About this title: Nick Urfe, a young British schoolteacher, travels to the Greek island of Phraxos for a vacation. There he manages to wander into a series of misadventures and confusions that bring the stability of his world into doubt. A careless flirtation with another tourist leads to a messy affair, and a chance introduction brings him under the influence of an enigmatic, elderly recluse who stands at the center of an oddly sinister cult.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Edition: "A Revised Version"
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Dell Publishing Company
Date Published: 1979
ISBN-13:9780440151623ISBN:0440151627
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Nice soft cover, lightly read, some shelf wear to cover, light creases on spine, 1/4" tear on bottom of cover along spine, light water marks on top edge, stk #2289q8. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Laurel Press
Date Published: 1985
ISBN-13:9780440351627ISBN:0440351626
Description: Fair. No dust jacket as issued. Paperback, as shown BUR old and dreary, tanned, pp creased, spine tipped, the whole schmear, but--NO stains, tears, writing--usable student-copy, if they happen to teach this perv! Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 672 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Dell
Date Published: 1985
ISBN-13:9780440351627ISBN:0440351626
Description: Acceptable. Overall below average used book. May have highlighting, underlining, notes, price sticker on cover, or be an ex-library book. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Dell
Date Published: 1978
ISBN-13:9780440151623ISBN:0440151627
Description: Good. -10th Printing--605 pgs. Interior-Nice overall condition. The paperback cover has normal signs of aging. -Publish Place: New York-Size: 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Dell Printing
Date Published: 1972
Description: Good. -10th Printing--605 pgs. Interior-Nice overall condition. The paperback cover has light signs of aging. -Publish Place: New York-Size: 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. read more
"Although actually published second, The Magus is Fowles' first novel -- his original publishing debut. Releasing a revised, more explicit version (which is not necessarily better) Fowles' metafiction follows Nicolas Urfe, a chauvanistic, self-centered English intellectual manque. Through a series of "disintoxications" or psycho-dramas staged by a mysterious Prospero character named Conchis, Urfe is re-educated about his relationships with women, his self-centered lifestyle, his mental shallowness. The magus (singular form of Magi)is the mentor/teacher, whose motives for his interest are never clear: is he hired by Allison? Is he simply a concerned professional? Is he an evil punisher for all of Nicolas' decadence? Is he a god-like overseer who manipulates events? None of these questions are answered definitively, and yet the novel's exploration of those questions is intriguing. A difficult, self-conscious work of post-modernist metafiction, The Magus is a tough go and not for adolescents -- adult fare."
"Many years ago I disguised myself as a technician and sneaked into the outdoor set for a Hollywood movie that featured big names at the time. Of course I didn't participate in the actual making of the film but I did wander around and stand next to the stars just to see if I could do it. I pulled the trick off perfectly and escaped without detection.
A few days later, the filming at the location was finished and the cast and crew packed up and left. I felt a strange depression to see them leave. For just a single evening I had been part of this make-believe world where anything was possible and now it was gone never to return.
In The Magus, the protagonist, Nicholas Urfe, finds himself in a production of which he is both the object and an active participant. He is so drawn to what happens that he continues to participate willingly even when things take turns he doesn't like.
Fowles is a marvelous writer and the book is filled with insights and vivid prose. More than once I paused to admire a passage.
There's sex, violence and horror in contrast to the beauty of the setting on an island in Greece. The plot twists and turns in unpredictable ways that make the next page worth turning. At some points I wondered at the plausibility of the whole idea, just as Nicholas does, yet Fowles' wonderfully intelligent dialogue and description gives the whole the stamp of reality. I found myself growing angry and then sympathetic to the different characters, particularly Nicholas. Throughout the book, one is forced to think about what is sincere and what is staged - both in the actions of the characters and in one's own life. When one is a part of the project of others (and how can each of us not be?), can one ever be a free agent or believe without questionin in others? Would we go mad if we did not believe we had free will?
