Maugham was one of the most famous writers in British history and the "writer with the largest readership" of the twentieth century. "Look up at the moon, or look down and pick up sixpence" has become synonymous with "valuing ideals or compromising on reality."
With so many readers admiring, what kind of person is Maugham? Is he really a "second-rate writer", as he jokes? In December, on the occasion of Maugham's 56th anniversary, the Reader's Three Circles Classic Library held the eighth lecture of "Three Circles Classics Must Read 100 Lectures" in Shanghai. Writer Mao Jian, writer Then, and podcast anchor Cao Ming exchanged with readers at the Tingya Bookstore to share their feelings about the writer.
Maugham's life is more exciting than all his books
Looking back at the glorious history of Twentieth Century English literature, Maugham's status cannot be underestimated. Maugham, who created classic works such as "The Moon and Sixpence", "The Shackles of Human Nature", "Blade", and "The Veil", although he called himself a "second-rate writer", he was famous and profitable early, and each book sold millions of copies. Even though he has been dead for more than 50 years, he still has countless fans.
Hairy tip
"Maugham's life is more exciting than all his books." Mao Jian said this about Maugham. She has written "My Uncle Maugham" and "Maugham's Summary", which has a systematic study of Maugham's life and works. "Maugham alone has done all the things of our ten lifetimes, he has been a playwright, he has been a spy, he has driven an ambulance, he has been a midwife, he has had gay and heterosexual feelings, and he cannot be defined in ten lifetimes."
Strictly speaking, Maugham's creation does not rely solely on "imagination", but the sum of his life experiences, which is a rich life experience, giving Maugham the core of reality in his works. This is very attractive to the hairy tip. Many times, while reading Maugham, she would go back to The Biography of Maugham. From "Maugham Biography", you can see the shadows of many of Maugham's novels, including "The Moon and Sixpence", "Blade" and so on.
The writer then also used the term "human observer" to describe Maugham, and multiple social roles and social identities gave Maugham "space to move and jump" in his creation, and his broad world view made him a more outstanding writer.
thereupon
Do you want the moon, or sixpence?
"The Moon and Sixpence" was regarded as a guideline by literary and artistic youth, and the protagonist Strickland became a model for pursuing ideals that were not understood by the world.
Why is The Moon and Sixpence so enduring and enduring in many cultures?
"I personally think it's because we're just getting to this point in the development of our current society." So it is said that most people's lives nowadays are caught in the mode of "one look to the end", when they see the golden sentences such as "the ground is full of sixpence, but he looks up and sees the moon", he will "have a relationship in his heart", "When you look down at sixpence in the office building, you will definitely think about when you were young, there were poems and distant places in your mind, who has not had poetry and far away?" ”
Mao Jian reversed his understanding of "the moon and sixpence" from a new perspective. In her opinion, the reference to "the moon and sixpence" was clear at the beginning of the novel, and people with ideals looked at the moon, and those who were busy making money guarded the sixpence on the ground. But today, the relationship between the moon and sixpence has been revised.
Blade book cover
"The people who pursue ideals in Maugham's novels are, in contrast, people who lie down today." For example, Mao Jian, the protagonist of "Blade", Larry, after experiencing many things, chose to return to the United States to become a taxi driver. Strickland in The Moon and Sixpence is all about painting and doesn't care about anything. In today's context, they did not exchange lives, but they have already shifted with each other, "which is also the reason why Maugham has always been contemporarized, and the issues he has set can always be taken to a new context for comparison." ”
Therefore, he also believes that Maugham did not impose morality on his characters, and his ideas were very detached. Readers read Blade and think Larry is a positive character, but Maugham often mocks him in the book. The same is true for Strickland.
"They are not simply positive characters, and Maugham has no intention of writing his 'positive people' as beings that all people should fear, rather than that the reader now interprets these people as positive people." This is precisely what we should ponder. ”
Veil cover
Is Maugham a "second-rate writer"?
Maugham once derisively described himself as a "second-rate writer", which became a stereotyped definition of him in later generations. There are many people who like Maugham, but at the same time, reading Maugham is considered to be not advanced enough and not deep enough.
"Maugham defines himself as a second-rate writer, in a sense, he redefines second-rate writers, and he redefines writers. He brings honors to second-rate writers. Mao Jian has always liked Maugham very much. In her opinion, although Maugham is not a writer who wins by imagination, he has his own very good points, Maugham combines the concept of human two levels into one person, and in his writing, many characters who were originally considered "problematic" have become very vivid and have their own cuteness.
Cao Lemon
Cao Ning also mentioned that Maugham is the "entry ladder" of many literary and artistic youth, and therefore considered "not advanced enough", but looking back many years later, Maugham is actually very wonderful, "He is not a bookish, thinker-type writer, or an experiential writer." ”
Maugham is good at storytelling, good at putting his observations into his stories. The film adaptations of his novels have been successful, which in the eyes of researchers is also a proof of Maugham's "second-rate".
"We all say that a three- or four-stream text is easy to adapt into a movie, and a good text adapted into a movie is easy to fail. For example, "Dream of the Red Chamber" is easy to fail when adapted into a movie, and "Madame Bovary" fails once. The better the book, the easier it is to adapt it into a movie. Mao Jian believes that this stereotype does not apply to Maugham. Maugham wins with stories, and his stories are easy to convey to readers, who can see their own shadows in the protagonists of his novels, which is why his novels are easy to adapt, but the depth of Maugham's work does not stop there.
The Moon and sixpence book cover
Cao Liang praised Maugham's work as "golden sentences", and Maugham's work is not only vivid in plot, but also witty. He once wrote in the novel "The Moon and Sixpence" that there were sixpence all over the ground, but he looked up and saw the moon. It is the clever metaphor that penetrates the ingenuity and wisdom of Maugham's creation.
Mao Jian explained, "Maugham's words are golden sentences, aphorisms, and even more ironic, with British humor everywhere. The words of Shakespeare, Tolstoy, and Dostoevsky do not appear on our barrage today, because their minds require very long passages of text to be understood. But Maugham is different, and every sentence of Maugham is the golden sentence of the times. ”