«интернаука» Научный журнал №28(157) Август 2020 г. Издается с ноября 2016 года Москва 2020 ббк 94 И73 Председатель редакционной коллегии: Еникеев Анатолий Анатольевич

 
Keywords: 
Canvas, fresco, easel, vehement, hackneyed, harlot, maxim, whim, peccadillo, Adam and Eve, moral 
degradation. 
The 20th century left its indelible marks in the spir-
itual life of the United States; this century was quite 
difficult for American literature, but quite fruitful. This 
is the time when strict Putiran prescriptions, condemn-
ing art created not by sober reason, but by feeling, were 
squeezed out by the industrial revolution and the eco-
nomic breakthrough. For American literature this centu-
ry was marked by the rapid development of realism, 
along with trends such as decadence and modernism. 
this period elevated US literature to a leading level in 
the history of world literature. perhaps the first and 
second world wars served as an impetus for the rethink-
ing of values and a new look at literature focused on the 
topic of moral degradation of the individual. This era 
gave rise to many world-famous writers and publicists, 
including Somerset Maugham, playwright, novelist, 
novelist and critic, who is known for his work as “The 
Moon and the Penny,” “Lady Frederick”, “The Un-
known”, “The Circle”, “For Services Rendered”, 
“Sheppey”, “Liza of Lambeth”, “Mrs. Craddock”, “Of 
Human Bondage”, “The Moon and Sixpence”, “The 
Painted Veil”, “Cakes and Ale”, “The Theater”, “The 
Razor's Edge” and etc. Аdhering to realistic principles, 
Somerset also partially falls under the influence of 
naturalism, modernism and neoromanticism. "one of the 
leading writers of the second row," that’s what kind of 
appreciation a writer gives himself, who, during his 
lifetime, almost became a classic.
Maugham was born in the family of a British law-
yer in France, he orphaned early and raised his uncle, 
who was a priest, in the Maugham family was the 
youngest child, with brothers who continued his father’s 
career, had almost no contact and grew up lonely. in 
view of his short stature, stuttering and poor English, he 
often endured the ridicule of those around him, “I will 
never forget the suffering of these years ..” - the writer 
later says, recalling his precarious childhood. later than 
1892, Maugham became a student at the medical school 
at the St. Thomas, his enlightenment in the field of 
medicine, is clearly reflected in his works, according to 
many opinions, it was this profession that made 
Maugham a writer: “For these three years I have wit-
nessed all the emotions that a person is capable of. This 
kindled my playwright's instinct, worried me about the 
writer ... I saw people die. I saw how they tolerated the 
pain. I saw what hope, fear, relief look like; I saw the 
black shadows that despair puts on faces; saw courage 
and stamina." « The Summing Up».
The love of literature appeared in the writer from 
childhood, his lonely life was diversified by books. The 
writer writes his first work at a very young age, at 23 
years old. It was the novel "Lisa of Lambeth." This 
book was based on his personal impressions of com-
municating with the poor, which he received during his 
medical practice at the Medical School of St. Thomas 
Hospital. Although the novel turned out to be quite 
good, he did not bring fame to the author. But his sub-
sequent works, including the novel "Mrs. Craddock" 
and “Lady Fredrick”, which brought the author recogni-
tion. Аn amazing fact in the life of the writer is that, he 
was a bisexual.
The writer himself admitted that he did not experi-
ence true mutual love in life. he writes about this in his 
autobiographical novel, “Summing Up,” here he shares 
with the reader his inner feelings. The writer's work was 
also influenced by his participation in the first and sec-
ond world war, as a British intelligence officer, he op-
posed Nazi Germany (“For Services Rendered”, “The 
Razor's Edge”, “Rain”, “Macintosh”). the writer's works 
do not feel optimistic, many of Maugham’s works are 
saturated with the idea of a tragedy of attitude, but his 
characters are always selfless in opposing fate, trying to 
break out of “human slavery” and stagnant society. It is 
in this spirit that the writer’s novel “The Moon and 
Sixpences” is saturated, which describes the martyrdom 
of the stock broker Mr. Strickland, who left his family, 
home, career to become a painter.
The title of this novel is not always understood by 
the reader until he delves into the essence of the novel. 
Maugham, using the idiom and metaphor of the words 
"moon", which is a symbol of a higher dream, fantasy, 
something sublime, as in the phrase "promise the 
moon", promise golden mountains, and on the contrary 
to Sixpence, associated with poverty and the whole 
identity of being, as in the saying "not worth sixpence". 
So the name of this novel is metaphorical, since the hero 
of the novel sacrifices all his wealth and position in 
society for the sake of a passion for rediscovering him-
self as an artist-painter. If you decipher the name of the 

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Журнал «Интернаука» 
№ 28 (157), 2020 г. 