This book asks, as all good novels do, why we do what we do. The answer is not put on a plate for the reader because there is no definitive answer. I don't believe there is a single overall meaning to The Magus. It's the kind of story that is to be thought about time and again because there is so much in it to ponder and interpret. The premise of the book is wildly imaginative, but Fowles grounds it firmly in well known human behavior, in particular that between men and women.
Were I to file this book on the shelf, I think I'd put it next to Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. Self-oppression/guilt can be far more painful than anything others can do to us. The anxiety of self-doubt can drive us to events the define us."
"This book views life from the perspective of a young male Englishman during the 40's, a teacher, a student, exploring the heat of the Mediterranean after being jilted by a selfish lover. In despair, he visits with a prostitute and winds up sick. Around the 1940s, as far as STDs were concerned, you took a risk. But with penicillin available, you were likely to cure it. On the island, he never gets the drug, though. Is what comes next a result of untreated Syphilis or is it unrequited love, or is it loneliness? Or a compilation of all of the above? When any of these causes as well as desperate thought abuse the mind, you get hallucinations. He compares himself to Robinson Crusoe. He sees images on the horizon that change as if in a drunken stupor. Hallucination? Insanity from Syphilis? Mental fatigue from being alone in a shack inhabited by a lonely old Greek? But the description is intensely real. John Fowles describes it all so perfectly. As a reader, you question the real and the imaginary until you literally feel insane yourself.
Ever seen "Jacob's Ladder"? This is "Jacob's Ladder" on steroids and caffeine. I greatly recommend this book to everyone. If you read it, pay attention. Don't miss a line or you will wind up lost for good."
"I first read The Magus in 1974, on the recommendation of a friend. He was probably attracted to the way it questions our assumptions of reality and to the similarity between Conchis, the sorceror of the title, and the mystical shaman Don Juan in the Carlos Castenada books. I found it a pretty wild ride.
I read it again in about 1980, after thoroughly enjoying another Fowles title. The haunting stories Conchis tells -- and the surreal illustrations of those stories that he somehow calls into being -- stayed with me through the years. But I knew I was still missing a lot, what with all the references to mythology and Jungian psychology (not to mention the frequent use of other languages). So when looking for something to read during my convalescence from a recent surgery, I thought I'd give it one more shot.
This time my focus was more on Nicholas, the alienated young Briton who escapes from a relationship by taking a teaching job on a Greek island, where he then meets Conchis. Nicholas is not a very agreeable character, presumably because he was raised without affection, and it's hard to imagine what Alison, the love interest, sees in him. Worse, I'm not sure he makes much progress in the course of the book.
Had I rated it in 1974 or 1980, I would have given it five stars. And I still admire its vivid sense of place and the moods it evokes. However, this time through I became impatient with the way Nicholas continues trying to see behind the masque. The guy becomes obsessed with Conchis, and much more so with a phantom-like young woman whom Conchis sometimes calls into being for purposes known only to him. He pursues answers doggedly, despite the warning that answers are a form of death, and despite the ominous direction events begin to take. In his shoes, I would have decided early on to give Conchis and all his retinue a wide berth. But maybe that's my age speaking. Nicholas is young.
I should mention that I read the original version. Fowles came along a few years later and rewrote portions of it."
New York Times Book Review, 1/9/66 "The combination of fantasy and seriousness will probably repel some readers who might accept one element without the other. I believe there will be many more who will surrender a measure of common sense to enjoy an extraordinary literary feat." -- J.D. Scott
Time, 01/14/1966 "[Fowles] displays to advantage both an extensive culture in the occult and a singular power of imagery."
Newsweek, 1/17/66 "This novel follows the harrowing misadventures of Nicholas Urfe, a young British schoolmaster who takes a teaching post on a remote Greek island, Phraxos, where he is drawn into an emotional maelstrom of high intrigue....The story moves form a mundane beginning (Nick's sad affair with a mixed-up Australian girl, Alison) to the Phraxos villa of the rich reclusive Conchis, a sinister old man devoted to enigmatic, spiritualistic poses. Conchis believes that man 'needs the existence of mysteries. Not their solution.'"
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