抄録
The Moon and Sixpence is one of Maugham's representative novels. It was published in 1919 and reconfirmed the reputation he had established for himself with the publication in 1915 of Of Human Bondage. Charles Strickland was an artist. Indifferent to his prosaic surroudings he sought an artistic ideal until the end of his life. He was savage, cruel yet lonely artist. In The Moon and Sixpence, the "I" or narrator recalls and talks about him. In this paper, I will consider Maugham's idea of the artists basing my argument on The Summing Up(1938)on the description of Strickland as an artist and particularly on Maugham's emphasizing of his egoism or individualism. Then I would like to compare the "I" of the novel with Maugham himself and Strickland with Paul Gauguin. Maugham may have read biographies about Gauguin but I think that The Moon and Sixpence is ultimately his own creation. Finally, I will focus on Dark Strove, a secondry character in the novel, and compare him with Strickland.
