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Файл:Чтение и интерпретация текста роман У.С. Моэма «Луна и грош». Учебно-методическое пособие.pdf
III. Make up word-combinations matching the given adjectives with the nouns
adjectives
nouns
word-combinations
- magic
- umbrageous
- fleeting
- ingratiating
- singular
- trustworthy
- smuggled
- hearty
- raucous
- sinister
- hideous
- undersized
- angry
- outrageous
- unconquerable
- lost
- amatory
- catching
- deep-rooted
- remarkable
- discreditable
- luxuriant
- savoury
- luscious
- meaningless
- strong
- determined
- loathsome
- dreadful
- eminent
affliction
character
phrase
atavism
gifts
disease
will
fruit
dish
motives
trees
laughter
wand
places
witness
breakfast
impression
beauty
affairs
spirit
surgeon
opportunity
smile
appearance
liar
altercation
youth
voice
tobacco
lust
magic wand
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IV. Cross an odd word out
1) skinny, skin-and-bones, shrewd, scraggy;
2) merry, lively, profane, jovial, breezy;
3) large, preposterous, huge, stupendous;
4) calm, tranquil, peaceful, untroubled, serene, vivacious;
5) indecent, outrageous, debonair, obscene;
6) fashionable, stylish, modish, raucous;
7) reticent, friendly, good-natured, affable;
8) fearless, daring, niggardly, bold, intrepid;
1) ceremony, ritual, worship –
2) tramp, vagrant, wanderer –
3) friendly, good-natured –
4) activity, fuss, ado –
5) scuffle , fight –
6) modest –
7) eccentricity –
8) easygoing –
9) laziness; indolence –
10) meditation , reflection –
11) annoyance, fret –
12) loathing, abhorrence –
13) bewitched; magical –
14) elevated, awe-inspiring, majestic –
15) courteous, polite, well-bred –
a) civil
b) enchanted
c) contemplation
d) kink
e) happy-go-lucky
f) bustle
g) scrimmage
h) unassuming
i) sublime
j) detestation
k) vexation
l) rite
m) affable
n) vagabond
o) idleness
9) annoyance, fret, lust, vexation;
10) cruel, hardhearted, merciless, discreditable, ruthless;
11) inexplicable , strange, barren, unaccountable;
12) inconceivable, unsuitable , inappropriate, inapt;
13) brave, bold, fearless, dauntless, lamentable;
14) sense, affliction, discretion, prudence;
15) activity, gash, fuss, ado, bustle;
16) consolation, cheat, deception, swindle, fraud;
17) precursor, hag, forerunner, predecessor;
18) stubbornness, perseverance, obstinacy, blessedness.
V. Match the synonyms:
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VI. Review vocabulary lists 11-14 for a test.
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Lesson 16. FINAL DISCUSSION
I. Expand and comment on the following:
(1) The Moon and Sixpence is a story that Maugham wrote inspired by post-impressionist painter Paul Gauguin’s
tumultuous life. There was a sense of notoriety around Gauguin because he left his regular job and deserted his wife
and children like that! He rejected European civilization calling it “artificial and conventional” and moved to the island
of Tahiti where he created paintings that went on to become masterpieces after his death. He was drawn to
primitivism as an art form and his paintings - characterized by bold experimentation of colors and geometric designs changed the course of modern painting; and after his death, Gauguin became one of the most influential artists of his
times. It’s hard to say how much of the novel is entirely based on Gauguin’s life, as Maugham said that he took the
basic framework of the painter’s life and worked around it.
(2) The first few pages of the novel are a bit difficult to get by, as they are somewhat turgid. But once the story begins
and takes a sharp turn with the disappearance of Charles Strickland, you are gripped by the narrative.
(3) The story is described by Maugham himself, who much like Nick Caraway in The Great Gatsby is a sincere,
wise, but detached narrator-character in the book. He is not an active participant in the tumultuous lives of the people
around him, but he is a trusted confidante and each character reveals their innermost feelings to him.
(4) The story takes you through Strickland’s unconventional life - he is brusque, loutish, cruel, and eccentric to a
maniacal level. Having foregone his cushy life, he lives in the most wretched conditions, striving to paint and give vent
to the artist in him. Strickland is so abominable, cruel, and so wholly negative that it’s a bit difficult to accept him as a
real character. Also, his life prior to being a painter is never clear. Maugham could have at least given some indication
of his artistic bent of mind but he’s portrayed exactly as the opposite. His sudden transformation as an artist is not
convincing. Even Gauguin in his life as a stockbroker, is understood to have painted on and off, so it’s surprising why
Maugham could not incorporate that aspect into the story. This is a jarring point in the novel, one that threatens to ruin
the experience of the book.
