John Fowles

[IcedNote]

Any fans of his here?

I discovered him via "The Magus," which I took a chance on while browsing one day in a local bookstore. It sounded intriguing and is now one of my favorite novels. Yesterday I finished "The Collector." Incredible! I won't be forgetting that novel for quite some time.

Next up: "The Ebony Tower."

-G

[jbuck919]

I consider Fowles to be a writer of failed promise. I loved The Ebony Tower and The French Lieutenant's Woman, but was shocked and deeply disappointed by the mediocrity of Daniel Martin. Also, for someone who lived to be 79, he just didn't write that much, and it was not because a Ulysses or a Finnegan's Wake was churning. Recently and coincidentally I made a comment on Herman Wouk, who wrote one fine novel, The Caine Mutiny, and nothing else rising much above glorified pulp fiction. Fowles may have a bit more artistry to his credit, but literature is full of variations on the one-hit wonder and/or early dropout.

[IcedNote]

Ah, so have you not read "The Magus" or "The Collector"?

-G

[jbuck919]

Ah, so have you not read "The Magus" or "The Collector"?

-G

No, and I won't evaluate The Collector on the basis of having seen the pretty good movie, which is elevated by its great two-person cast of Samantha Eggar and Terence Stamp (unrecognizable if you know him from his role as the villain Zod in Superman II).

If one is captivated by a book as fine as The French Lieutenant's Woman (also a good movie which adds a dimension beyond re-telling of the novel) and expects a worthy follow-up from the author's later efforts (expects that they exist, to begin with), one does not have to know everything else by the author to feel that he has let the reader down.

[IcedNote]

Actually...I was just wondering if you'd read them.

-G

[jbuck919]

Actually...I was just wondering if you'd read them.

-G

Maybe I should go back and read The Magus (and see the movie).