Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Moon and Sixpence
    The Moon and Sixpence
    The Moon and Sixpence
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Moon and Sixpence

    Written by W. Somerset Maugham

    Narrated by Neil Hunt

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    As a fictionalized account of the tumultuous career of Paul Gauguin, W. Somerset Maugham's classic story captured the hearts of a generation. First published in 1919, it provided just the exotic antidote a war-weary world desired. At first, Charles Strickland's life was unremarkable. A stock broker in London, he dwelled quietly with his wife and two children. All who knew him described him as "very dull." How shocking it was, then, when he abandoned this respectable identity to wander the world, make a home in Tahiti, and become an unconventional artist who captured passionate images of primitive life. Soon after the publication of The Moon and Sixpence, hordes of young men fell prey to the dreams and wanderlust of its hero. They, too, would leave comfortable middle-class lives for the lure of far off, exotic lands. This stunning, unabridged narration by Neil Hunt will transport you into the artist's world of vibrant dreams and possibilities.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateApr 29, 2011
    ISBN9781461811374
    Author

    W. Somerset Maugham

    William Somerset Maugham was born in Paris, on January 25th, 1874. Orphaned by the age of ten, he moved to England to live with an uncle. He received his education in England and Germany, studying medicine and graduating as a physician.Eschewing his education, Maugham instead became a full-time writer. His first novel, Liza of Lambeth, was published in 1897, but he soon established his reputation as a successful playwright. In time he wrote 32 plays, and abandoned the theater scene by 1933.He wrote nineteen novels, of which Of Human Bondage (1915), The Moon and Sixpence (1919), The Painted Veil (1925), Cakes and Ale (1930), and The Razor's Edge (1944), are considered classics of early 20th century literature.Maugham was a restless and inquisitive soul, and his travels and his sympathies with the working class often formed the basis of characters and settings. Maugham also had a tendency to insert auto-biographical aspects into his work, most infamously in the Ashenden stories, based on his time with the British Secret Service during WWI.Throughout his life, Maugham faced many personal challenges. Romantic struggles and speculation of his sexual identity were only exacerbated publicly by his popularity amongst readers. He had an extended affair with Syrie Wellcome, who gave birth to his only child, May Elizabeth "Liza," in 1915, formalizing their relationship by marriage in 1917. Maugham's relationship with Frederick Gerald Haxton-his long-standing secretary/companion-& constant traveling, eventually caused a rift in the marriage, ending in divorce in 1929.He experienced great financial success with his works, many of which were adapted for radio, stage, film & TV; though the same could not be said for critical approval amongst the literary community, which was uneven at best. He died December 16th 1965, in Nice, France.In his later years, Maugham continued to beguile critics and fans alike-as author Pico Iyer writes, "The riddle he presents us with is how a stammering, conventional-seeming Edwardian, writing in civil service prose, could somehow become the spokesman of hippies, black magicians and stockbrokers throwing it all over for Tahiti. His books are measured explorations of extravagance."

    More audiobooks from W. Somerset Maugham

    Related to The Moon and Sixpence

    Related audiobooks

    Literary Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      He Was Imprisoned And Losing His Mind. 'Anna Karenina' Saved Him

      Apr 5, 2019

      A man is trapped in prison for a made-up crime. He's overwhelmed by hopelessness and anger. That is until he hears a knock on the wall ... and words from another time and place.

      4 min read

    • Article

      Ulysses: Good or Bad?

