I'm not yet sure how much I liked The Magus, or how good I think it is, but I've certainly been reminded of how weirdly compelling Fowles' writing can be. The French Lieutenant's Woman was the first of his that I read, and it immediately became one of my favourite novels, but the next after that was A Maggot which, while good (and good enough that I was inspired to stage an encounter between it and a Derridean fragment - "The Law of Genre" - for one of my honours papers last year), didn't have the same compulsiveness or anything of the same magic.
Now, if there's one thing that The Magus definitely has, it's magic - that, and a sinuous, sinister air which doesn't seem quite to be accounted for by the events it actually depicts. Reading it, I felt as if the ground was continually shifting beneath me, a sensation which to some extent proceeded in parallel with Conchis' manipulations of Nicholas' experiences and perceptions but also operates on an additional level of prestidigitation effected by Fowles which is rather more difficult for the reader to put their finger on (so to speak).
Well, actually, I don't know if puns are ever truly appropriate, but that last one probably comes pretty close, because puns are very much Fowles' stock in trade - but not straightforwardly immediate, 'merely' linguistic ones but rather more complex, incrementally detonating intellectual plays/ploys which are planted or suggested at multiple points and then realised/re-realised at intervals going forward. At the same time as being a genuine page-turner, it's also a very intellectual book and rewards both careful reading and a good working knowledge of Greek, English and French literature (I think I picked up at least most of the obvious allusions, but one can never be certain with these things). It's about freedom, and humanity, and society, and (elliptically for all that it's right on the surface) love, and has something to say about war, too. It's a fantastic end-upon-end jumble and I think I've just about convinced myself that it's a good 'un, too.
