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/lit/ - Literature

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16948597 No.16948597 [Reply] [Original]

I read this 3 years ago and it ruined literature for me because not a single novel has come close since. I mostly stick with genre fiction like golden age mysteries because nothing will ever top this utter masterpiece.

>> No.16948630

>>16948597
What's its about OP? I am trying to branch out from /lit/'s meme taste.

>> No.16948644

>>16948630
Its an experience that, and I'm not meming here, its better if you go in fresh with no expectations. There are so many twists and turns and mindfucks from what starts as a rather rote romantic novel that anything I say would either do it injustice or ruin it for you.

Fowles is a well known author so this shouldn't be too great a risk. Read it immediately and don't let anything spoil it for you.

I firmly believe lit should incorporate this book into its top 3. Its that good.

>> No.16948668

>>16948644
Alright, i will but can you at least give me a premise?

>> No.16948685

>>16948668
Sure. I'll just past the Wikipedia blurb. There's also a specific film that I want to compare it to... one that Fowles actually almost sued the director over because it actually was an example of actual plagiarism.

However even going into that much detail gives away too much imo

The Magus (1965) is a postmodern novel by British author John Fowles, telling the story of Nicholas Urfe, a young British graduate who is teaching English on a small Greek island. Urfe becomes embroiled in the psychological illusions of a master trickster, which become increasingly dark and serious. Considered an example of metafiction, it was the first novel written by Fowles, but the third he published. In 1977 he published a revised edition.[1] In 1999 The Magus was ranked on both lists of Modern Library 100 Best Novels, reaching number 93 on the editors' list, and 71 on the readers' list.[2] In 2003, the novel was listed at number 67 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.[3]

>> No.16948696
File: 100 KB, 180x275, magus.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
16948696

>>16948630
it's a shaggy dog story except the shaggy dog is getting cucked by a nigger

>> No.16948700

It's OK. Sort of a dumb summer read.

>> No.16948709

Here's a better summary

>Perhaps a better summary
>This daring literary thriller, rich with eroticism and suspense, is one of John Fowles's best-loved and bestselling novels and has contributed significantly to his international reputation as a writer of the first degree. At the center of The Magus is Nicholas Urfe, a young Englishman who accepts a teaching position on a remote Greek island, where he befriends a local millionaire. The friendship soon evolves into a deadly game, in which reality and fantasy are deliberately manipulated, and Nicholas finds that he must fight not only for his sanity but for his very survival.

>>16948700
Also kys brainlet. Sorry post modern metafiction was too subtle for you. Try rupi kaur

>> No.16948716

>>16948696
>if it wasn't a nigger would that make it any better

>> No.16948722

>>16948685
>>16948709
Thanks OP. Will check it.

>> No.16948729

Hate to burst your bubble OP, but it's not as good as you're saying. It's definitely good though, especially the setting (can't remember the last time I read a well-written novel set in contemporary Greece), style, and structure. If you read mostly genre fiction, then I can see why you would think so highly of this book.

>> No.16948735

>>16948709
lol dont get so defensive faggot. i remembered when i read my first book.

>> No.16948748

>>16948729
I've read all of lits meme greatest hits too, and I was an English major. Still my favorite book by a mile. There's also something final about it given its overall commentary on the concept of the novel itself. It feels like there's nothing left for the medium to say by the time you're finished.

It doesn't feel as well known among younger readers as it should be, but I've seen people like the poster above seem to dismiss it because it's too much fun to read. But that's dumb.

>> No.16948760

>>16948735
name 3 better books. I'll tell you if you're right or not. Written after 1965.

>> No.16948769

>>16948722
I recommended it to another anon shortly after I read it 3 years ago. We ran into each other last year in a thread and he was very thankful for the rec. He also felt like it was a life changer.

>> No.16948787

>>16948760
Vertigo, Death of a River Guide, Train Dreams

>> No.16948791

>>16948769
It started sucking once he got to the island. I don’t need that shutter island shit.

>> No.16948797

>>16948787
I was expecting a Blood Meridian in there actually. I was sure you'd say Blood Meridian.

