John Fowles is a British writer who is known to readers as a true experimenter. That is why the appearance of his novel "Magus", written in the genre of magical realism, which is most characteristic of Latin American culture, did not cause much surprise among admirers of this author and his critics.
A bit of a genre
The term "magic realism" is quite capacious. It includes a fairly large group of Latin American writers who created their works in the 20th century. The main common technique for these authors is the introduction of fantastic, wonderful and strange elements into the boundaries of real life.
The origins of this manner of storytelling are deep in religion and the way of thinking inherent in the native American peoples of the pre-Columbian period. It was they who became the impetus for the development of this literary direction.
A bit about the author
John Robert Fowles is an English writer, essayist, and novelist. According to literary critics, this author can be considered one of the prominent representatives of literary postmodernism. His most famous works:
- "The woman of the French lieutenant";
- "Daniel Martin";
- "Collector" and some others.
It is worth noting that in English literature of the second half of the 20th century. more and more authors began to use elements of magical reality in their works. And they came to fantastic realism , regardless of Hispanic colleagues. However, in English novels one can trace their own specifics, issuing an unusually strong connection with literary traditions.
Judging by the reviews of critics, the works of John Fowles are closely interconnected postmodern, existentialist and mythological foundations. Their manifestation can be traced in that significant subtext created by the author, as well as in his choice of game models and the creation of intertext.
Reviews of John Fowles' The Magus, as well as some of his other works, indicate that the writer created a diverse and amazing world that combines the features of magical realism of the Latin American style with the style of a Victorian novel.
Writing history
John Fowles began to create his novel "Magus" in the fifties of the last century. This was the first such monumental work of the author. The novel was published after the popularity came to the writer, which brought him the work "Collector". Readers could get acquainted with the literary work "Magus" only in 1965. The fact is that the writer many times reworked the poetics and form of the novel, rewriting it again and again.
Idea of ​​creation
Before getting acquainted with the plot of the work, we will tell a little about the history of writing the book. The action, which is narrated in it, takes place on the fictional island of Fraxos. This piece of land according to its description resembles the island of Spetses, located near Greece, where the author himself worked. The book contains many descriptions of historical and cultural events. It contains a reference to the myth of the ancient Greek singer and musician Orpheus. The proof of this is the name of the main character - Erfe.
In their reviews of the novel Magus, critics note repeated references to the mythology of ancient Greece. This, for example, the kingdom of Hades, the conductor of Hermes, as well as the name Nicholas, etc. At the same time, an analogy of the characters of his book with the characters of Shakespeare's Storm is traced in Fowles' work. But the structure of the plot is similar to the novel by Charles Dickens "Great Expectations" and with the work of Alain-Fournier.
Critics 'reviews of John Fowles' The Magus "argue that the philosophical basis of the novel, as well as the work of the author as a whole, is a saga about the essence of human life itself, in which the philosophy of existentialism and Jung's psychology are central.
The Magi - who is this?
This word came to us from the Slavic language. It translates the sorcerer as "mumble, speak unclear and confused." So the ancient Slavs called soothsayers and sorcerers, whose main weapon was the word. The wisdom of the Magi was their knowledge of secrets inaccessible to ordinary people. These sorcerers were considered a special class of people who enjoyed great influence in former times.
What is the novel about?
The main character of the work is Nicholas Erfe. What is the book "Magus" about? John Fowles tells his reader about a young guy who in his years is already bored with life. Nicholas was gripped by an existential crisis. Moreover, the condition of the young man became so depressing that he decided to leave England, leaving his girlfriend Alison. Erfe moved to Greece and settled on the island of Fraxos. Even at home, a former colleague warned him against visiting the waiting room. However, the young man disobeyed wise advice and ended up in a completely different world for himself. His life on the island consists of two parts. The first one is real. In it, Nicholas teaches, sends letters to his beloved and indulges in memories of life at home. The second part of life is on the border of mystical realism. Being in it, you can not believe a single, even beautifully spoken word.
A special place in the book is occupied by manipulations made by the author with readers. They make you worry and try to solve the secrets presented by Conchis.
Original title of the novel
The book "Magus" was renamed by the author. It was originally called the Game of God. Here John Fowles meant Conchis. This hero represents God or the Magus. It is Conchis who makes Nicholas go through a strange labyrinth that radically changes his world, and after that he returns everything to its place. Where is the truth? Who can be trusted?
