A Study of Pursuing Will of Strickland in the Apollonian and Dionysian Theory
DOI: https://doi.org/10.62381/ACS.FSSD2025.46
Author(s)
Jiayue Wei
Affiliation(s)
School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
Abstract
William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) was a world-famous English writer. His works inherited unique and plain description and put emphasis on the marginal man of society. The Moon and Sixpence is a novel completed by William Somerset Maugham in 1919. The French painter Paul Gauguin is the prototype of the protagonist. In his book. The Apollonian and Dionysian theory steps from the spirit of Apollonian and Dionysian in Greek myth, which consists of the Dualism of the German philosopher Nietzsche. It has four parts: The first part focuses on the departure of Strickland and explains Strickland's transition within Apollonian; The second part concentrates on the life experience of Strickland in Paris. It particularly analyzes the process which Strickland spent on the transition from Apollonian to Dionysian; The third and fourth sections focus on the final change of Strickland in Tahiti island to further elicit the pursuit of life will of Strickland.
Keywords
Strickland; Dualism; Life Will; The Spirit of Apollo and Dionysus
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