The Moon and Sixpence

The Moon and Sixpence confirmed Maugham’s reputation as a novelist and is probably his best known book. In the single-minded character of Charles Strickland, the London stockbroker who suddenly abandons family and career to become a painter, he drew a harsh but credible likeness of the mentality of genius. The story, suggested by the life of Paul Gauguin; is mainly set in Paris, but the closing chapters describe the artist’s primitive life in Tahiti and his lingering death from leprosy. We are left with the disturbing impression of a man possessed by demonic forces.