Newsgroups: bit.listserv.literary
Date:         Fri, 21 Aug 1992 10:31:02 EDT
From:         Tim Johnson <PH408014@BROWNVM.BITNET>
Subject:      The French Lieutenant's Woman

Posted on 7 Aug 1992 at 12:08:06 by Timothy A. Johnson (105508)
Victorian England I                           (ST402711)


After having the book recommended by several
friends, and donated by one of them, I decided
to read John Fowles, _The French Lieutenant's Woman_

I have mixed feelings about this book.
The author's style - the device he used of having
the author involved in the story and story-telling
I felt, despite a shaky start, was ultimately quite
successful - particularly in the way this was used
to manage the ending.  (I'll try not to spoil it yet
for those of you who haven't read it before.)  On the
other hand, Fowles indulges in a didactic approach
which I found extremely intrusive.

Fowles goes to some length to establish his credentials
for writing on Victorian England, and wants to be sure
that the reader understands that *his* portrayal of life
in those times is extremely accurate.  This is the problem
of an author too caught up in his research.  He apparently
felt that to get an adequate return on his time spent ensuring
historical accuracy, he had to both make certain that the
reader knew how accurate he was, and make certain that he
included all of the details he learned.  While *he* may have
gotten the most out of his time spent on historical investigation,
the novel suffered for this.  The early and middle chapters of
the novel in particular have an excess of footnotes and
distracting detail, included, so far as I can tell, only to show
that Fowles knew it.  It is a strategy which may or may not work
well on exams, but which is out of place in a novel.  (You know,
if you aren't sure of the answer, write down everything you do
know to get as much credit as possible.)  He would have done
better, in my opinion, to have kept his details historically
accurate, but to have left out all the proofs and all the
extra detail he added only because he had it available.  One
example of what I consider a particularly disruptive show-off
comment was the following:

    Visitors to Lyme in the nineteenth century, if they
  did not quite have to undergo the ordeal facing travelers
  to the ancient Greek colonies - Charles did not actually
  have to deliver a Periclean oration plus comprehensive
  world news summary from the steps of the Town Hall -
  were certainly expected to allow themselves to be
  examined and spoken to.

  John?  What are you talking about?  Greek colonies?  Periclean
oration?  If you really feel obligated to use this allusion to
your vast storehouse of knowledge and detail - don't explain it!
Explaining the joke spoils it - you are better off making the
allusion and wasting it on the people who don't understand it,
than spoiling it for those who do.  And you are better off still
leaving the Greeks out of this altogether.

  The novel did have it's good points, besides the story-telling
device.  I found the characters and their struggles engaging and
thought provoking, though I admit that the argument against Victorian
morality is one which I don't find particularly interesting - only
because I'm not sure there are enough supporters of such a lifestyle
still remaining to make it worth saying.  Still, to give Fowles his
due, he does use this as a point from which to launch his commentary
on contemporary mores.  With the current apparent resurgence in
fundamentalism and enforced morality, this perhaps has more relevance
now than it did even at the time it was published (1969).

  I'd add a lot of comments about the ending of the novel except
that I don't want to spoil it for those of you who haven't read it.
I'll just add that I found it unsatisfying, and, in the upcoming
series "Tim Johnson re-writes the Classics" I'll probably include
this novel with a different ending.  (I'll also take out all of
Saul Bellow's whining about ex-wives - which means I will have to
delete a few of his novels altogether....)

  One final remark on this book and on marketing.  From the series
of blurbs included in my edition's leading pages (not the back cover):
"...with a sexual encounter so explosive, it nearly blows the top of
your head off..."  "...leaves one wondering which century was the more
sexually liberated..."  "...dark and powerful love triangle..."
The publishers are out to sell this book on sex - which - I'll add for
those of you running out to the bookstore, is not explicit.  What is
even more interesting is the list of books being offered for sale on
the last pages.  I like to read these listings out of curiosity as to
how the publishers characterize their audience.

  From the end page:

More Current Bestsellers from SIGNET

Flashman ... his scandalous pursuits in battle in and out of bed...
The Motel ... digs dirty and deep - exposing the men and women in
              a sexual playground where no holds are barred.
Bitter Fruit ... a scorching, fast-paced novel of sex in the raw,
                 bound to titillate from the first page to the last.

Whew, I'm getting all worked up!  Somehow, all of this seems so full
of ... pathos.

In conclusion, then, 3 stars out of 5 for the novel;
                     1 star for the publisher.


                                     -Tim
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