Comment

The Magus

a Revised Version
Nov 29, 2018
This revised edition of The Magus is not the original work by John Fowles. The author apparently solicited ideas from readers in order to embellish his original work, which he felt was still incomplete. Thus, this later work is a much larger version of the original. The revision contains a few over-worked descriptive passages, where nothing further was originally required. Sadly, the added material consists of enhanced pornographic accounts of the main character's sex life, which adds absolutely nothing to the original theme of the book. John Fowles fans will remember The Collector and its moderately successful film version from the '50's and of course the French Lieutenant's Woman. This author has good ideas, but doesn't have the skill to do them justice on paper. The forward to the Magus will confirm the author's timidity about the work in either its past or present versions. I've always disliked "The making of..." sections of books or films and really don't see how a behind the scenes narrative improves the finished work. A work of art, music or literature must stand on its own. An even more painful example of muddled thinking on the part of the author is his published "diary" or writer's workbook, which should have remained under his pillow, along with this pointlessly pornographic group-inspired revision.