I first read this novel when I was young, some thirty years ago. It was one of the only literary novels in the house I grew up in. I remembered it fondly, with vague memories of Phillip stumbling around pining for Mildred.

In reading the novel again, I am amazed not only at the quality of the novel, but the extent to which it has shaped and formed my adult life. My attitudes about art, about love, about poverty, about life were forged in the smithy of Maugham's work. I'm pleased to discover that the novel is better than I remember it.

The most profound effect this book had on me was as a writer. I think it would be fair to say that I became a fiction writer because of this novel. Many of my stories are clearly influenced by this master work.

As literary fiction, the most interesting thing about this novel, to me, is the narrator. A third person narrative with first person aspirations, the narrator show a startling amount of attitude without making himself into a discernible character. We begin to see the shift from realism to modernism, less ambitious than Woolf but taking a definite step of progress.

Now I’m curious to reread Moon and Sixpence, which I first read during the formative years of my literary life. ( )

The publisher compiled 2 novels, 2 novelettes, 2 biographies, 4 short stories, 2 mysteries, 3 humor piences, selected poetry of Whitman, 4 True Adventure accounts, and an Essay by Aldous Huxley. ( )

very good collection of stories. many are not in the "usual" compilations. ( )