The Magus

Widely considered John Fowles’s masterpiece, The Magus is a masterwork of contemporary literature. By turns disturbing, thrilling and seductive, the novel is a spellbinding exploration of the complexities of the human mind. When a young Englishman, Nicholas Urfe, accepts a teaching post on a remote Greek island and strikes up a friendship with a reclusive millionaire, he soon finds himself a pawn in the trickster’s deadly game of violence, seduction and betrayal. As Nicholas is drawn deeper into the psychological traps, he finds it increasingly difficult to distinguish past from present, or fantasy from reality. A work rich in symbols, conundrums, and labyrinthine twists, The Magus endures as the most enigmatic and magical novel in the Fowles canon. The Magus was the first novel John Fowles wrote, although it was his third to be published, following The Collector (1963) and The Artistos (1964). He began writing it in the 1950s under the working title The Godgame, and based the story partly on his own experiences on the Greek island of Spetses, where he taught English for two years at the Anargyrios School. Fowles worked on The Magus for twelve years before its publication in 1965. Despite gaining enormous critical and commercial success, he continued to rework it, publishing a final revision in 1977. Today, the novel is considered a modern classic, included in Modern Library’s list of 100 Best 20th Century Novels, and the BBC’s The Big Read survey of the top 200 best loved novels.

Widely considered John Fowles’s masterpiece, The Magus is a masterwork of contemporary literature. By turns disturbing, thrilling and seductive, the novel is a spellbinding exploration of the complexities of the human mind. When a young Englishman, Nicholas Urfe, accepts a teaching post on a remote Greek island and strikes up a friendship with a reclusive millionaire, he soon finds himself a pawn in the trickster’s deadly game of violence, seduction and betrayal. As Nicholas is drawn deeper into the psychological traps, he finds it increasingly difficult to distinguish past from present, or fantasy from reality. A work rich in symbols, conundrums, and labyrinthine twists, The Magus endures as the most enigmatic and magical novel in the Fowles canon. The Magus was the first novel John Fowles wrote, although it was his third to be published, following The Collector (1963) and The Artistos (1964). He began writing it in the 1950s under the working title The Godgame, and based the story partly on his own experiences on the Greek island of Spetses, where he taught English for two years at the Anargyrios School. Fowles worked on The Magus for twelve years before its publication in 1965. Despite gaining enormous critical and commercial success, he continued to rework it, publishing a final revision in 1977. Today, the novel is considered a modern classic, included in Modern Library’s list of 100 Best 20th Century Novels, and the BBC’s The Big Read survey of the top 200 best loved novels.

Widely considered John Fowles’s masterpiece, The Magus is a masterwork of contemporary literature. By turns disturbing, thrilling and seductive, the novel is a spellbinding exploration of the complexities of the human mind. When a young Englishman, Nicholas Urfe, accepts a teaching post on a remote Greek island and strikes up a friendship with a reclusive millionaire, he soon finds himself a pawn in the trickster’s deadly game of violence, seduction and betrayal. As Nicholas is drawn deeper into the psychological traps, he finds it increasingly difficult to distinguish past from present, or fantasy from reality. A work rich in symbols, conundrums, and labyrinthine twists, The Magus endures as the most enigmatic and magical novel in the Fowles canon. The Magus was the first novel John Fowles wrote, although it was his third to be published, following The Collector (1963) and The Artistos (1964). He began writing it in the 1950s under the working title The Godgame, and based the story partly on his own experiences on the Greek island of Spetses, where he taught English for two years at the Anargyrios School. Fowles worked on The Magus for twelve years before its publication in 1965. Despite gaining enormous critical and commercial success, he continued to rework it, publishing a final revision in 1977. Today, the novel is considered a modern classic, included in Modern Library’s list of 100 Best 20th Century Novels, and the BBC’s The Big Read survey of the top 200 best loved novels.