【英文原著类】The Moon and Sixpence(月球和六便士).pdf

The Moon and Sixpence
The Moon and Sixpence
by W. Somerset Maugham
Author of "Of Human Bondage"
1
The Moon and Sixpence
Chapter I
I confess that when first I made acquaintance with Charles Strickland
I never for a moment discerned that there was in him anything out of the
ordinary. Yet now few will be found to deny his greatness. I do not
speak of that greatness which is achieved by the fortunate politician or the
essful soldier; that is a quality which belongs to the place he occupies
rather than to the man; and a change of circumstances reduces it to very
discreet proportions. The Prime Minister out of office is seen, too often,
to have been but a pompous rhetorician, and the General without an army
is but the tame hero of a market town. The greatness of Charles
Strickland was authentic. It may be that you do not like his art, but at all
events you can hardly refuse it the tribute of your interest. He disturbs
and arrests. The time has passed when he was an object of ridicule, and
it is no longer a mark of eccentricity to defend or of perversity to extol
him. His faults are accepted as the plement to his merits. It
is still possible to discuss his place in art, and the adulation of his admirers
is perhaps no less capricious than the disparagement of his detractors; but
one thing can never be doubtful, and that is that he had genius. To my
mind the most interesting thing in art is the personality of the artist; and if
that is singular, I am willing to excuse a thousand faults. I suppose
Velasquez was a better painter than El Greco, but custom stales one's
admiration for him: the Cretan, sensual and tragic, proffers the mystery of
his soul like a standing sacrifice. The artist, painter, poet, or musician, by
his decoration, sublime or beautiful, satisfies the aesthetic sense; but that
is akin to the sexual instinct, and shares its barbarity: he lays before you
also the greater gift of himself. To pursue his secret has something of