Reviews of the "Magus" by John Fowles confirm that throughout the plot these questions, tormenting the protagonist, do not leave readers. One of the main components of the novel is an attempt to find, reveal the truth and distinguish it from lies.
Reviews of the book "Magus" by Fowles indicate that at the beginning readers fully trust its content and perceive it as truth. However, all this lasts until a certain point. With his arrival it is no longer possible to understand what is true and what is fiction. And this continues at intervals of 20 pages. The author as if throws the reader either one way or the other. Judging by the reviews, throughout the acquaintance with the plot of the book, one cannot trust what has been said and be confident in something.
Summary
So, as already mentioned above, the book tells the story of Nicholas Erf. Consider the summary of the novel "The Magus" by John Fowles.
The main character of this work was born in the family of a brigadier general in 1927. He served in the army for a short time and entered Oxford in 1948. A year after Nicholas became a student, his parents died. The young man was left alone. He had an independent, albeit small, annual income, which allowed him to buy a used car. Not every student could boast of such an acquisition, because of which our hero began to enjoy success with girls.
Nicholas wrote poetry, read out novels written by French existentialists, not realizing that the life of his beloved heroes does not take place in reality, but in literature. The protagonist of the novel became the founder of the club "Rebellious people", whose members protested against the ordinary gray life. What was the result of all this? This can tell us quotes from the "Magus" by John Fowles. One of them says that, judging by the hero’s own assessment, he entered into life "fully prepared for failure."
Continuing to familiarize ourselves with the further contents of The Magus by John Fowles, we see the main character in the east of England, in a small school where he was sent as a teacher after graduating from Oxford. Nicholas with great difficulty endured in this quiet place for a year, and then sent a petition to the British Council with a request to send him to work abroad. So he ended up on Frankson, in Greece, at Lord Byron’s school. It was a small island located eighty kilometers from Athens.
That day, when Nicholas was offered a job in Greece, he met a girl. Her name was Alison, and she came to England from Australia. Young people fell in love, but they had to leave. The young man went to Greece, and Alison offered a job as a stewardess.
Getting acquainted with the further content of the "Magus" by John Fowles, the reader learns about the island on which our hero got. This is a divinely beautiful and at the same time deserted patch of land. Nicholas was never able to get close to anyone. He preferred lonely walks around the island, rejoicing in the beauty of the Greek landscape, and wrote poetry. However, it was here that our hero realized that he could not be called a poet, because his poems were pompous and mannered.
From a brief summary of John Fowles 'The Magus', the reader also learns that the protagonist once became depressed and even tried to commit suicide. This happened after he visited the Athenian brothel, where he caught an unpleasant disease.
However, from a certain point in John Fowles’s Magus, the plot changes dramatically. Since May, miracles began to happen on the island. In one of the previously empty villas appeared tenants. They became known about them with a towel that smelled of female cosmetics, and an anthology of English poetry, laid in several places. On one of the pages marked with bookmarks, Eliot's verses were emphasized in red, which said that a person would have to wander with thought, as a result of which he would come to where he came from and see his land for the first time.
A summary of John Fowls 'The Magus' tells us that Nicholas became interested in the owner of the villa and began to inquire about him in the village. People talked about him reluctantly. Local residents considered the owner of Burani villa a collaborator. During the war, he served as the headman of the Germans and, as many believed, was involved in the execution of the Gestapo half of the villagers. People spoke of this man as being very reserved. They said that he lives alone and does not receive guests.
The atmosphere of contradictions, mystery and omissions that envelops this man, intriguing affects Nicholas. He decides to meet the owner of the villa, Mr. Conchis, by all means.
What do we learn from the further description of John Fowles's Magus? Soon, the meeting of Nicholas and Conchis (as the owner of the villa asked to call himself in English) took place. A new acquaintance showed our hero a house with his huge library, ancient sculptures, painted vases, drawings on which had an erotic orientation, as well as with ancient clavichords. The owner invited the guest to the table, and after tea he began to play Telemann. Nikolosol liked the performance very much, although Konchis claimed that he was not a musician, that he was just a rich man and a “spirit man”.
