x dismiss this message
Did you know you can edit this page?
-
Sign Into Shelfari
-
Choose something to edit
-
Save your contributions
see page history
Description edit
At the novels center is Nicholas Urfe, a young Englishman who accepts a teaching position on a remote Greek island. There he befriends a local millionaire, but the friendship soon evolves into a deadly game and Nicholas finds that he must fight not only for his sanity but for his very survival.
read moreRidiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Characters/People edit
- Nicholas Urfe: The main protagonist — a 25 year-old Englishman who goes to Greece to teach English
- Alison Kelly: Nicholas' girlfriend who he abandons to go to Greece
- Maurice Conchis: A wealthy intellectual who is a main player in the masques
- Lily: A young woman who is involved in the masques and with whom Nicholas falls in love.
Quotes edit
-
“Freedom”
First Sentence edit
I was born in 1927, the only child of middle-class parent, both English, and themselves born in the grotesquely elongated shadow, which they never rose sufficiently above history to leave, of that monstrous dwarf Queen Victoria.
Table of Contents edit
Themes & Symbolism edit
- Bildungsroman: focuses on the moral and psychological growth of the main character from youth to adulthood.
Series & Lists edit
This is book 188 of 213 in Best English-Language Fiction of the 20th Century. (authoritative list)
This book is in Random Synapses: 100 Book Reading Challenge (2011). (community list)
This book is in 100 Fantabulous Book Challenge. (community list)
This is book 409 of 1286 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)
This is book 60 of 97 in Waterstone's Top 100 Books of the 20th Century. (authoritative list)
This is book 68 of 200 in BBC 'Big Read' Top 200 Novels, 2003. (authoritative list)
This is book 71 of 98 in Modern Library's 100 Best Novels: Reader's List. (authoritative list)
This book is in Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read. (authoritative list)
This is book 67 of 82 in BBC "Big Read" Top 100 Novels. (authoritative list)
This is book 93 of 93 in Modern Library's 100 Best Novels: The Board's List. (authoritative list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- John Fowles (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Little Brown
Country: Add the country of publication.
Publication Date: 1978
ISBN: 0316290920
Page Count: 656
Publisher: Little Brown
Country: Add the country of publication.
Publication Date: 1978
ISBN: 0316290920
Page Count: 656
Awards edit
- BBC's Big Read (April 2003, #67)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: PZ4.F788 Mag 1977 PR6056.O85
- Dewey: 823.914
Subjects edit
Popular Tags
See all 50 tags
Links to Supplemental Material edit
- Book and Film Review: The Magus succeeds as a novel because it is, at heart, a work of philosophy bound into fictional form. Fowles poured himself into it for over a decade. Originally titled The Godgame, it was his first novel, but he was so unable to let it go in completed form that The Collector was written, published and adapted into an Oscar-nominated film before The Magus would finally see publication. In some ways, as acknowledged in the introduction to the revised version, it is re-imagining of Great Expectations on a 20th Century Greek island. Nicholas Urfe’s parents aren’t dead like Pip’s, but he’s a cultural orphan: “During my last years at school I realized that what was really wrong with my parents was that they had nothing but a blanket contempt for the sort of life I wanted to lead.” So Nicholas takes a position at the Lord Byron School in Greece and flees one island for another. He soon finds himself staying with a reclusive millionaire and taking part in his “Godgame.” “The house was as quiet as death, as the inside of a skull; but the year was 1953, I was an atheist and an absolute non-believer in spiritualism, ghosts and all that mumbo-jumbo.” But he doesn’t know yet how deep in he will end up. A feeling begins to persist “that something was trying to slip between me and reality.”
Movie Connections edit
Books That Cite This Book edit
We’re hiding the errata, books with additional background information, books that influenced this book, books influenced by this book and books cited by this book sections. If you would like to add content to them, you must first make them visible.
