University of Virginia Library

Has Everything

The book, in fact, works on so
many levels with so many references
that it invoked comparison
with behemoths like James
Joyce's Ulysses. But The Magus,
unlike Ulysses is not unbearably
complex reading. Fowles does not
attempt to be unnecessarily obscure;
he allows the reader to
choose whatever level he wishes to
read it on. But The Magus is a very
difficult book not to get totally
involved with. The beauty of it is
that one really needs no prereading
preparation to appreciate it on any
level. It has everything.