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/lit/ - Literature

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File: 403 KB, 736x1102, magus.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7950842 No.7950842 [Reply] [Original]

What are some books similar to this one? I'm not new to /lit/ or anything, and I read a lot, so don't tell me to look at the sticky. I'm looking for something specific.

I picked up this book at a used bookstore for like 25 cents used paperback expecting it to be some sort of wacky postmodern novel -- something to taste and throw away, since I'd seen it on lists online. What I got instead was:

- extremely easy to read (in a good way)
- engaging story
- modern day prospero-esqe story with the most picturesque setting I've ever read

I'll admit it's a bit wanky in some areas because the author wanted to be "literary", but the way it's written, it feels like a really long, enjoyable Twilight Zone episode.

Are his other books this enjoyable? Any other authors similar? I'm looking for more light reading for after finals

>> No.7950883

Well I've never read this book but from what I think I know about it (some kinda cult? and your criteria (easy, engaging, picturesque setting (what is a prospero-esque story? like the Tempest)) I reccomend DeLillo's The Names.

Good literary cult thriller with great Greek landscapes DeLillo wrote while he was travelling.

>> No.7950890

sup hannah

>> No.7951020

>>7950842
Tough one anon, Under the Net by Iris Murdock comes to mind.

Box Man by Kobe Abe is out there in a different way. I read it almost a decade ago and now kinda wanna reread it, was a real trip.

>> No.7953119

>>7950842
Haven't read something similar to that yet. You could read Jesus' Son - Denis Johnson. It's not exactly similar, but it's definitely better and much more satisfying than The Magus.

Or try Golem - Meyrink. Also better, and more mysterious and shit.

>> No.7953506

If what you're after is the Twilight Zone aesthetic, pick up a collection of stories by Robert Aickman -- Sub Rosa or Cold Hand in Mind or his Collected Strange Stories if you can find it. Nobody does the uncanny better. If you're looking for a readable mysterio-thriller with quality writing and classical influences you could try The Secret History, Foucault's Pendulum, or The Club Dumas.

>> No.7953518

>>7953506
>>7950883

p.s. The Names is a great rec as well.

>> No.7953551
File: 63 KB, 292x475, lewd cover for that arcanine audience.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7953551

>>7950842

I wanted to like that book but I just couldn't get into it. I've read 2/3 of it. Probably one of the best books I didn't finish. The only other books I've read by him are The Collector and a novella called The Ebony Tower. The Ebony Tower was ok I guess but the Collector was quite good. Very suspenseful.

It's on r9k's reading list, probably because they think it's erotica lel

>> No.7953915

I read this about 5 years ago and would also like to find another book this mind bending. So far, no luck.

Fowles said that the book 'The Lost Domain' was a huge influence on him and the writing of this story in particular.

He also said 'The Magus' was the equivalent of a Rorschach test.

>> No.7953935

>>7950842
You might try William Burroughs City of the Red Night. I know that he mentions the Magus in it a number of times. Doesn't mean that it is similar, though. He also mentions the works of Castaneda a lot in that book, so that might be another route you could take. Castaneda's books also deal with a guy being mentored in occult knowledge so it isn't a million miles away.

>> No.7953954

>>7951020
>Under the Net by Iris Murdock comes to mind.
The Sea, The Sea by her works too. UtN is more picaresque than picturesque
>>7953551
Ebony Tower is underrated. The Collector is very much /r9k/ if it was well written, but I don't know if it's as close to The Magus as Ebony Tower.
>>7950842
>it feels like a really long, enjoyable Twilight Zone episode.
You may also like:
>The Third Policeman, Flann O'Brien
slightly more wacky, way more Twilight Zone, less gratingly smrt but still smart
>Selected Works of TS Spivet, Reif Larsen
Twilight Zone, with added pictures, engaging autism and scenery

>> No.7954024

for the cucking scene, try blacked.com

>> No.7954030

>>7954024
>idiots think this is a new thing and you need pictures to explain it to you
guess what the #1 sign you haven't read chaucer is?

>> No.7954044

>>7954030
>guess what the #1 sign you haven't read chaucer is?
shots fired