Monday, April 22, 2019

The 1965 Club: The Magus by John Fowles

Confession #1: I actually read the 1977 revised version of The Magus, which was originally  published in 1965. Alas, the revised version is what was available at the library.

Confession #2: I read most of the book in March because this baby is over 600 pages long!

The Magus was John Fowles third published novel. Today, I think he is better known for his debut The Collector or his fourth novel, The French Lieutenant's Woman.  The reason I chose to read The Magus (other than its publication date) for the 1965 Club was because it is on the Modern Library's 100 Best Novels in English of the 20th Century, a list I have been slowly reading through on since 1998.  I still have 25 titles left to read and cross off. 

The story is narrated by Nicholas Urfe and it begins very much like a 19th century novel, "I was born in  1927, the only child of middle-class parents, both English, and themselves born in the grotesquely elongated shadow, which they never rose sufficiently above history to leave, of that monstrous dwarf, Queen Victoria." 

The first 50 pages or so are Nicholas recounting his childhood and education, bringing the reader to to the present day as he is in his mid-twenties and ready to flee gray London for a teaching job at a boy's boarding school located on a remote Greek island. Also Nicholas is fleeing an intense relationship with a young Australian woman which Nicholas is too immature to handle, though he doesn't realize it at the time. 

"The thing I felt most clearly, when the first corner was turned, was that I had escaped; and hardly less clearly, but much more odiously, that she loved me more than I loved her, and that consequently I had in some indefinable way won. So on top of the excitement of the voyage in to the unknown, the taking wing again, I had an agreeable feeling of emotional triumph. A dry feeling; but I liked things dry. I went towards Victoria as a hungry man goes towards a good dinner after a couple of glasses of Mananzilla. I began to hum, and it was not a brave attempt to hid my grief, but a revoltingly unclouded desire to celebrate my release."

I'm not sure if it comes across in the above quote, but Nicholas is kind of an a**hat. It is something I as a reader had to wrestle with, since the book is entirely in Nicholas' point of view and we tend to want to empathize with first person narrators. 

Once Nicholas is on the island, he meets a mysterious millionaire, Maurice Conchis, who owns a private villa not far from the boarding school. It quickly becomes clear that Conchis is very interested in and possibly manipulating Nicholas, but to what end? As the book progresses, both Nicholas and the reader begin to doubt reality and question Conchis' motives. To say any more would be to go into spoiler territory. Just know that the original title of the book was "The Godgame".

I do think I would have appreciated the metaphysical aspects of The Magus more had I read it when I was younger.  As a novel, it is very much a thought-experiment and it asks some really big questions about psychology, religion, mythology, free-will, etc. It is a book I admired more than I actually enjoyed. 

I read this for the 1965 Club hosted by bloggers Simon at Stuck in a Book and Karen at Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings and I thank them both for this opportunity

20 comments:

  1. Hi Ruthiella, really great review of this book. The way you describe the Magus and the main character makes we want to read it. Nicholas as you say is immature but doesn't realize it and those kind of characters often meet someone who can manipulate them. Many years ago I did try to read The French Lietunant's Woman but could not get into it. But I am much older now and so maybe time to give John Fowles another try.

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    1. Thanks for the comment Kathy! I read The French Lieutenant's Woman a few years ago and like with The Magus, my experience was mixed. I'm not sure if Fowles is the author for me. But I still want to try The Collector some day!

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  2. I read The French Lieutenant's Woman and liked it before reading The Magus. Sadly, I don't remember much about either of them. I saw The Collector, but didn't read the book--creepy!

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    1. Thanks for the comment jenclair! Yes, I've heard The Collector is super creepy! I'll give it a shot one of these days!

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  3. Another author I haven't read yet. But I am kind of interested in The Collector.

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    1. Thanks for the comment Lark! The Collector is also A LOT shorter than either The Magus or the French Lieutenant's Woman which makes it a lot more attractive to me as wll! :D

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  4. Intriguing! Sounds like one I might also admire rather than like... though since I didn't like The French Lieutenant's Woman, maybe Fowles isn't for me.

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    1. Thanks for the comment Simon. If you didn't like The French Lieutenant's Woman, I suspect you won't like The Magus either. Plus, you don't like long books and this one is a chunkster!

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  5. Hmm, I read this years ago, and I was thinking, now, what does he try to get Nicholas to do? I can't remember! Maybe I need to read this again.

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    1. Thanks for the comment Kay! 600+ pages is a lot to just jog your memory. Unless you are a big John Fowles fan. Then, go for it! :D But the real question for me is, was Conchis successful in changing Nicholas? I think not but other readers might differ.

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  6. I'm with you: I think you have to read this one young to really like it. It's pretty easy-reading for something long and philosophical. And yes, Nicholas is something of an a**hat, isn't he?

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    1. Thanks for the comment reese! It did read well for a long book. I really wanted to know what was going on...what was real or if any of it was imagined or supernatural, etc. and that kept me turning the pages.

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  7. I really enjoyed The French Lieutenant’s Woman when I read it a few years ago, and I thought Fowle’s writing to be so elegant. However, I must say that this book sounds like a lot of work—like you, I probably would appreciate more in more younger days when experiemental fiction was what I really liked, but now...I like good writing and a good story.

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    1. Thanks for the comment Jane! The Magus is a bit of a head-trip, though Fowles also was fairly playful in the The French Lieutenant’s Woman as well, what with the authorial intrusions and different endings.

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  8. I have to admit that I had not heard about any of his titles. I enjoyed your review but I don't feel very inclined to read this or any other of his books at the moment.

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    1. Thanks for the comment Silvia! With so many books to choose from, it is good to know what not to read as well as what we want to read. :D I too know of authors where I am perfectly happy to know their name and some of their titles but that's as far as it goes.

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  9. Ruthiella,
    I read The French Lieutenant's Woman so many years ago--had to have been in the 1970s. I liked it a lot and of course saw the film. I imagine Meryl Streep as the lead woman, but it couldn't have been. Must look that up! I couldn't bear the premise of The Collector, so that was it for me and this author. I will be interested to hear when you read more.

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    1. Thanks for the comment Judith! It was Meryl Streep in the film version...I remember it from the T.V. ads at the time. And Jeremy Irons. When I read the book I was curious to see how it the meta-fictional stuff would be adapted...but alas never got round to seeing the movie (yet anyway).

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  10. I read The Magus for a contemporary lit course in college in the middle 1970s and not re-read it since. But I remember -- or misremember -- struggling with Conchis/Conscious just reaching into Nick's life, stirring it all up, all for Nick's own good (of course, people that do the worst things do them out of altruism) but without Nick's knowledge or consent. Nick was a butthead but even buttheads have the right not to be manipulated.

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    1. Thanks for the comment Major! I think your memories are correct; certainly Conchis takes liberties and Nicholas is right to be angry. But also Nicholas could have walked away at any number of points and did or would not.

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