Description of the book "The Magus" by John Fowles contains the thoughts of our hero. Being materially educated, he begins to wonder if his acquaintance is crazy. After all, Conchis told Nicholas that he was also “called up”. Our hero has never seen such people in his life.
Further, in the plot of the novel "The Magus" by John Fowles, the separation of new acquaintances takes place. Moreover, Conchis makes a strange Greek gesture, throwing his hands up, like a master, a magician. At the same time, he invites Nicholas to join him next weekend without telling anyone in the village about it.
From this moment, the life of our hero has changed. He is looking forward to next weekend to go to Burani. At the same time, he believes that he has been honored from the life of unearthly bounties, as he entered into a fairy-tale maze.
From the further plot of John Robert Fowles’s book “The Magus” we learn that Conchis tells him various stories from his life during his meetings with Nicholas. At the same time, their heroes begin to materialize. For example, our hero met an old foreigner in the village, who introduced himself as de Ducane. It was from this person that the owner of the villa in the 30s received a huge inheritance. Also, for dinner, once came the ghost of the bride Conchis, who died back in 1916. Of course, this is a living girl. She only plays the role of Lilia, but why this performance? The girl is silent about this.
Next, Nicholas meets other actors. They present before him various "living pictures" from myths and books. All this leads to the fact that our hero begins to lose a sense of reality. He ceases to distinguish truth from fiction, while not wanting to get out of this obscure game.
From Lily, he seeks recognition that she, along with her twin sister, are English actresses. The girl's name is Julie (Julie). She and June came to this Greek island to make a film, but instead they had to become the heroines of performances hosted by Conchis. Nicholas fell in love with Julie, not wanting to go to Athens, where Alison was supposed to come for the weekend. Nevertheless, the meeting took place. This was facilitated by Conchis. While on Parnassus, Nicholas begins to tell Alison about everything that happens to him. At the same time, the girl learns about her boyfriend's new love and, having fallen into hysteria, runs away, having disappeared from his life forever.
After meeting with Alison, Nicholas returns to the island. He wants to see Julie, but the villa is empty. At night, when he returns to the village, another performance is being played here. Our hero is seized and beaten by German punishers of the 1943 model. He is tormented by pain, but at the same time he is looking forward to hearing from Julie. Soon he receives an inspiring and gentle letter from her. It comes to him simultaneously with the news that Alison committed suicide.
Nicholas hurries to the villa and finds only Konchis there, who claims that our hero could not play his part and should no longer come to him. However, before parting, he will hear the last chapter, which he is ready to accept.
Konchis’s last story relates to the events of 1943. Then, he, the local headman, had to make a choice - to shoot one partisan or, if he refused this murder, be responsible for the extermination of almost the entire male population of the village. Conchis realized that he had no choice. He cannot kill a man.
In fact, after analyzing the “Magus” by John Fowles, it becomes clear that all Conchis’s conversations concerned one thing - the ability to distinguish truth from lies, to remain faithful to one’s human and natural principle and the truth of real life before such concepts as fidelity, duty, oath, etc. d.
Further in the story, Conchis leaves the island, declaring to our hero that he is not worthy of freedom. However, the performance in the megatheater does not end there. Meeting Julie, Nicholas is trapped. Above his head, the lid of the underground shelter slams. Our hero climbed to the surface with great difficulty.
In the evening, June visited him. The girl said that Conchis is a retired professor of psychiatry. He conducted an experiment, the apotheosis of which is the trial. At first, the “psychologists,” that is, all the actors, give a description of Nicholas’s personality, and after that he must render his verdict to all the participants in this theater. Julie is now Dr. Vanessa Maxwell, and she focuses on all the evil that the experiment brought to the young man. They put a whip into Nicholas’s hand, with which he must hit the girl. However, he does not.
After the “trial”, our hero finds himself in Monemvasia. He gets to Francos and finds in his room a letter from Alison's mother with thanks for the condolences on the death of her daughter. Then our hero is fired from school, and he moves to Athens. Here Nicholas manages to learn that the real Conchis was buried four years ago. On the same day, he saw Alison in the hotel window. He rejoices that the girl is alive, and at the same time resentful that she is a participant in the conspiracy.
