PDA

View Full Version : John Fowles



tianup
05-13-2003, 04:48 AM
The Magus by John Fowles is one of the greatest works of fiction I have ever read. It was published in 1965, and I don't even know how I came to read it. I'd never heard of it, and I think I saw it for like 50 cents at a book sale, and thought it looked interesting. Amazingly deep and twisted book. Curious if anyone has read any of his many other novels.

http://www.fowlesbooks.com/

Book Description
The Magus was originally published in 1965 and reissued in a revised version twelve years later. The story of Nicholas Urfe and his friendship with a demonic millionaire which leads to an elaborate series of staged hallucinations, riddles, and psychological traps, The Magus endures as the most enigmatic and magical novel in the Fowles canon, a work rich in symbols, conundrums, and labyrinthine twists of events. This Modern Library edition includes a new introduction by the author.

Book Description
A man trapped in a millionare's deadly game of political and sexual betrayal.
Filled with shocks and chilling surprises, The Magus is a masterwork of contemporary literature. In it, a young Englishman, Nicholas Urfe, accepts a teaching position on a Greek island where his friendship with the owner of the islands most magnificent estate leads him into a nightmare. As reality and fantasy are deliberately confused by staged deaths, erotic encounters, and terrifying violence, Urfe becomes a desperate man fighting for his sanity and his life. A work rich with symbols, conundrums and labrinthine twists of event, The Magus is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining, a work that ranks with the best novels of modern times.

tianup
05-14-2003, 03:29 AM
No one has read this! Unbelievable.

botts
05-17-2003, 04:04 PM
read the magus years ago and seem to remember it as a very enjoyable although ultimately disturbing read. also read the collector, i think also by fowles at about the same time...

there you go tianup...someone else who has read it :)

botts

Ad
05-18-2003, 01:21 PM
wow sounds like my thing reading what u have put there might try and find this book

the_faceman
05-18-2003, 01:39 PM
it sounds like this is where they got some of the story line for that michael douglas film back in 1997 - The Game or something.

echidna
05-18-2003, 02:28 PM
I've read the magus

it is a great book rich and dence [but not too dence like umberto eco]
very mysterious and kind of intoxicating

i've also read the collector which is kinda more disturbing but not as interesting as the magus
thanx for the link tianup, i never knew the translation at the end

tianup
05-20-2003, 08:33 PM
Yay! I didn't imagine it all! Cool that everyone who read it enjoyed - can't see how anyone wouldn't.

@ botts - I fould it ultimately disturbing as well. :rolleyes:

@ adthomp - definitely worth reading - you'll love it.

@ the_faceman - I think The Game certainly borrowed (stole?) some of the content from The Magus, even some of the names are the same.

@ echidna - I found it somewhat intoxicating as well - good description. I remember always feeling like I'd just woken up from an intense dream whenever I put that book down.

I will check out The Collector as well.