>> No.16948809

>>16948797
I knew you were expecting me to say Blood Meridian. Two steps ahead. You would like that twist though. Are you going to watch Inception again tonight?

>> No.16948819

>>16948809
too many white male leads

>> No.16949072

Blood Meridian.

>> No.16949083

>>16948597
How does it compare with the French Lieutenants Woman to you? Just read that one a month ago and quite enjoyed it.

>> No.16949101

>>16948797
>>16948809
Desu I don't think most who larp for Blood Meridian get half of what is going on in the book. Its mostly for Holden and the ending that it's loved.

>> No.16949165

>>16949101
i like when they kill all those prairie niggers

>> No.16949205

>>16948597
>greatest novel of all time
I don't know about that but it's certainly very good, for some reason it's not as widely known/discussed as I would expect.

>> No.16949385

>>16948709
>post modern metafiction
literal garbage

>> No.16949393

>>16949385
Shut up retard, the adults are talking.

>> No.16949698

>>16949393
based retard place-putter

>> No.16950120

>>16949165
But Anon, what a based post to make!

>> No.16950131

>>16948597
This is a very psychologically deep and profoundly accurate novel in terms of where the "science" of psychology, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, etc. stand. Ahead of its time even. It also accurately details concepts of mind control, programming, and induction into secret cults.

This book, along with Eyes Wide Shut and maybe True Detective S1, capture a lot of really good information about the occult and the elite. John Fowles said he included this stuff in the novel as satire, but it's not clear to me what he means by that.

>> No.16950163

>>16948748
I doubt other people will, in general, like it as much as you, but I’m glad you love it so much, anon. This board would be a better place if everyone had passion for some favourite titles, whether they’re “meme picks” or more off the beaten path like this one.
I’ll check it out though. Seeing passion is a better recommendation than any eloquently constructed review.
Check out House of Leaves, it left me speechless. If this is, as you say, metafiction, then HoL is right up your alley. It gives me a boner without any sexual content, which is the most anyone can ask from literature.

>> No.16950288

>>16950163
Fuck off retard there is no point in reading books not in top 100 lists. Enjoy wasting precious moments of your life that could be spent on Pynchon, DFW, Roth, or D'Angelo. But yes keep chudding over a mediocre white male fine by me

>> No.16950299

>>16950288
what a stupid take
everyone should form their own unique canon

>> No.16950306

>>16950299
conform to the group consensus or else

>> No.16950337

>>16950288
Who's D'Angelo?

>> No.16950342

>>16950337
Author of White Fragility?

>> No.16950349

>>16950299
Oh look the chudflake wants a safe space from authors of color what a shock.

>> No.16950404

>>16948597
You convinced me OP.

>> No.16950412

>>16950404
don't read it. a white male wrote it. you could devote your time to a young latina or a black male or a transgender author.

>> No.16950427

>>16950412
Do you go out of your way to be an obnoxious shithead or is it just an equal opportunity thing?

>> No.16950445

>>16948644
>I firmly believe lit should incorporate this book into its top 3
you seem to be a plotfag so I doubt its that good

>> No.16951902

>>16948597
Ignoring the ranting douchebags below: have you read “French Lieutenant’s Woman” or “The Collector”? I liked those, too. I’m curious about “A Maggot” and “Mantissa.”

>> No.16952112

>>16948597
I’m always torn between reading this as an idictment of a certain type of male narcissism, one which corrodes any real value sex/love has, or whether it really is an idictment of elite’s dabbling in the occult/psuedoscience (I believe if this interpretation is correct Fowles is damning psychology as a field).

>> No.16952261

>>16948597
Read it 5 or 6 years ago based on a /lit/'s rec. It was fun and imaginative but I don't see how anyone would think a novel about a pretentious playboy who gets sort of cucked, and ends up brainfucked a little, in almost the same spot he started out (seeking love) except now he knows himself a little better, would be the best novel ever.
The reveal was pretty shocking and I guess that bit, with the exposition dump, and the way the speech is written might have been what Fowles considered a bit immature (his own take). Still, somewhat relating to the MC, I felt BTFO'd by the description.
One of the nicest touches of the novel is that it has almost no dialogue tags ("Go away," //he said//) and yet you can follow it perfectly fine.

