Maugham's The Moon And Sixpence And Cakes And Ale

William Somerset Maugham(1874-1965)was one of the most popular,best-selling yet refined writers of the twentieth century,and he was generally loved by readers.However,Maugham has not received adequate serious attention in the circle of critics and literary scholars.In his lifetime,many books of the literary history turned a blind eye to him.He was,if ever mentioned,regarded him only as a second-rate writer and his works were considered not good enough to withstand the reviews of serious critics.Today,although critics have gradually realized the value of Maugham's creation,there are still many controversies regarding his place in the history of literature.This thesis sets out to analyze four characters of artists from two of Maugham's novels,The Moon and Sixpence and Cakes and Ale.In a comparative discussion of Strickland and Driffield,respectively the protagonists of the two novels,with two other fictional artists Stroeve and Roy,the thesis aims to investigate the following questions:(1)the relationship between the artist and money in Maugham's novels;(2)Nietzsche's influence on the novelist in his characterization of such artists;(3)and finally Maugham's artistic view.This thesis consists of five chapters.The first chapter is divided into four parts.The first part is a brief introduction to Maugham the novelist and his literary career;the second part introduces the two novels The Moon and Sixpence and Cakes and Ale;the third part is a survey of the critical opinions passed on the the issues of my study;the fourth part is structure of the thesis.The second chapter includes three parts,which respectively shows the indispensableness of art andartist in human society,traces chacterization of artist characters in Western literary works and introduces Nietzsche's views of tragedy centering on the concepts of the Apollonian and the Dionysian.The third chapter analyzes the four artist characters in The Moon and Sixpence and Cakes and Ale from two aspects.The first part divides these artists into those “totally absorbed in the Apollonian world” and those trying to attain “a balance between the Dionysian and the Apollonian.” The second part divides them into “real artists” and “merchant artists” to analyze their choices between art and money.The fourth chapter examines Maugham's artistic view: Maugham's artistic view influenced by Nietzsche's view of tragedy;Maugham's artistic view about the relationship between the artist and money.The fifth chapter is the conclusion drawn from my study.