The book focuses on the adventure of Nicholas Urfe, an Oxford graduate English teacher whose move to the beautiful Greek island of Phraxos, in 1953, in search of the poetry muse, will turn into a real adventure. Fowles knew how to make sure that the reader would gravitate around the book until the end, fully speculating on people’s attraction and fascination for mystery. “The Magus” has disarming dimensions but once started, it will go under your skin and it will haunt you every time you close it. Today I recommend a book that is not at all easy to read, to understand, to follow, to digest, but, also, not at all easy to abandon. Other notable works include “The Ebony Tower” (1974), a volume of collected novellas, “Daniel Martin” (1977), “Mantissa” (1982), his last novel being “A Maggot” (1985). After that, he wrote essays reflecting his views on evolution, art and politics, returning to fiction with “The Magus” (published 1965, filmed 1968) and continuing with “ The French Lieutenant’s Woman ” (published 1969, filmed 1981, some saying that this is his best-known work). His first novel, “ The Collector ” (published 1963, filmed 1965) brought him international and immediate success. Fowles graduated from the University of Oxford and he worked as a teacher in Greece, France and Britain. He was born in England, 1926, and died 79 years later, also in England. John Fowles is an English novelist, his writing being positioned between modernism and postmodernism. I had decided not to wait too long until my next meeting with the author, but only recently I dared to venture into the fascinating and incomprehensible world of “The Magus”. A few years ago, I’ve read in no time John Fowles’ “The Collector”.

The magician fowles