80 
book, then the moon is life given to the altar of art, and 
a Sixpence is a well-fed and hypocritical existence.
The novel takes place in the early twentieth century. 
This is a novel about attainable and unobtainable from 
the point of divinity and permissible and impermissible 
from the point of morality. So as in many Maugham`s 
novels, story is told by man, who shares his memoirs 
with a reader. He was a young writer, who just started 
his career in the center of bourgeois society, where he 
first acquainted with The Stricklands, firstly with Mrs. 
Strickland who was adore of being among art-men, in 
order to catch up with times, then with Mr. Strickland, 
who was thought as a boring, offish man absolutely 
indifferent to art.
However, despite the fact that he was unconcerned, 
he turned out as a genius, who could dare to exchange 
everything for the life in slums, for hermitage and pov-
erty. All events revolve around the main character - 
Strickland, who goes against society and its laws to 
quench the thirst for beauty, to fulfill its mission - to 
become an artist. reading the novel, the reader under-
stands that Strickland, according to his father’s instruc-
tions, renounces painting and becomes a broker, his 
father’s words “you can’t earn much on canvas” block 
his desire for a while, but with age this desire trans-
forms into the meaning of life and makes the hero ob-
sessed. His family and friends do not accept this as a 
reason and believe that he left everything for the sake of 
another woman, while love and other passions do not 
matter to Strickland. He nourishes in himself inhuman 
strength and will, which at the same time torments him, 
making him a slave to art, unable to love and live like a 
normal person, this force destroys and at the same time 
exalts him.
For a start, it seems that even he himself does not 
understand what is happening to him, he only listens to 
the call of his heart that tells him to create, and he him-
self admits this when he is persuaded to return home: “- 
‘Then, what in God`s name have you left her for’/ ‘-I 
want to pain’ , I looked at him for quite a long time/…/ I 
thought he was mad. It must be remembered that I was 
very young, and I looked upon him as a middle-aged 
man…” Later its frescoes are characterized by epithets, 
- "primitive", "terrible", "inhuman" - indicating that in 
nature there are more sublime forms of beauty, reading 
a novel you understand that not all people are created 
for the family and for routine, but the whole vice is that 
society does not accept such people on time. There is a 
version that the prototype of Strickland is the famous 
French painter Paul Gauguin, who also left his former 
life, a family with the goal of becoming an artist.
Their age and fate are largely identical - both artists 
lived and worked in poverty, and became famous only 
after death. However, there is a possibility that this 
novel is autobiographical, there are many facts that 
Maugham endowed his hero with the qualities that he 
himself would like to have - the writer himself, because 
of his unconventional orientation, forced himself to 
marry a woman with whom he did not live under the 
same roof Fearing condemnation of society, perhaps the 
author himself did not have enough in life the decisive-
ness with which he endowed his hero. In the novel, the 
artist’s relations with people around him are somewhat 
tragically described, always straightforward and rude 
Strickland at first glance causes hatred that he does not 
take into account the opinions of others, never sells and 
does not show his works to others, although he lives 
very poorly, here you can understand what he does not 
believe that the people around him will understand the 
philosophy of his work, they will not be able to see the 
beauty and the martyrdom that the artist put into his 
paintings. Hidden genius in Strickland is seen by Dirk 
Stroeve - a dutch artist who wrote vulgar and banal 
paintings about Italy, but was very successful in his 
time. He boldly claims that Strickland is a genius, but 
people have so far lost the flair for real art that they 
simply do not understand what Strickland wants to 
convey through his paintings. “- 
Аfter reading the novel, I involuntarily gave myself 
up to thoughts that everyone has a dream. Another 
question is that not everyone will decide on this. The 
main character, Charles Strickland, is a living example 
of how you can suddenly drop everything and change 
your life drastically by following your dream. To do 
this, you need to have the special character that Strick-
land had. The character around him causes different 
feelings: from adoration and love to hatred and con-
tempt. The hero is not indicated as an antagonist or 
protagonist. What does the author think of him? 
Maugham hardly gives Strickland any specific assess-
ment. So readers should read and decide for themselves 
how they feel about this strange complex person. per-
haps not every reader will understand Strickland. But I 
was very touched by the main idea of the author: when a 
strong personality, purposeful person, not striving to 
please anyone, believes in his destiny, then everything 
falls into place. Everything is as it should be. You can 
live your life the way you want. And nothing can stop 
you. Perhaps the author himself also wanted to live as 
his main character, but could not find the strength to 
resist the strength of society, and embodied Strickland 
with all the qualities that he himself would like to pos-
sess.