Nicholas continues to feel like an experiment. He returns to London, and his only desire is to meet with Alison. He begins to realize that real life continues around, and that the cruelty that the experiment carried in itself was his own cruelty to people close to him, which he saw as if in a mirror.
The product of magical realism
Reviews of the book “The Magus” by John Fowles indicate that readers are watching with interest the history of difficult comprehension of the main character of their inner “I”, as well as their revaluation of life values.
Already at the beginning of the novel, some features are found that are characteristic of a work written in the genre of magical realism. Suffering defeats the protagonist even before tragic events unfolded for him. Thus, the author reversed the cause and effect.
Already at the beginning of the narrative, the hero says that his life was lived under the guise of another person. That is why he decides to make fundamental changes, leaving from England to the Greek island.
However, everything begins to change from the moment when the hero of the novel falls on Fraxos. He loses the sense of time, and then becomes a participant in mysterious and mystical events.
Reviews of the "Magus" by John Fowles critics explain that the novel includes two realities. One of them is mundane. It concerns the daily pedagogical work of Nicholas Erfe, as well as his walks around the island. The second reality is mystical. It contains a mixture of historical and mythological facts. The presence of such duality in the novel is the most important sign of a literary trend called magic realism. The main character is involved in borderline situations within a fantastic reality, which leads to the activation of his sensory perception of reality.
Those mystical and inexplicable facts that take place while Nicholas is on the island do not allow him to live in peace. He makes attempts to find an explanation for them, starting to understand that he has become a participant in a certain game. The apotheosis of the whole action is the court, where the hero of the novel plays the role of the accused and the prosecutor, the executioner and the victim.
Reviews of the "Magus" by John Fowles confirm that in this novel, as in other works in the genre of mystical realism, the main worldview aspect is the search for the meaning and goals of human existence. At the same time, the main character is looking for irrational ways of interpreting and depicting the world. Conchis in the novel deals with the "game of God." He also seeks the meaning of being, involving in the search for a young man. Thanks to this, Nicholas learns to live and know himself. The hero goes through numerous trials. After them, he is ready for real life.
The opinion of critics
What is the "Magus" of John Fowles? Review of this work may be twofold. Some critics speak of the novel in enthusiastic tones, while others write about it with frank negativity.
So what about the “Magus”? Is he a deep philosophical and psychological treatise or is it just an unsuccessful experiment by a writer who admires Jung and existentialism? The debate of critics about this has not stopped for more than half a century. Each person draws his own conclusions from the novel, leaning toward a particular theory. However, without any doubt, we can state the fact that Fowles created one of the most discussed and provocative literary works of the 20th century.
Readers' Opinion
People who pick up the novel The Magus by John Fowles leave reviews about this work as very unusual for perception. It is especially interesting for them to observe some parallels in it, such as, for example, the author, Konchis, and the reader, Nicholas. The fact is that there comes a moment when a person no longer realizes that a book is in his hands. He begins to identify with Nicholas - the main character of the work. The reader, like a young man, becomes a participant in all the intricacies and intrigues of the plot, searches for riddles and, being in the thick of events, begins to lose a sense of reality, not understanding which of the scenarios is true.
Konchis becomes a kind of puppeteer. He pulls the strings visible only to him, constantly changing the scenery and plot. At the same time, he manages to manipulate the consciousness of a young man. We can say that Fowles - this is Conchis. The author, like a spider, weaves webs. Without knowing about it, our readers get into them.
Without a doubt, Fowles is fluent in skills that allow him to create chic verbal constructions and intriguing turns of events.
The originally conceived title of The Game of God was changed by John Fowles himself. He later regretted his decision. But, most likely, the English writer did not want to first expose to the reader that portion of the intrigue that Conchis’s intentions carried in themselves. Fowles made the main bet on the duration of the effect of the reader staying in illusion.
Who is the book written for?
The novel “The Magus” by John Fowles is worth reading to those who like the open finale and like to think over after what really happened and how the situation will be resolved in the future. Indeed, even the writer himself said that there was no more sense in his novel than in the Rorschach’s blots applicable by psychologists. The book is intended for the reader, not seeking to see the correct answer in the work, but preferring to feel the taste of the word.
As you can see, the description of John Fowles' The Magus makes you want to read this book as soon as possible.