When the book begins, post-university, he is rather aimless and doesn’t know how to proceed in life.īored and intellectually pretentious, he applies to teach in schools abroad. After being educated at a public school (that means private school in the UK) and doing his obligatory national service, he studied at Oxford. It concerns a rather selfish and self centred young man, Nicholas. John Fowles began writing the book in the early nineteen fifties and it is set in 1952. Now we have that out of the way, what can you expect to find in The Magus? Its meaning is whatever reaction it provokes in the reader, and so fr as I am concerned there is no given ‘right’ reaction’. If The Magus has any ‘real significance’ it is no more that that of the Rorschach test in psychology. Novels, even much more lucidly and controlled ones than this, are not like crossword puzzles with one unique set of correct answers behind the clues – (Dear Mr Fowles,please explain the real significance of…) an analogy I sometimes despair of ever extirpating from the contemporary student mind. Indeed, the author revised the book about ten years after its initial publication. Looking for hidden meaning in a book about the fragility of reality, about illusion and about the concept that delving too far is rarely positive it is certainly a strange anomaly. In fact, this is one of the messages in the book, if indeed there are any – simply accept. When you stop looking for the meaning and simply accept what you read, the book is more pleasurable and more enjoyable by far.

I doubt you’ll suddenly have a revelation about the meaning of life or the truth about reality.(Although please let me know if you do). Deep meanings are not to be found in this book. I strongly suspect that the author isn’t trying to tell us anything. What does it mean? Where is the truth? What is the author telling us? I think I was the same when I first read it. There seems to be a tendency amongst younger (or first-time) readers to try to find the ‘meaning’ behind this book. (The Wikipedia page about the book and the dreadful film made in 1968 are just as bad). I’d truly recommend that you don’t read them if you want to get the maximum enjoyment from this fabulous book.

Many reviewers get this book completely wrong – especially the amateur reviewers at Amazon. It’s a book that has been largely misunderstood, in my opinion. My reading of this book has spanned many years. The Magus is one of my desert island books -one I can read again and again.I’ve probably read it half a dozen times – at least.

The magus fowles