The Magus by John Fowles

After reading Fowles's French Lieutenant's Woman, I decided to revisit his The Magus, last read probably thirty or forty years ago. It had left an indelible impression on me as a work of marvelous descriptions and intriguing characters, plus a twisting plot with more questions than answers.

I sought out an unabridged audio version and was not disappointed--the narrator Nicolas Boulton does an excellent job with the diverse characters and accents. It's a feast of over 26 hoursa of listening.

The surprise for me was how much I grew to dislike the main character--who is pretty much an anti-hero--and how disappointed I was at the ambiguous ending, despite a earlier warning from the author. (This novel, like The French Lieutenant's Woman, is metafiction in which the author occasionally addresses the reader, reminding them of the essential fiction of the telling.)

I very much enjoyed the hours of listening--even as I grew increasingly annoyed with the protagonist--something I don't remember from previous readings. 

I wonder if it's my age or the times in which we live that changed my attitude.

Wandering in the Victorian Age

                                         

After I finished listening to the very excellent Vanity Fair, I was looking for another nice lengthy book to listen to and decided to get the Audible recording of Possession--a longtime favorite of mine, full of poetry and gorgeous writing--both of which I have been wont to skim over in pursuit of what is a rather gripping academic mystery. 

Listening forced me to slow down and really appreciate the writing--I gained a new understanding of a novel I've read multiple times.

It's a bit of of love story--two, actually--and an academic puzzle in which a struggling young scholar studying a Victorian poet discovers letters that lead him to believe this married and famous poet may have had a romantic involvement with a less famous poetess, long believed to have been a lesbian. 

The young scholar seeks out a daunting but beautiful woman who is an authority on the long dead poetess and together they begin to unravel the tangled mystery.

The story unfolds in the present day and in the Victorian past as the relationship between the two poets develops. It's riveting, and ultimately, satisfying.

I listen to books before I go to sleep and when I am waiting for Josie. But I have to have a reading book on the go as well, so I pulled down my battered copy of The French Lieutenant's Woman--which is set in roughly the same time period. 

A proper young Victorian gentleman is engaged to a lovely (and rich) young woman when he meets the mysterious (and beautiful) creature the censorious society calls the French lieutenant's whore. Her sad story and her beautiful eyes intrigue him, entangle him, and . . .

But that would be telling.

There were so many similarities between these two books that I found myself checking to see which was published first. (TFLW was.) In both books, the author occasionally speaks directly to the reader, revealing, at times, their role as puppet master. 

And both novels deal with obsessive love, betrayal, and, a kind of redemption. And both are compelling reads.