The Magus

By: John Fowles

Narrated by: Nicholas Boulton

Length: 26 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

John Fowles’ The Magus was a literary landmark of the 1960s. Nicholas Urfe goes to a Greek island to teach at a private school and becomes enmeshed in curious happenings at the home of a mysterious Greek recluse, Maurice Conchis. Are these events, involving attractive young English sisters, just psychological games, or an elaborate joke, or more? Reality shifts as the story unfolds.

The Magus reflected the issues of the 1960s perfectly, but even almost half a century after its first publication, it continues to create tension and concern, remaining the page-turner that it was when it was first released.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©1977 J. R. Fowles Ltd (P)2012 Naxos AudioBooks

Almost liked it

Ugh. What even happened? Interesting at times but felt underwhelming. Main character is awful but I guess he’s supposed to be

Magnificent!

Perfect combination of great writer, great story, and great narrator. This was my third time round with this book and I enjoyed more than ever. I read it in my youth, middle age and now in old age. This latest reading (listening) is by far the best experience. It’s a long story but my interest never flagged for a moment. It’s a classic.

Brilliant book, incomparable reading

Where does The Magus rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

First.

What other book might you compare The Magus to and why?

"The Magus" is something in itself. I think Fowles used to express his admiration for "Le Grand Meaulnes", which I read decades ago and can't remember (oi). Have bought the Audible version, though, and still need to listen to it. Perhaps a reading of Fowles's "The Aristos" (his second book, published two years before "The Magus"), might not be a bad idea in preparation for "Magus".

Have you listened to any of Nicholas Boulton’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Not yet, but looking at his other readings. Incidentally, he is particularly good at reading female voices. In some other audiobooks (e.g. two versions of "The Alexandria Quartet") the male readers would have done better in keeping to a more normal pitch.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There are several brilliant moments and parts, but the scene in which Conchis hypnotises Nicholas was particularly masterfully done. Boulton's reading makes one aware of something magical, "metaphysical", totally illusory, and irresistible. Perhaps fatal, too. The reading achieves what the printed word can't do quite as well: mesmerise the listener.

Any additional comments?

Boulton's reading made me aware of many things that I missed in my own readings of "The Magus". For me, his reading made this book shimmer all the more.

Flawless reading of a masterpiece

Any additional comments?

The narrator has a remarkable gift for accents, pacing and atmosphere. Highly recommended. This is the best reading I've heard in a long time.

Never ending twists and turns

The narrator was capanle of bringing authenticity to all save maybe one character. This reminds me to sample all similar novels for the narration is essential to the enjoyment.

Superb reading

Fowles’ novel is sophisticated and complex. Nicholas Boulton is an ideal reader, with a beautiful Jeremy Irons-like voice. There are frequent passages in which a speaker in the novel has a foreign or dialect accent, as well as passages directly citing other languages, particularly French. Boulton reads all of these with great mastery. Along with all this technical skill, he fathoms the nuances of meaning with great intelligence , particularly Fowles’ pervasive irony. Based on his rendering of “The Magus,” I’m going to look for other books read by this consummate artist.

I love this book, it stays with you for years but.

I read this book 25 years ago and just got around to hearing it on Audible... It holds up but I remember now that the end somewhat fizzles out......

Amazing

This was a really great book. The narrator was really good and I would highly recommend

The plot

Liked the evocation of Greece and its culture. Plot though well constructed lost me a little at the end.

Less to this novel than meets the eye!

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I found the book to be utter torture, but it is superbly read on NAXOS by Nicholas Boulton. I listened all the way to the bitter end only because I did not want to dismiss a work so highly praised (it's on many 100 Best Novel lists) without reading all of it. Otherwise I found it a waste of time. The characters are utterly shallow and uninteresting: they often seem like literary projections of adolescent sexual fantasies. The prose is laden with so many clichés that the printed book, if indexed, could serve as a list of sentences and expressions for authors to avoid. As a character, only the central figure of the magus himself is interesting, but when all the views of him are finally assembled, they add up to zero. Fowles himself probably didn't know what he was getting at. The entire book is full of pseudo profundities. The '60s were the breeding ground for hollow genius.

Would you ever listen to anything by John Fowles again?

I imagine "The Magus" is his weakest work -- at least I hope so! It will be a long time before I am tempted to read "The Collector" and/or "The French Lieutenant's Woman." "The Magus" seems produced for a youthful '60s audience easily beguiled by fathomless mysteries and psychedelic nonsense. There are some striking moments (the passages dealing with the Nazis on the Greek island), but nothing adds up in the end. Watching "The Magus" movie, BTW, is an interesting way to compound one's irritation. Fowles himself wrote the dreadful screenplay which does not match the book in hundreds of important ways.

What about Nicholas Boulton’s performance did you like?

The man is superb -- getting all the characters' accents clearly distinguished from one another, and reading with conviction. He seems unfazed by passages in foreign languages.
I would rather hear him read this to me than to have to sit still with the book itself.

Did The Magus inspire you to do anything?

Yes. I will forever avoid 100 Best lists! I think this novel made it because a generation of LSD stoned English students ended up teaching in college lit departments. Then they got to vote on their favorite novels.

Any additional comments?

I think you can love this book if you are very young, your hormones are raging and you can project your amorous fantasies onto the characters. It also helps to be fond of detective stories -- although this mystery has no definite resolution. "The Magus" is pulp fiction at its core, but it pretends to be high art.