This book led me down a maze that i dont know whats true and what isnt. I feel confused and frustrated
I get the feeling that the post modern aspect is the story itself is the masque. The MC is paranoid and confused. Not knowing who is speaking the truth having been lied to by everyone, not knowing exactly what the point was and what he learnt from it. The reader is the same
>>25464393>John Fowlesthe midwit's idea of the thinking man's novelist
>>25464562Come up with that one yourself?
>>25464562You're confusing him with /lit/core garbage like McCarthy and Pynchon
Epsteincore
I'm reading the Aristos, OP, and Fowles declares his sensitivities (some more champagne swilling than others) in a surprisingly readable and personable manner. His chapter on the Nemo, in particular catches my eye as an ego inclusive way of categorizing futility present in man's life irrespective of his accomplishments or status.Do recommend, especially if you're befuddled by the story of the Magus. The author is an idealist writing about the process of filtering for future-thinking people. It's a call to action if you understand the terms.
>>25464393Yeah the BBC cuckholding chapter really is something
>>25465373Breaking Nicholas down with a vile act he could never forgive her for.
>>25464393Cover and title looked cool but this >>25465456 is too usaian for my taste
>>25464393It's not that confusing if you know the source material. It's just a retelling of the legend of Orpheus, who literally went through hell to rescue his dead wife, only to lose her again due to a foolish impulse.Nicholas Urfe (who is literally called "Orfe" at one point, which is an obvious hint) alienates his girlfriend Alison, who later fakes her own death to spite him. He suffers various psychological tortures at the hands of Conchis and his collaborators, who are eventually revealed to be in league with Alison. When she and Urfe are finally reunited, he is unable to resist the urge to slap her upside the head, which implicitly leads to him losing her forever.The basic problem with the book is the improbable way this plot is developed, and the increasingly ludicrous plot-twists that accumulate towards the end. Ultimately, it comes across as a particularly self-indulgent bout of navel-gazing on the author's part.
>>25467410I get what youre saying but urfe is simply "earth" conchis is "conscious" the Orphean metaphor fits with certain parts but doesnt hold up.The implicit losing her forever isnt how i read it at all either:cras amet qui numquam amavit quique amavit cras ametLet the one love tomorrow who has never loved, and let the one who has loved love tomorrow.Seemed to suggest the opposite to me
>>25468167>conchis is "conscious"Why not "conscience?" This would befit his role as Urfe's tormentor.But the Orphean parallels are too strong to be ignored. Aside from the "Orfe" slip (which is surely a sly wink from the author), we get the show-trial near the end of Part 2, which recalls Orpheus' examination by Aecus, Rhadamanthus and Minos. And why do you think the novel is set in Greece? It's not some whim of the author, it's a nod to the story's classical origin.This does not preclude other interpretations of the novel, but the Orpheus myth is firmly embedded.
