The Moon and Sixpence

Description

“Impropriety is the soul of wit.” W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon And Sixpence The Moon and Sixpence is a novel by W Somerset Maugham, told in episodic form by a first-person narrator, in 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. According to some sources, the title, the meaning of which is not explicitly revealed in the book, was taken from a review of Of Human Bondage in which the novel’s protagonist, Philip Carey, is described as “so busy yearning for the moon that he never saw the sixpence at his feet.” According to a 1956 letter from Maugham, “If you look on the ground in search of a sixpence, you don’t look up, and so miss the moon.” The book was made into a film of the same name directed and written by Albert Lewin. Released in 1942, the film stars George Sanders as Charles Strickland. The novel served as the basis for an opera, also titled The Moon and Sixpence, by John Gardner to a libretto by Patrick Terry; it was premiered at Sadlers Wells in 1957. Writer S Lee Pogostin adapted it for American TV in 1959. This production starred Laurence Olivier, with Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy in supporting roles.