23

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

Directions: Circle the correct answer.

1. What was Strickland employed as during the strike?
a) A bricklayer.
b) A transcriber.
c) A translator.
d) A house painter.

2. How does Strickland address Dirk?
a) Dope.
b) Ape.
c) Clown.
d) Fatty.

3. What is Strickland playing in the cafe?
a) Bridge.
b) Poker.
c) Billiards.
d) Chess.

4. Who is Strickland painting for two hundred francs?
a) A writer.
b) A lawyer.
c) A doctor.
d) A plumber.

5. What artist does Dirk say never sold a painting?
a) Monet.
b) Coret.
c) Van Gogh.
d) Maney.

Quiz: Chapters 1-6 to Chapters 42-46

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

Directions: Circle the correct answer.

1. What does Dirk pat Crabbe as if he is?
a) A tree.
b) A child.
c) A cushion.
d) A woman.

2. What word does the author use to describe Rose Waterford's intelligence?
a) Feminine.
b) Masculine.
c) Rangy.
d) Perverse.

3. Why does Crabbe feel guilty about Dirk?
a) He can't stop laughing at him.
b) He is using Dirk's character for a story.
c) He feels at fault.
d) He is giving money to Blanche.

4. Which queen did Sir Walter Raleigh set down his cloak for?
a) Queen Elizabeth I.
b) Queen Mary.
c) The Virgin Queen.
d) Queen Victoria.

Quiz: Chapters 1-6 to Chapters 13-18

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

Directions: Circle the correct answer.

1. Where did Mrs. Strickland's father used to take the family in August?
a) Bournemouth.
b) Dorset.
c) Brighton.
d) Eastbourne.

2. What is MacAndrew's rank in the army?
a) Colonel.
b) General.
c) Sergeant.
d) Private.

3. What does the author say it seemed like Mrs. Strickland's sister carried in her pocket?
a) Young men.
b) The British Empire.
c) A book of facts.
d) The African continent.

4. What did Strickland's fellow students at his painting classes think of his work?
a) Genius.
b) A joke.
c) Sensual.
d) Horrid.

5. What does the author say Strickland is not good at?
a) Talking.
b) Writing.
c) Joking.
d) Painting.

Mid-Book Test (up to Chapters 24-29)

This test consists of 15 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

Directions: Circle the correct answer.

1. What is Mr. Strickland's job in London?
a) A writer.
b) A stockbroker.
c) A painter.
d) An accountant.

2. What word does the author use to describe Rose Waterford's intelligence?
a) Rangy.
b) Perverse.
c) Feminine.
d) Masculine.

3. Where does Mrs. Stroeve say she used to work?
a) An art gallery.
b) A library.
c) A hospital.
d) A bookshop.

4. How does the author describe Charles Strickland's laugh in Chapter 6?
a) Polite.
b) Raucous.
c) Rude.
d) Sniggering.

5. What is Strickland playing in the cafe?
a) Poker.
b) Bridge.
c) Chess.
d) Billiards.

6. Where did the author meet Dirk?
a) Paris.
b) London.
c) Rome.
d) Madrid.

Multiple Choice - Chapters 1-6

1. What does the author say was authentic about Charles Strickland?
a) His sincerity.
b) His greatness.
c) His kindness.
d) His sense of humor.

2. Which queen did Sir Walter Raleigh set down his cloak for?
a) Queen Mary.
b) Queen Victoria.
c) Queen Elizabeth I.
d) The Virgin Queen.

3. What is the painter's monument?
a) His paints.
b) His brushes.
c) His canvas.
d) His work.

4. Where did the author travel to during the war?
a) Tahiti.
b) Peru.
c) Iraq.
d) Indonesia.

Multiple Choice Answer Key

Short Answer Key

Chapters 1-6

1. What does the author say was authentic about Charles Strickland?

His greatness.

2. Which queen did Sir Walter Raleigh set down his cloak for?

The Virgin Queen.

3. What is the painter's monument?

His work.

4. Where did the author travel to during the war?

Tahiti.

5. What kind of poems did George Crabbe write?

Moral stories.

6. What railway station does the author live near?

Victoria Station.

7. What word does the author use to describe Rose Waterford's intelligence?

Masculine.

8. In what part of London does Mrs. Strickland own a flat?

Westminster.

9. What room does the author describe as severe?

The dining room.

10. What is Mr. Strickland's job in London?

A stockbroker.

11. What does Mrs. Strickland have the gift of?

Sympathy.

12. What school does Mrs. Strickland's son, Robert, attend?

Rugby.

