Dhaka : North south university’s (NSU) school of humanities and social sciences (SHSS) organized a talk on the moon and sixpence by Somerset Maugham: The passion for self-realization and its unsuspected triggers’ on 23 July 2025. The session was held at the NSU SHSS Conference Room, as part of the NSU SHSS faculty seminar series. The keynote speaker was Dr Farooq M. Sheikh, professor director, institutional ranking cell at NSU. Dr. Halimur R. Khan, professor director, institutional quality assurance Cell at NSU, moderated the session and highlighted that the younger generation has a lot to learn from the topic. Professor Rizwanul islam, dean of the SHSS at NSU, commenced the discussion with the opening remarks, where he expressed gratitude to the distinguished guest for gracing the occasion with his presence. Additionally, he underscored the enduring relevance of classic literature in exploring fundamental human questions about purpose and fulfillment, according to a press release.
Dr. Sheikh begins by exploring the idea of happiness throughout the story of the novel. Inspired by Paul Gauguin, the novel traces out Charles Strickland’s journey through life after his sudden exit from his comfortable London life, where he was a successful stockbroker and headed a family of two children and a sincere socially active wife.
The life he commences proves to be a life marked by brutal honesty, indifference to societal norms personal comfort, and is propelled by a singularly relentless pursuit of artistic self-realization. The life so traced out weaves through Paris, Marseilles, to find its terminal home in idyllic Tahiti among a people living in closer proximity to the primitive instincts of human love and fellowship, insulated from the affectations of civility as had become prevalent in the urban centers like London and Paris. It is essentially the life story of an artist passionately driven by a need to externalize through paintings the raging inner gleanings of his mind, with absolutely no interest in artistic recognition or commercial gains from art. It is a life that culminates in the creation of a unique magnum opus executed with feverish frenzy by a painter already gone blind with leprosy that eventually takes his life. Only three people were witnesses to his masterpiece before it was destroyed by his wife at his own instruction.
Strickland, by this last act of ordering the destruction of his masterpiece, proves to the world that the highest reward of great art is in the process of creating the art, and not in its recognition or its monetization. Dr. Sheikh went on to question the true definition of fulfillment, contrasting material success with an all-consuming artistic drive.
During the Q& A session, faculty members and students actively engaged with the guest speaker on the complex motivations behind Charles Strickland’s radical abandonment of his conventional life, the novel’s philosophical exploration of happiness versus artistic passion, the ethical implications of his choices on his family and those around him, and the parallels between Strickland’s pursuit of self-realization and contemporary societal values. The interactive exchange of ideas deeply immersed all the attendees. Some students lingered behind to delve further into the details of the story and its ramification in our times and their respective life. The event truly founds its fulfillment in the engagement of the students with very thoughtful questions coming from them.
