57. The Moon and Sixpence by W Somerset Maugham

Maugham complained that after 1919 he was plagued with letters asking him the meaning of the title The Moon and Sixpence. After all, it seemingly has little to do with the plot of the novel, which is concerned principally with the painter Charles Strickland (based on Paul Gauguin), his experiences in London, Paris, Marseilles and Tahiti, and his tragic involvement with Dick and Blanche Stroeve.

The explanation that Maugham gave to all these earnest enquirers was that the title concerned a previous novel, Of Human Bondage (one thinks of TE Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom, a title transferred from a previous, unsuccessful work). It so happened that when Of Human Bondage was reviewed in The Times, the reviewer said of the main character, Philip Carey: ‘Like so many young men he was so busy yearning for the moon that he never saw the sixpence at his feet’.

Maugham liked the phrase, stole it, and transferred it to the title of his next book.

Consulted:
Cordell, Richard Albert: Somerset Maugham, A Writer for All Seasons (1969)

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