Fowles, John Robert

▪ 2006

      British writer (b. March 31, 1926, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, Eng.—d. Nov. 5, 2005, Lyme Regis, Dorset, Eng.), combined masterly storytelling with an unconventional, often experimental, style to explore existential themes, especially free will, in a series of acclaimed novels, most notably The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969; filmed 1981). After graduating (1950) from New College, Oxford, Fowles taught in Greece, France, and England. He earned critical and commercial success with his first novel, The Collector (1963; filmed 1965), a haunting account of a lonely butterfly collector who imprisons a woman in his basement. In The Magus (1965, rev. ed. 1977; filmed 1968), Fowles chronicled a young teacher's struggle to differentiate between fantasy and reality. The novel challenged readers with its ambiguity, which came to define much of Fowles's works. With The French Lieutenant's Woman, a 19th-century love story revolving around an engaged geologist and his obsession with an enigmatic governess, Fowles reinterpreted the classic Victorian novel by including alternate endings, social critiques, and a contemporary narrator. Among his later novels were Daniel Martin (1977), Matissa (1982), and A Maggot (1985). Fowles also penned several collections of essays, including The Aristos: A Self-Portrait in Ideas (1964) and Wormholes (1998), as well as poetry and nature writings.

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