Summary of The Magus
“The Magus” tells the story of a young English language teacher who lives on a Greek island and befriends an eccentric Greek millionaire. Step by step, the Englishman becomes ensnared in his friend’s psychological games and manipulations, struggling to discern illusions from reality.
Reasons to read The Magus
“The Magus” is a post-modern psychological novel and is widely considered as the masterpiece of British author John Fowles, also known for his novel “The French Lieutenant’s Woman”. In 1999, “The Magus” was featured on Modern Library’s list of 100 Best Novels of the 20th century (both the readers’ list and the editors’ list). In 2003, it was included in the BBC’s top 100 books from The Big Read survey.
Setting: Spetses (Greece)
Book set in Greece: Phraxos, a fictional Greek island, likely inspired by Spetses, where John Fowles spent two years teaching English.
Original title: The Magus
Year of publication: 1965
Nr of pages: 656
