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A review by selenajournal
The Magus by John Fowles
4.0
from what i understand, there are chunks of untranslated greek and latin in the novel. i think this is the first time outside of reading for school that i've gotten to read latin in modern literature. (why did i study latin in school? i'm a glutton for punishment and portuguese wasn't available).
~~
the magus is the anna karenina of john fowles’s career. with the freedom afforded to him after publishing the collector, he could focus on the magus. i couldn’t resist starting the magus first. any books that have chunks of untranslated greek and latin are too appealing to wait on my shelves. (latin was what i spent two years studying in school instead of the preferred spanish or french).
the story starts when nicholas urfe leaves the mostly sexual relationship he has with alison kelly in order to teach english on a prestigious island. though it seems she still loves him, she goes off to be an air hostess and she lets him go. this teaching assignment though, is special, since it takes place on a greek island, meaning he’d be spending most of his year on the island itself. this book is based in part on the experiences that fowles had when he taught on a greek island. in this way, the story really comes to life. the descriptions of greece made me feel like i was there. it was a welcome vacation.
once nicholas is on the island and has started his teaching career, he has a chance to meet the island’s eccentric millionaire maurice conchis, whom a previous teacher perhaps had warned him about (an altercation of some sort had taken place). his life on the island by this point is already a bit boring and he may have already turned his sights to certain brothels to satisfy his cravings. he’s not sure himself if he misses alison or is just not used to being so lonely. his character, early on, is introduced to the reader as being a bit of a ladies man sexually. strangely, he sets himself up as being the one not ready for commitments and for some reason, all of the women in his life find themselves wanting to fix him.
conchis leads nicholas down a journey that, to be frank, really fucks with his perceptions. conchis owns a beautiful house on the other side of the island that very few if any people are invited to. at first, nicholas is a confidante, part of the few, the elite, an assistant helping conchis (who presents himself as a psychologist). but then it spirals down and as the story progresses, the roles were changed and power was shifted between characters. i kept changing my mind about why certain strings were pulled and what the truth really was (i was completely wrong and i knew it, by the end).
the book dates itself by relying quite heavily on freudian and jungian schools of thought in analyzing the lives of men and diagnosing emotional issues to childhood traumas or inadequacies. in later parts of the book, when the adventure nicholas has been on is coming to an end, this dated psychology is very obviously referred to.
throughout the “experiment,” there were heavy mythological references. it took me about a week to read the book because, just like with reading american gods, i wanted to look into the deeper meanings of the gods that were being mentioned.
Polymus Films. I didn’t see the obvious, that one misplaced letter, until painfully late (583)
One realized progress more by omissions than anything else; by pretenses dropped. She raised her head, and she sat back propped on one arm, slightly turned away. Then she picked up the mask and held it like a yashmak again.
“I am Astarte, mother of mystery.”
when nicholas charted a person’s involvement in the “experiment,” he’d refer to it by recalling a similar mythological character. the only real consistency in the story seemed to be that conchis is god.
There’s a card in the Tarot pack called the magus. The magician… conjurer. Two of his traditional symbols are the lily and the rose. (477)
this is a story where knowing more than the book blurb is detrimental to your enjoyment, so i’m attempting to be vague. in doing so though, i do want to comment on the ending, the ties along the way that led to the ending. i don’t know why, but i was expecting a much more grandiose ending to the book. the grueling experiment and work that went into teaching nicholas. the three months after the experiment were pretty heavily glossed over and i wish this wasn’t the case. i was curious what was going through his head, because, having gone through the emotional wringer with nicholas, i had a lot to vent about. i had a lot of questions.
i made sure to purchase the french lieutenant’s wife so I can begin soon. i had hoped to find the collector but the timing isn’t right yet. fowles is a great writer and i know i’ll be coming back to his work soon.
~~
the magus is the anna karenina of john fowles’s career. with the freedom afforded to him after publishing the collector, he could focus on the magus. i couldn’t resist starting the magus first. any books that have chunks of untranslated greek and latin are too appealing to wait on my shelves. (latin was what i spent two years studying in school instead of the preferred spanish or french).
the story starts when nicholas urfe leaves the mostly sexual relationship he has with alison kelly in order to teach english on a prestigious island. though it seems she still loves him, she goes off to be an air hostess and she lets him go. this teaching assignment though, is special, since it takes place on a greek island, meaning he’d be spending most of his year on the island itself. this book is based in part on the experiences that fowles had when he taught on a greek island. in this way, the story really comes to life. the descriptions of greece made me feel like i was there. it was a welcome vacation.
once nicholas is on the island and has started his teaching career, he has a chance to meet the island’s eccentric millionaire maurice conchis, whom a previous teacher perhaps had warned him about (an altercation of some sort had taken place). his life on the island by this point is already a bit boring and he may have already turned his sights to certain brothels to satisfy his cravings. he’s not sure himself if he misses alison or is just not used to being so lonely. his character, early on, is introduced to the reader as being a bit of a ladies man sexually. strangely, he sets himself up as being the one not ready for commitments and for some reason, all of the women in his life find themselves wanting to fix him.
conchis leads nicholas down a journey that, to be frank, really fucks with his perceptions. conchis owns a beautiful house on the other side of the island that very few if any people are invited to. at first, nicholas is a confidante, part of the few, the elite, an assistant helping conchis (who presents himself as a psychologist). but then it spirals down and as the story progresses, the roles were changed and power was shifted between characters. i kept changing my mind about why certain strings were pulled and what the truth really was (i was completely wrong and i knew it, by the end).
the book dates itself by relying quite heavily on freudian and jungian schools of thought in analyzing the lives of men and diagnosing emotional issues to childhood traumas or inadequacies. in later parts of the book, when the adventure nicholas has been on is coming to an end, this dated psychology is very obviously referred to.
throughout the “experiment,” there were heavy mythological references. it took me about a week to read the book because, just like with reading american gods, i wanted to look into the deeper meanings of the gods that were being mentioned.
Polymus Films. I didn’t see the obvious, that one misplaced letter, until painfully late (583)
One realized progress more by omissions than anything else; by pretenses dropped. She raised her head, and she sat back propped on one arm, slightly turned away. Then she picked up the mask and held it like a yashmak again.
“I am Astarte, mother of mystery.”
when nicholas charted a person’s involvement in the “experiment,” he’d refer to it by recalling a similar mythological character. the only real consistency in the story seemed to be that conchis is god.
There’s a card in the Tarot pack called the magus. The magician… conjurer. Two of his traditional symbols are the lily and the rose. (477)
this is a story where knowing more than the book blurb is detrimental to your enjoyment, so i’m attempting to be vague. in doing so though, i do want to comment on the ending, the ties along the way that led to the ending. i don’t know why, but i was expecting a much more grandiose ending to the book. the grueling experiment and work that went into teaching nicholas. the three months after the experiment were pretty heavily glossed over and i wish this wasn’t the case. i was curious what was going through his head, because, having gone through the emotional wringer with nicholas, i had a lot to vent about. i had a lot of questions.
i made sure to purchase the french lieutenant’s wife so I can begin soon. i had hoped to find the collector but the timing isn’t right yet. fowles is a great writer and i know i’ll be coming back to his work soon.