Short Essay Answer Key

1. What does the author think of Rev. Robert Strickland's biography of his father?

The author says that he read Robert Strickland's biography of his father with amusement. He says the book was colorless and dull and designed to paint Strickland as the model husband and father, all things he was not.

2. What does the author about George Crabbe's poetry?

The author says that during his day George Crabbe was seen as a genius. However, when poets such as Shelley started to write, his moral stories lost their relevance. The author says that Crabbe probably saw their work as inferior and continued writing what he thought was the proper way. As such his work has disappeared into oblivion.

Character Descriptions

Characters

Charles Strickland - Whenever he is ridiculed for his unorthodox actions, he expresses surprise that anyone would think he would care. He does not mind living in poverty, and when he finally is surrounded by the island paradise he has longed for, he can settle down and paint from his heart.

George Crabbe - He acts in a way to show that he pays tribute to the rules of society, but his desires show a dark side. He can never resist joining the crowd in laughing at Dirk, even during tragedy.

Object Descriptions

Objects

London - When Crabbe meets the Stricklands, they are living here, in a nice apartment.

Paris - Charles Strickland goes here to study painting and stays there for six years.

Rome - Crabbe meets Dirk Stroeve here, where Dirk paints Italian peasants against the beautiful scenery.

Tahiti - Strickland settles here when he can finally get a ship to take him there.

Papeete - This is a small village where Strickland meets Ata. It is the nearest village to Ata's house.

Ata's Hut - Ata and Strickland live here in the jungle, along...

Within a few months I was in communication with friends from the USA and Great Britain.
         I asked their opinion about this book.

Sep 12, 2012

Matthew rated it  ·  review of another edition

Nov 09, 2011

Tatiana rated it  ·  review of another edition

Shelves: classics, 2010, nostalgia

This novel is by far my favorite account of an artist's life in fiction.

The story of Charles Strickland is based on Paul Gauguin's life. To what extent, I don't know. What I do know is that there is something infinitely irresistible about how artistry is portrayed in this novel. I love the idea that a real artist creates art because he cannot not to. That all other aspects of his life - family, money, acclaim, food even - are secondary to his desire to create.

Jun 30, 2012

Larry rated it

Shelves: fiction-read

There is not anyone more suited to write a novel based on the misanthropic Gauguin, than the brilliant Maugham. Why? Because, Maguham is a brilliant observer of detail, possessed of wit that lays bare the subject, with the precision of Oscar Wilde--verbally, and publicly humiliating an object of his derision, like a deft vivisectionist happily eviscerating his prize. Yet, Maugham is able to make such "cuts of the needed body of work"(decisions) with more tact than Wilde.  

Oct 17, 2012

King rated it

A DJ acquaintance of mine recommended this book to me saying it better captured than anything else the artist's need to create art at any cost. Maybe there was something to it; said acquaintance has gone on to forge a successful DJ career.

Story is based on the life of painter Gauguin, but Maugham invents a lot of dramatic flourishes to make his artist character a bit more extreme than the real Gauguin was (not to say that Gauguin wasn't plenty extreme).

Mar 08, 2012

Khinna rated it  · review of another edition

Recommends it for: artists

Shelves: favourites

It would be a mistake to read this novel as an inspiring tale of the triumph of the spirit. Strickland is an appalling human being--but the world itself, Maugham seems to say, is a cruel, forbidding place. The author toys with theidea that men like Charles Strickland may somehow be closer to the mad pulse of life, and cannot therefore be dismissed as mere egotists. The moralists among us, the book suggests, are simply shrinking violets if not outright hypocrites.

Aug 26, 2011

Jill rated it

Shelves: classics, brit-lit

I thought this one should have ended about 100 pages before it did. I didn't feel the last portion of the book matched with the first portion. I love the way Somerset Maugham writes in the first person. There is something very intimate about his writing, and I'm not sure anyone can rival his descriptive ability. While I enjoyed it, it wasn't my favorite of his. Strickland is the most interesting character, and while I was fascinated by reading him, I couldn't quite buy how he turned out.

Literature

1. Новиков Л. А. Художественный текст и его анализ. М., 1988.

2. Разинкина Н. М. Функциональная стилистика английского языка. М., 1989.

3. Maugham Somerset “The moon and Sixpence” Penguin Books USA 1994

4. http://stylistic-analysis.blogspot.ru/

5. http://www.english-source.ru/english-linguistics/disc..

6. http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Стилистика

7. http://www.razumniki.ru/yazikovoy_analiz_teksta.html