n illustration of one of Maugham's favourite convictions that human nature is a knit of contradictions, that the workings of the human mind are unpredictable. Strickland is concentrated on his art. He is indifferent to love, friendship and kindness, and inconsiderate to others. He ruins the life of Dirk Stroeve and his wife who nursed him when he was dangerously ill. He does not care for his own wife and children and brings misfortune to all the people who come in touch with him. But on the other hand we cannot deny his talent as an artist, a creator of beauty. His passionate devotion to art arouses the readers admiration. Strickland cannot help acting according to his nature, and he cannot care for anything else but art as art is the only means for him to express himself., However, is hardly ever tolerant and patient with geniuses. Most often a genius has to die before he is acknowledged. Maugham shows how blind the bourgeois public is to real beauty. Later Strickland s works are bought by the public because it is fashionable to have them in one s flat. The author mocks at the Philistines represented by Mrs. Strickland who has hated her husband so long. Now she finds his paintings a great consolation for they are so decorative.important character of the novel, Dirk Stroeve is shown as an antipode to Strickland. He is a very kind man, but a bad artist, though he possesses a keen sense of beauty and is the first to appreciate Strickland s talent. Stroeve paints easily and is able to cater for the vulgar tastes of the public. The author shows that the public lacks sensitivity and imagination therefore real art is as unattainable for the rich as the moon is. The title served to Maugham as a symbol for two opposing worlds - the material world quit by Strickland, where everything is thought of in terms of money and the world of pure artistry and craving for beauty.
Richard Aldington
1892-1962Aldington was born in the family of a solicitor at Portsmouth, Hampshire, England on July 8, 1892. He was educated for four years at Dover College and at London University, but did not complete his education at the university because of financial problems of the family. But he provided himself with the informal education due to his father s excellent library, and studying with his older friend Dudley Grey who was a classical scholar and a traveller.was writing (chiefly verse) from about the age of fifteen and never considered any profession except writing. In 1913 he became literary editor of the Egoist whose sponsors were of the same group that later introduced Imagism - a group of poets whose chief concern was to produce a lasting image . They sought absolute freedom of form . This literary trend arose in England in the first quarter of the XX century, as a protest against abstract poetry.1916, at the age of twenty-four, Aldington entered World War I as a private in the infantry, later becoming an officer. His two and a half year active duty during the war influenced greatly upon his further literary career. However, he had to leave the army with a bad case of shell shock. For some time he worked at The Times literary supplement, reviewing French books. At the same time he translated from Italian and Latin and made his living by criticism. During this time he managed to publish four volumes of poetry which attracted the attention of the leading literary circles. However, he dropped his creative writing in verse to devote all his attention to prose. He lived for varying periods in Italy, France and Switzerland and later settled on the Riviera, where he lived until the outbreak of World War II. Then he went to the USA where he lived for the rest of his life.greatly influenced his world outlook and brought him to regard the duty of a writer in a new light. He broke away from decadence and came to appreciate only those books which were written out of a man s guts < span align = "justify"> and showed life as it really was. Few novels are more biting in their analysis or more indignant in their presentation than the Death of a Hero (1929) and The Colonel s Daughter (1931). s other principal works include: Images Old and New (a book in verse, 1915), Roads to Glory (short stories, 1930), Soft Answers (novelettes, 1932), All Men Are Enemies (a novel , 1933), Life of a Lady (his only play, 1936), Life for Life s Sake (autobiography, 1941), Portrait of a Genius (a biography of DH Lawrence, ...
