“ONE OF THE MOST ENGROSSING READING EXPERIENCES IN MODERN FICTION”: FIRST EDITION OF THE MAGUS
FOWLES, John. The Magus. Boston: Little, Brown, (1965). Tall octavo, original green cloth, original dust jacket.
First edition, preceding the London first, of Fowles’ second, highly acclaimed novel.
“One of the most engrossing reading experiences in modern fiction, a psychological mystery which is also a magnificent piece of story-telling” (Pringle 29). The Magus is set “on a vividly evoked Greek island. In an atmosphere of mystery, fantasy, and obsession, the novel concerns an Englishman, Nicholas Urfe, who obtains a teaching post on the island, and his involvement with an enigmatic Greek millionaire and his entourage; with its mythological dimension the suggests magic realism, and in the agnostic fatalism of its ending point, Greek tragedy” (Stringer, 228). “The story is a modernized, worldly-wise version of The Tempest… bathed in an atmosphere of mystery, eroticism and paranoia” (Parker, 426-27). Owner signature.
Interior generally clean, light staining to endpapers. Cloth with slightest toning to extreme edges. Dust jacket with light rubbing, two small chips to spine head, tape repairs to verso. An extremely good copy.