num_pages: 656
description: On a remote Greek island, Nicholas Urfe finds himself embroiled in the deceptions of a master trickster. Shimmering surreal threads weave ever tighter as reality and illusion intertwine in a bizarre psychological game. John Fowles expertly unfolds a tale that is lush with over-powering imagery in a spell-binding exploration of the complexities of the human mind. By turns disturbing, thrilling and seductive, The Magus is a cerebral feast.The Magus is a deliciously toothsome celebration of wanton story-telling... Before one quite realises what is happening, one finds oneself no less avid for meanings and no less starving amid a plethora of clues than is Nicholas Urfe himself... Mr Fowles's mysteries stand in similar relation to those myths that inspired them. - Sunday TimesA splendidly sustained piece of mystification... such as could otherwise only have been devised by a literary team fielding the Marquis de Sade, Arthur Edward Waite, Sir James Frazer, Gurdjieff, Madame Blavatsky, C.G. Jung, Aleister Crowley, Franz Kafka and the author of They Shoot Horses Don't They? - financial TimesIt is a major work of mounting tensions in which a human mind is the guinea-pig... Mr Fowles has taken a big swing at a difficult subject and his hits... are on the bull's-eye. - Sunday TelegraphCover Illustration by Robert Mason
language: English
title: The Magus
titlecomplete: The Magus
characters: June Holmes, John Briggs, Alison Kelly, Lily de Seitas, Demetriades, Joe Harrison, Sandy Mitford, Julie Holmes, John Leverrier, Joan Kemp, Nicholas Urfe, Maurice Conchis
genres: Literature, British Literature, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Fantasy, Greece, Novels, Fiction, Classics, Mystery
ratings_count: 57311
places: London, England, Greece
publisher: Picador