The only other John Fowles book I read was The Collector and it fairly bad. I did not believe in the chick's part at all.

>> No.16952446

>>16952261
The novel has two really great scenes: the one where Conchis has Nick play the game with loaded dice, and when he calls Nick a faggot for thinking a 10/10 would fall for him (I don't agree with this speech, but it is BASED). The plot is also very well executed. It's a good novel, and I don't mind seeing it show up occasionally on lists of "100 greatest English novels ever".

>> No.16952485

>>16948597
Better than stoner? Better than the magic mountain? Better than Tolstoy?

>> No.16953161

>>16952485
OP only reads genre fiction and gay erotica, what do you expect?

>> No.16953492

>>16953161
Reminder there is literally! nothing wrong with liking a book that isn't in lits top 10. The fact that it makes you so mad op likes this book says more about you than him

>> No.16953528

>>16952112
I thinks Nick's narcissism and Conchis' elite machinations are one and the same, it's just a question of power. Its all grandiosity for its own sake.

>> No.16953906

>>16953161
I can smell you through my monitor.

>> No.16953935

I dug this novel out of somebody's trash a year or two ago. I don't remember much, but I do know I liked it.

>> No.16954015

>>16948685
For anyone interested the movie in question is Finchers The Game.

>> No.16954503

>>16953906
Based poster smeller

>> No.16954569

>>16948597
I stopped reading two thirds of the way through because I was sick of being jerked around.

>> No.16954581

>>16954569
Based metafiction non-comprehender

>> No.16954585

>>16948748
Have you read Ulysses, Madame Bovary, Sentimental Education and Dante's Divine Comedy?

>> No.16954682

>>16954585
Yeah only in my first year of college fart sucker. That is all basic bitch lit if you have such a degree, which I do.

>> No.16954708

>>16954569
Based point misser.

>> No.16954739
File: 2.44 MB, 3264x2448, magic.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
16954739

>>16954581
>>16954708
=,(

>> No.16954758

>>16954682
The typical confidence of the mediocre retard. "I read this so I must have understood it all".
Just because it's "basic lit" (entry level) doesn't mean it's basic literature.

>> No.16954810

>>16949083
Better. I'd actually wait a year or two to pick up the Magus, though, since reading these in quick succession I think could slightly sour the experience

>> No.16954824

>>16950163
I agree, it's actually really great to see people on here just talking about books

>> No.16954837

>>16954758
>wherever I see goal posts, I must move them, lest my insecurity be made manifest
Sorry I like a book that makes you feel weird feelings, chud sucker. Too bad I'm not your dad so take your gay little feelings out on someone else.

>> No.16954843

>>16950299
Agreed. Just because this isn't as much of a meme or as well known as the 100 book canon doesn't mean it isn't still great>>16950445

>> No.16954849

>>16954682
>"basic bitch if you have such a degree, which i do"
>yeah, I read them as a freshman nbd
>yeah, I skimmed along through the books and read my professor's notes while I spent the year jacking off to insta pictures of my classmates
c'mon anon, you really think university is some grand achievement on this board? guess you haven't seen the latest poll

>> No.16954853

>>16948644
Top 3 is a bigggg stretch; I'd place it maybe top 25 for men in their 20s

>> No.16954860

>>16954849
I think your projection is uh... showing a little here? Hope you downloaded those pics tho

>> No.16954867
File: 788 KB, 1231x812, no_thanks1.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
16954867

>>16950163
>"Check out House of Leaves"
>"Check out Dave Wallace-Lite"

>> No.16954891

>>16954860
The projection isn't wrong if it's true, breh. Who do you think you're talking to, a bunch of 17 year olds who are looking for their first guru?