      Feb 2, 2018

      Ulysses: Good or Bad?
      10 min read

    • Article

      The best-ever ROMANCES

      Jan 7, 2021

      The best-ever ROMANCES
      2 min read

    • Article

      In Summary

      Jul 1, 2021

      There’s some good writing here. This short extract has covered a lot of ground and established that Edwina is a recently widowed woman thanks to the sinking of the Titanic. Her interior voice is skilfully rendered and there are some subtle touches su

      1 min read

    • Article

      Seven Books I’ll Never Read

      Aug 7, 2018

      Seven Books I’ll Never Read
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Potter For Our Times

      Sep 1, 2021

      WHEN perusing this attractively packaged biography of ceramics impresario Josiah Wedgwood (1730–95), your reviewer was prompted to recall one of the few joyous moments of lockdown, Channel 4’s The Great Pottery Throw Down (GPTD): a show that reveals

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Landscape Was His Mistress

      Feb 9, 2022

      IN 1802, John Constable wrote seven observations and resolutions about art. In them, among other things, he pledged to follow Nature, to make ‘unaffected’ pictures, and to avoid ‘common place people’. He also declared that ‘there is no easy way of be

      5 min read

    • Article

      Walter Sickert

      Apr 14, 2022

      IF YOU GOOGLE the ‘50 most recognisable artists names’, the chances are Walter Sickert’s won’t be on there. What’s more, if you type his name into your web browser, you’ll instantly, and alarmingly, see him being linked to the infamous Jack the Rippe

      3 min read

    • Article

      To Make Art Is To Be Human

      Oct 13, 2021

      IN 1950, Ernst Gombrich published The Story of Art. The book was an instant bestseller and was the first to show that there was, indeed, such a thing as a story of art, that artists and movements existed not in isolated moments of time, but as part o

      7 min read

    • Article

      History

      Jun 29, 2022

      History
      11 min read

    • Article

      Also On The Bookshelf

      Mar 19, 2020

      As the daughter of Henry I, Matilda had a strong claim to the English throne. But the nation was thrown into chaos when she became embroiled in a long and bitter fight for the crown with her cousin, Stephen. This fast-moving biography of one of the m

      2 min read

    • Article

      Spare Us The Wagging Finger

      Oct 26, 2023

      THE SOCIAL HISTORIAN Dominic Sandbrook could recently be found in the Culture section of the Sunday Times reviewing a book called Imperial Island: A History of Empire in Modern Britain by Charlotte Lydia Riley. Sandbrook, who knows his onions, didn’t

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Woman Scorned?

      Feb 8, 2024

      A Woman Scorned?
      8 min read

    • Article

      Michael Prodger on Art

      Jul 27, 2023

      WHO IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL woman in art? The choices are innumerable: Botticelli’s Primavera or Titian’s purity figure in Sacred and Profane Love? Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring or Jacques-Louis David’s Madame Récamier? The girl in Gustav Klimt’s

      3 min read

    • Article

      'Tyrant' Examines The Evidence Of Popular Attraction To Demagogues As Seen In Shakepeare's Plays

      May 15, 2018

      The dust jacket of Pulitzer Prize-winning Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt's new book Tyrant pulses vivid red, and the book asks sharp questions about the ways William Shakespeare interrogates the idea of political authority in his plays.  It w

      3 min read

    • Article

      Reviews

      Dec 2, 2021

      Book Film TV Podcast Games Other A riveting medieval ‘Me Too’ story Certificate: 18 Director: Ridley Scott Cast: Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer Released: Out now On 29 December 1386, in a frosty field on the outskirts of northern Paris, the las

      6 min read

    • Article

      Lives Of The Artists

      Sep 4, 2018

      Lives Of The Artists
      4 min read

    • Article

      Reviews

      Jan 27, 2022

      Reviews
      6 min read

    • Article

      Of Pastimes And Pleasures

      Jan 19, 2022

      I POUNCED on this slim volume having just listened to Emma on Audible, beautifully read by Juliet Stevenson. Where and what exactly was Astley’s? Robert Martin was invited by John Knightley to join him ‘at Astley’s’, to which he was taking his two el

      5 min read

    • Article

      A Special Relationship

      Mar 20, 2024

      A Special Relationship
      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Moon and Sixpence

    4/5

    19 ratings1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Perfectly read to capture a bygone era, and yet, a fascinating picture of how creativity and artistic vision can overwhelm a person.

      1 person found this helpful