John Fowles Dies

[neonlyte]

One of the greats

News Report Here

The Magus - brilliant work that seemed to have fallen from favour in recent years.

 

[neonlyte]

Yep. definitely fallen from favour.

 

[logophile]

Didn't see this earlier.
A great loss.

 

[Guest]

Thank you for the notice. I loved all his books. The film of The Magus was crap though and I wish The French Lt.'s Woman flic had all been set in the past. Hollywood, eh? Don't have time to reread him, but who knows. P.

 

[Carmenica Diaz]

The Magus had rather an impact on me when I was young and impressionable. I should reread it – I’m still impressionable – just not so young.

 

[CharleyH]

One of the greats

News Report Here

The Magus - brilliant work that seemed to have fallen from favour in recent years.

Apologies. I am not familiar with his work, only with the movie. Perhaps you want to say a word about what made Magnus so great? I'd enjoy hearing.

Otherwise to a fellow author, I'd hold up the proverbian shot glass, but there's no damned smiley!

 

[neonlyte]

Apologies. I am not familiar with his work, only with the movie. Perhaps you want to say a word about what made Magnus so great? I'd enjoy hearing.

Otherwise to a fellow author, I'd hold up the proverbian shot glass, but there's no damned smiley!

Charley,
It is too many decades since I read Magus, but I'm certain you would enjoy it. The story, set in Greece, evolves around a female and her psychological domination of her lover. Probably the most formative book I read in my early 20's, I'll dust it off the shelf when I get back to UK. The film, as Perdita indicates, was something of a travesty more interested in scenery and sets than telling the story. In a nut shell.

 

[Guest]

Charlus, Fowles was one of the first (if not the first) popular (e.g., bestseller) post-modern novelists. His stories were multilayered and went against traditional convention, even (horrors!) challenging the reader to interpret the work. He wrote very deliberately ambiguous (even alternative) endings that oft' frustrated those without literary imagination. His other more popular books were "The Collector" and "The French Lieutenant's Woman" (TFLW has two endings, you get to choose the one you want to believe!) Also, as far as I recall, he was more appreciated in the states than in England (I think his popularity was envied and turned against him by the literary elite, at least for a time).

Read the books, don't see the films (unless you really want to, but only after you've read the books).

P.

 

[CharleyH]

Charley,
It is too many decades since I read Magus, but I'm certain you would enjoy it. The story, set in Greece, evolves around a female and her psychological domination of her lover. Probably the most formative book I read in my early 20's, I'll dust it off the shelf when I get back to UK. The film, as Perdita indicates, was something of a travesty more interested in scenery and sets than telling the story. In a nut shell.

Ah, you simply tease me with a synopsis. No doubt I would find it interesting on this basis. Unfortunately, I missed P's spin on the movie since I only read your post (I am good that way, not wanting taint me perspective, but missing out obviously) before posting, so I will go back. I was referring to French LT's Woman, but it is barely memorable as a film. I was like 14 or 16 when I saw it, and I'm sure American Gigalo and Richard Gere's cock was much more important to me, then.

 

[CharleyH]

Charlus, Fowles was one of the first (if not the first) popular (e.g., bestseller) post-modern novelists. His stories were multilayered and went against traditional convention, even (horrors!) challenging the reader to interpret the work. He wrote very deliberately ambiguous (even alternative) endings that oft' frustrated those without literary imagination. His other more popular books were "The Collector" and "The French Lieutenant's Woman" (TFLW has two endings, you get to choose the one you want to believe!) Also, as far as I recall, he was more appreciated in the states than in England (I think his popularity was envied and turned against him by the literary elite, at least for a time).

Read the books, don't see the films (unless you really want to, but only after you've read the books).

P.

(PROOF IN POINT! I did not see this either until now).

I have never heard of him, P, but my background is more film than lit based, so I'm not surprised. I am interested in his earlier unpopular stories though. So was his earlier writing more interesting and "better" per se than the popularised "French Lieutenant's Woman?"

 

[cloudy]

I read The Collector so long ago that all I can really remember is how it disturbed me. I'll have to read it again.

 

[Guest]

I have never heard of him, P, but my background is more film than lit based,

Shame, shame, Ch. That's a silly statement, even for the theory lady.

I am interested in his earlier unpopular stories though. So was his earlier writing more interesting and "better" per se than the popularised "French Lieutenant's Woman?"

Despite the fact that the three books I mentioned were 'popularized', Fowles was a fine writer. Don't narrow your mind this way. The Collector was his first book, followed by The Magus and TFLW. These were followed by only four more novels. Personally, I prefer the the first three and did not read the last, "The Maggot". P.

p.s. per se? WTF? Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!
-----------
Edited to add: Just read the L.A. Times obit (I love good obituaries). Had a literary larf when I read this quote about Fowles' last novel:
Fallon Evans, in a Los Angeles Times review, wrote that it was "a wonderful book, unless you are the kind of reader who wants to know what really happened."

It is not clear if the critic was putting the author down, or modern readers. I like that in a critic.