摘 要

毛姆是英国著名的剧作家和小说家。在20世纪30年代，他成了世界范围内最为流行、酬劳最高的作家。毛姆的作品关注人性，他本人也从未停止在书中寻求人性的救赎。《月亮与六便士》和《刀锋》是毛姆最为成功的两篇小说。两部作品之间的比较，能反映出毛姆在不同时期对人性的思考与其精神追求的转变。

本文由四个部分组成，分别是介绍，正文的两个章节和结论。除了介绍和结论，论文第二章讨论了作家毛姆及他的作品，以及当前关于毛姆研究的现状。论文第三章对毛姆的救赎精神进行了解读，分别将人性冲突从灵与肉、原始文明和现代文明两个角度进行了分析。同时，文章着重分析毛姆人性救赎求索由西方思潮到东方文化和宗教的变化，同时分析了毛姆救赎精神的消极性和局限性。本文充分反映了毛姆救赎精神和其精神探索的独特性与复杂性。

关键词：毛姆；《月亮与六便士》；《刀锋》；救赎精神

Abstract

William Somerset Maugham was a famous British playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest-paid author during the 1930s. Maugham centers on the humanity and never ceases his effort to seek for spiritual salvation. The Moon and Sixpence and The Razor’s Edge are two of Maugham’s most successful novels. The comparison between two novels would reveal the theme of Maugham’s ideas, moreover, present his changing attitude towards spiritual pursuit.

This paper consists of four parts, the introduction, two chapters as body paragraphs and conclusions. Apart from introduction and the conclusions, the paper consists of two parts. Chapter two would discuss Maugham, his works and research status. In Chapter three, the paper would focus on Maugham’s ideas about spiritual salvation and would elaborate from the conflicts between the flesh and the spirit, the primitive civilization and the modern civilization. Simultaneously, the paper would analyze the change that Maugham was firstly inspired by the western idealogical trend and later the eastern culture and religion when seeking for spiritual salvation. Moreover, the negativity and the limitation of his salvation spirit would also be the concern. The paper would reflect the uniqueness and the complexity of Maugham’s salvation spirit and the process of his spiritual exploration.

Key Words: Maugham; The Moon and Sixpence; The Razor’s Edge; Salvation Spirit

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 About the Author and His works 1

2.1 About William Somerset Maugham 2

2.2 About The Moon and Sixpence and The Razor’s Edge 3

2.3 Research Status and Research Significance 4

3 Maugham’s Salvation Spirit in The Moon and Sixpence and The Razor’s Edge 5

3.1 Interpretation of Salvation Spirit 5

3.1.1 The Flesh and The Spirit 5

3.1.2 The Primitive Civilization and Modern Civilization 6

3.2 The Change of Maugham’s Salvation Thought 8

3.3 The Negativity of Maugham’s Salvation Thought 11

4 Conclusions 13

References 14

Acknowledgements 15

Salvation Spirit in Somerset Maugham’s The Moon and Sixpence and The Razor’s Edge

1 Introduction

William Somerset Maugham has always been in a controversial situation in literary history. His works have massive number of readers in the world, but the value of his work is overlooked in literary history.

Maugham explained his motives for writing as to tell interesting stories and to offer an entertainment. Yet his focus on the exploration of individual’s humanity is deeply discussed in his novels. Maugham keeps an eye on love and hatred in the real world, meaning and value of living, struggle and exploration of individuals. These themes are not restricted in a certain time, space or a group of people, on the contrary, develop along with individuals. Maugham conveys the wisdom and ideas of his own concern and thought in a way accepted by the ordinary readers. Hence it is such an understatement to say that Maugham is a second-rate writer, as a matter of fact, his uniqueness would be memorized by people and literature.

The Moon and Sixpence and The Razor’s Edge are good examples to elaborate Maugham’s unique spiritual ideas. In Maugham’s novel, his salvation spirit has always been the major concern. His salvation spirit explicitly interprets the complexity of humanity. In this paper, his salvation spirit would be interpreted by comparing two novels.

2 About the Author and His Works

2.1 About William Somerset Maugham

Maugham was born on 25th January, 1874. The early death of his parents left Maugham traumatized. He was sent to the UK to be taken care of by his uncle, Henry MacDonald Maugham. The school life in The King’s School, Canterbury was difficult and torturing for Maugham. He was teased for his bad English and short stature. Due to his experience both in school and in his uncle’s vicarage, Maugham developed a stammer stayed with him for the whole life and simultaneously gained talent in making wounding remarks to those who displeased him.

Aged 16, Maugham was allowed to travel to Germany and studied literature and philosophy in Heidelberg University. During these years, his first book, a biography of Giacomo Meyerbeer, an opera composer, was published. After his return to Britain, Maugham found that he had no interest in legal field and the profession offered by his uncle. For the next five years, Maugham studied medicine at the medical school of St Thomas Hospital in Lambeth. Some critics believed that the medicine study kills Maugham’s creativity, yet Maugham denied and admitted the value of his experience as a medicine student: “I saw how men died. I saw how they bore pain. I saw what hope looked like, fear and relief…” The time he living in London he met a sort of people whom he otherwise would never meet in other time. He witnessed how ordinary people see the world, feel the anxiety and hope.