296- ]English Literature
John Fowles
Also known as: John Robert Fowles
Quick Facts
In full: John Robert Fowles
Born: March 31, 1926, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England
Died: November 5, 2005, Lyme Regis, Dorset (aged 79)
Notable Works: “The Aristos: A Self-Portrait in Ideas” “The
Collector” “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” “The Magus”
John Fowles (born March 31, 1926, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex,
England—died November 5, 2005, Lyme Regis, Dorset) was an English novelist,
whose allusive and descriptive works combine psychological probings—chiefly of
sex and love—with an interest in social and philosophical issues.
Fowles graduated from the University of Oxford in 1950 and
taught in Greece, France, and Britain. His first novel, The Collector (1963;
filmed 1965), about a shy man who kidnaps a girl in a hapless search for love,
was an immediate success. This was followed by The Aristos: A Self-Portrait in
Ideas (1964), a collection of essays reflecting Fowles’s views on such subjects
as evolution, art, and politics. He returned to fiction with The Magus (1965,
rev. ed. 1977; filmed 1968). Set on a Greek island, the book centres on an
English schoolteacher who struggles to discern between fantasy and reality
after befriending a mysterious local man. The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1969;
filmed 1981), arguably Fowles’s best-known work, is a love story set in
19th-century England that richly documents the social mores of that time. An
example of Fowles’s original style, the book combined elements of the Victorian
novel with postmodern works and featured alternate endings.
Fowles’s later fictional works include The Ebony Tower (1974), a
volume of collected novellas, Daniel Martin (1977), and Mantissa (1982). His
last novel, A Maggot (1985), centred on a group of travelers in the 1700s and
the mysterious events that occur during their journey. Fowles also wrote verse,
adaptations of plays, and the text for several photographic studies. Wormholes,
a collection of essays and writings, was published in 1998.
