The moon and sixpence

Question

And when such as had come in contact with Strickland in the past, writers who had known him in London, painters who had met him in the cafés of Montmartre, discovered to their amazement that where they had seen but an unsuccessful artist, like another, authentic genius had rubbed shoulders with them, there began to appear in the magazines of France and America a succession of articles, the reminiscences of one, the appreciation of another, which added to Strickland's notoriety, and fed without satisfying the curiosity of the public.

Excerpt From
The Moon and Sixpence
W Somerset Maugham
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Hi. I have some questions regarding the sentence. Could you help me?

1. Does “like another” mean “like any other”?

2. Given that “authentic genius” refers to “him, Strickland”, why isn’t “an authentic genius” used here?

3. Can I say “the reminiscences by one, the appreciation by another” to mean the same thing as original?

Thank you.

Jack Dammit · Accepted Answer

Until someone better-trained appears on the scene, I'll suggest:

1. No, "like another" here means "as if another".

2. "Authentic genius" doesn't refer to Strickland. The author is describing circumstances which are developing as if the writers in London and the painters in Paris who knew or met Strickland had associated ("rubbed shoulders") with someone else ("another") who was an authentic genius.

3. "Of" indicates the possession of reminiscences and appreciation by one and another, respectively.

Let's consider the use of "by":

"there began to appear in the magazines of France and America a succession of articles in which Strickland was reminisced by one and appreciated by another"

This doesn't work because to my knowledge reminisce is an intransitive verb, whereas appreciate is transitive.

This can be easily fixed by changing reminisce to a similar transitive verb:

"there began to appear in the magazines of France and America a succession of articles in which Strickland was remembered by one and appreciated by another"

This works. You can't use "by" without changing the wording of the sentence and using a transitive verb instead of reminisce.

I hope this helps.

Anonymous · Answer

1. Here "like another" means "like another unsuccessful artist." "Like any other (unsuccessful artist)" is not quite right here. Strickland is portrayed as someone special and the word "any" suggests "non-special."

2. The abstract is intended here, "authentic genius," not a particular person, "an authentic genius." This make it more grand-sounding.

3. "By one" and "by another" would be grammatical, but not literary.

The moon and sixpence

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