(5) Strickland borrows money constantly as if it were his right. But in spite of his brutal ways he still finds enough
people to care for his undiscovered genius. One of them is the goofy Dirk Stroeve, an inferior painter, who recognizes
superior art. He provides home and shelter to Strickland when the latter takes violently ill. But his compassion means
nothing to Strickland who makes no effort to resist Dirk’s wife, Blanche when she falls for his roguish charm. What
others think of him means nothing to Strickland and he doesn’t bat an eyelid when Blanche dies.
(6) Another important theme in the book is marriage and entrapment. Maugham is decidedly cynical about the
institution and every couple he described in The Moon and Sixpence has a secret sorrow and is caught in a trap of
undefined misery. This is a constant theme with most of Maugham's works where a marital union never really reaches
fruition because one of the partners feels dissatisfied.
(7) The novel offers an incisive, penetrating view into what possibly goes into the making of an artist, his unique
temperament and his unrelenting search for inspiration. Still, Strickland cannot be a representative for all artists since
Maugham’s portrayal of him is deliberately sketchy and overly negative. It’s like knowing only one part of a story.
(8) The book, like most of Maugham’s other works teems with quotable quotes. This is what he says of women and
perverse thrill they derive from suffering: “A woman can forgive a man for the harm he does her, but can never forgive
him the sacrifices he makes on her account.” On his inability to be angry with Strickland for too long, Maugham says,
“It is one of the defects of my character that I cannot altogether dislike anyone who makes me laugh.”
(9) According to some sources, the title, the meaning of which is not explicitly revealed in the book, was taken from a
review of Of Human Bondage in which the novel's protagonist, Philip Carey, is described as "so busy yearning for
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the moon that he never saw the sixpence at his feet." Presumably Strickland's "moon" is the idealistic realm of Art and
Beauty, while the "sixpence" represents human relationships and the ordinary pleasures of life. Thus, The Moon and
Sixpence can be read as a treatise on the tension that exists between the idealistic pursuit of art and the ability to
maintain healthy human relationships—and from that perspective its disturbing message is clear: the artist can have one
or the other, but not both.
References
http://sandyi.blogspot.ru/2009/12/moon-and-sixpence.html
http://www.thatinscrutablething.com/2007/12/moon-and-sixpence-by-w-somerset-maugham.html
II. Write as essay on one of the memorable quotes from The Moon and Sixpence.
■ Life isn’t long enough for love and art.
■ Art is a manifestation of emotion, and emotion speaks a language that all may understand.
■ …the writer should seek his reward in the pleasure of his work and in release from the burden of his thought; and,
indifferent to aught else, care nothing for praise or censure, failure or success.
■ Beauty is something wonderful and strange that the artist fashions out of the chaos of the world in the torment of
his soul. And when he has made it, it is not given to all to know it. To recognize it you must repeat the adventure of the
artist. It is a melody that he sings to you, and to hear it again in your own heart you want knowledge and sensitiveness
and imagination.
■ To the acute observer no one can produce the most casual work without disclosing the innermost secrets of his
soul.
■ We seek pitifully to convey to others the treasures of our heart, but they have not the power to accept them, and
so we go lonely, side by side but not together, unable to know our fellows and unknown by them.
■ Unconsciously, perhaps, we treasure the power we have over people by their regard for our opinion of them, and
we hate those upon whom we have no such influence. I suppose it is the bitterest wound to human pride.
■ I have an idea that some men are born out of their due place. Accident has cast them amid certain surroundings,
but they have always a nostalgia for a home they know not. They are strangers in their birthplace, and the leafy lanes
they have known from childhood or the populous streets in which they have played, remain but a place of passage.
■ Sometimes a man hits upon a place to which he mysteriously feels that he belongs. Here is the home he sought,
and he will settle amid scenes that he has never seen before, among men he has never known, as though they were
familiar to him from his birth. Here at last he finds rest.
■ …the world is quickly bored by the recital of misfortune, and willingly avoids the sight of distress.
■ The faculty for myth is innate in the human race. It seizes with avidity upon any incidents, surprising or mysterious,
in the career of those who have at all distinguished themselves from their fellows, and invents a legend to which it then
attaches a fanatical belief.