The moon and six pence is a short story by W. Somerset Maugham but by my standards it qualifies as a book in more ways than one. There are some commentaries about him writing this book about Gauguin but when I first read this book I was not aware of this connection. I read this book when I was in the second/third year of medical school and it shook me quite a bit primarily because I was involved with preoccupations and themes elaborated in this book.
The book talks about man's need for freedom. It talks about the mundane quality of every day life that mankind can find so oppressive. It talks about a quest for finding the thing that makes life worth living. It gives words to the fundamental desire, that is as inherent in the bosom of man as breathing. The desire being the quest of happiness. Biologically happiness equates to dopamine and endorphins being released in the pleasure centers of the brain and the quest for happiness would be all the ways that an organism can manipulate its surroundings to achieve that goal. The book actually makes this quest just that, a biological drive. It removes the guilt associated with achieving this goal. The guilt Maugham points out subtly is a machination of the mind.
The protagonist in this book is a person that does not feel any guilt but does things based primarily on whether it makes him happy. It results in disastrous consequences for his wife, children, acquaintances and lovers. And the human tragedy that is so beautifully delivered in the book speaks about the conflict that one decision of man puts him up against. Every decision comes with its sets of "advantages and disadvantages", "pros and cons." And the advantages turn into disadvantages the minute our frame of reference changes. Maugham describes how one man escapes the frames of reference of "normality." Normality of course being described in turns of averages and numbers only. This escape brings with it another set of shackles. So essentially the hero exchanges one set with another. However these shackles are of his own choosing and as he dies in the most wretched conditions he draws his masterpiece. Sometimes miseries of our choosing can be preferable to an alternate set of miseries because there is a certain pleasure that is derived by the act of exercising the will, as futile as it might be.
Maugham remains engrossed with these existential questions and concerns in his other works. also. There has been some criticism on Maugham's work as not being as technically sound in terms of allegories, but the content of his writings and the pace with which he keeps the story going is second to none. There is a certain elegance to his writing that struck me, especially the abstract discourses about paintings. He writes also very similarly to how one would paint. He uses brush strokes which are direct and to-the-point on one portion of the canvas and then uses languid purposeless strokes on another portion. The irregularities to detail, the seeming randomness and the transitions are following a pattern in the writer's mind which is not apparent at first but as the process of application of ideas to paper is complete, it is awe inspiring.
This is clearly a topic that has some deep personal significance for Maugham. And same was the case with me.
Jews in the Civil Rights Movement
-
Click Here to Read: Jews in the Civil Rights Movement: Nowhere did Jews
identify themselves more forthrightly with the liberal avant-garde than in
the Civ...
10 hours ago
No comments:
Post a Comment