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The Journals Volume 1: v. 1
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Product Description
Good Book Guide
Fowles gives a frank account of literary success
Mail on Sunday
His analysis of the literary world...is shrewd
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I can't hope to compete with Ray Hammond's superb review of Volume two in this series. A lot of what Mr Hammond says to characterise that book goes for this first volume as well. Both books display a waspish, censorious, dismissive, and almost snarling approach to england, the english, great chunks of modern culture and even his own efforts to make his way in the real and literary worlds.
Don't take that as too much of a criticism, however. When all is said and done, this distinctly ambivalent stance towards his country and himself was an important facet of Fowles's character. He was, in large part, an outsider, and this is what gave force, drive, conviction and originality to his books. Without that sense of being different, we wouldn't have had the fascinating Clegg of "The Ousider", the tortured Urfe of "The Magus", the spirited and compelling Sarah of "TFLW" and so on. It is to Fowles's credit that he allowed this warts-and-all portrait to come out even during his lifetime as it revealed his ruling passions. What redeems all this is Fowles's gift of ultimately being able to turn his seemingly permanent mood of discontent into some great art.
It's not all emotional grumbling and negativity in this first volume. Fowles led a fairly eventful life- at least in emotional terms- and a lot of the key events happened in the years covered here. A lot of the book is given over to his tumultuous early years with his eventual wife Elizabeth, who was married when he first met her. Other difficult love affairs are detailled too. The book also allows us to chart his struggles to emerge as an artist. This is evident in the many and varied comments spread over numerous years about this or that work either planned, in progress or abandoned. Also implicit with every passing year is the sense that the journals were in large part the making of him as a writer. They allowed him to sharpen his perceptions and to learn the very craft of getting words down on the page to his satisfaction. Indeed, at times he complains that he spends more time on his journals than on his literary projects, but hindsight shows this to have been time well spent. This results in some journal entries- a trip up Mount Parnassus for example- that are amongst the very best things he ever did.
Success when it comes with "The Collector" adds another dimension to this book. Here we see Fowles learn to deal with a whole new world, this time the literary business, fame, success and even the world of Hollywood (where he went to work on the script of "The Collector").
Overall I value this book and keep coming back to it because it gives me a chance to look 'over the shoulder' as it were at one of my favourite writers as he creates his vital early works. It also gives a lot of insight into just how deadly dull and flat life in england could be for a sensitive artisitic soul in the decade and a half after world war two. In this respect Fowles is a bit like Hancock without the mordant humour, but it's an interesting social document in that respect. I also love the careful and vivid descriptions of nature that Fowles committted to his journals. For all his curmudegeonliness, Fowles was geniuinely intrigued and interested in a lot of the natural world about him.
Don't take that as too much of a criticism, however. When all is said and done, this distinctly ambivalent stance towards his country and himself was an important facet of Fowles's character. He was, in large part, an outsider, and this is what gave force, drive, conviction and originality to his books. Without that sense of being different, we wouldn't have had the fascinating Clegg of "The Ousider", the tortured Urfe of "The Magus", the spirited and compelling Sarah of "TFLW" and so on. It is to Fowles's credit that he allowed this warts-and-all portrait to come out even during his lifetime as it revealed his ruling passions. What redeems all this is Fowles's gift of ultimately being able to turn his seemingly permanent mood of discontent into some great art.
It's not all emotional grumbling and negativity in this first volume. Fowles led a fairly eventful life- at least in emotional terms- and a lot of the key events happened in the years covered here. A lot of the book is given over to his tumultuous early years with his eventual wife Elizabeth, who was married when he first met her. Other difficult love affairs are detailled too. The book also allows us to chart his struggles to emerge as an artist. This is evident in the many and varied comments spread over numerous years about this or that work either planned, in progress or abandoned. Also implicit with every passing year is the sense that the journals were in large part the making of him as a writer. They allowed him to sharpen his perceptions and to learn the very craft of getting words down on the page to his satisfaction. Indeed, at times he complains that he spends more time on his journals than on his literary projects, but hindsight shows this to have been time well spent. This results in some journal entries- a trip up Mount Parnassus for example- that are amongst the very best things he ever did.
Success when it comes with "The Collector" adds another dimension to this book. Here we see Fowles learn to deal with a whole new world, this time the literary business, fame, success and even the world of Hollywood (where he went to work on the script of "The Collector").
Overall I value this book and keep coming back to it because it gives me a chance to look 'over the shoulder' as it were at one of my favourite writers as he creates his vital early works. It also gives a lot of insight into just how deadly dull and flat life in england could be for a sensitive artisitic soul in the decade and a half after world war two. In this respect Fowles is a bit like Hancock without the mordant humour, but it's an interesting social document in that respect. I also love the careful and vivid descriptions of nature that Fowles committted to his journals. For all his curmudegeonliness, Fowles was geniuinely intrigued and interested in a lot of the natural world about him.
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