>> No.16954955

>>16954891
I think I'm talking to someone who jerks off to Instagram photos. That girl in the back of the class is still a whore, even the quiet one

>> No.16954971

>>16954955
what year did you graduate uni? i'd like to know whether i can take your takes seriously

>> No.16954987

>>16954971
2010

>> No.16954992

>>16950445
>plotfag
midwit located

>> No.16955081

>>16954987
nah, a 32 year old man should not be reading genre fiction for the past 3 years of his life. such things are beneath cognoscenti. exit left

>> No.16955350

>>16950288
lmao based baiter

>> No.16955361

>>16950299
>t. Bloom

>> No.16955596

>>16948597
I read it maybe 8 years ago and I don't remember much of the plot but I know it changed my life. His descriptions of people, the main character's skepticism left a mark on my mind, and whenever I check my Goodreads profile I see it ranked higher than almost all other novels I read. It's a bit like Hobbes' Leviathan: it changed my perspective and it's an important step in my life, but it seems like no one else really cares about it, and I stopped trying to understand why.

>> No.16955669

>>16950288
>But yes keep chudding over a mediocre white male fine by me
Is this satire? All the authors you've mentioned are mediocre white males.

>> No.16955806

>>16954682
What was your favorite part from Purgatory in Dante's Comedy? You don't have to narrow it down from a specific canto, just tell a detail, a scene, or an observation that struck you.

>> No.16955889

>the greatest novel of all time
Not even the greatest novel of the year it was released

>> No.16955981

>>16948597
Got a copy. Gonna try it.

>> No.16955997

you guys do realize that these threads are made by freelance marketers to get more sales for their clients?

>> No.16957130

>>16955997
For a book form 1965??

>> No.16957168

>>16955081
Are you like an actual retarded person or something?

>> No.16957225

>>16955889
Which would be?

>> No.16957850

>>16948597

This thread is a hilarious shitshow and if you have a college degree like me, you'd know a shitshow when you see one. But bought the book anon so you have spread it to at least one other reader.

>> No.16957987

>this thread
>how dare you call a novel besides IJ the best? I'm triggggeerrrrrrrrrred

>> No.16958875

I read this earlier this year.
I did not enjoy the self pitiful delusions of the main character, and his drawn out descriptions and bemoanings got pretty boring, so I guess I quite relieved when he started getting messed around with. So my understanding is that fowles purposefully fattens the character with narcisstic dribble so as to be more satisfying whdn to be slaughtered later.
The story of the kid magician who gets taught a lesson by his daddy and the blind crazy guy who saw god, Id never forget those stories. Those bits alone redeem the rest of the book. Also the bit with the greek rebel who yells freedom was pretty moving. The nazi robot who was not to blame because he too was mad. Interesting perspective
The whole thing with communication with other worlds I quite enjoyed and that is to sit with me for some time.

I was disappointed in the cuck scene because it was underwhelmingly tame compared to the psychological lead up which seemed to promise much much more.
Compare that to something like
as the anime berserk. Now that is a good cuck scene. With the main character having to watch "his love" get spread apart and jave leg shaking multiple orgasms while a claw goes into one eye. The rage, the impotence as he watches her face flush with pain and pleasure. While the god of tempation masturbates to the indulgence of emotions and heartbreak. Having to face the reality of a thick orgasm making cock of someone else who possesses the power of the dream itself, power itself, which he cannot compete with. His pathetic and worthless love which cannot compete. This book just has a pretty tame im comparison. A black guy fucks "his" girl. Big whoop. Some nazis sadistically torture some rebels but the real bad guy is the poor guy that kills himself. Shrugs. Could have redeemed it if he had to see her getting spit roasted by conghis and the black guy and shamefully found himself getting a boner or something or maybe did something more with the nazi bit.

Also thw secret societies gathering together and larping away in their pretty costumes was pretty meh. Actual groups would have performed something a lot more blackmail than just mentally fucking with some suicidally boring manboy. The nature of these ceremonies is to blend reality but also so that everyone has so much dirt on everyone else, mutual destruction ensures secrecy. It was just too tame.

>> No.16959191

I got this book due to this thread and read it already. It was truly great, no lie.

>> No.16960438

Final bump

>> No.16960710

>>16957987
>IJ
nobody here thinks highly of it