The Magus: an anti-Chosen One story I don’t know I need

Spoiler Alert! (and self-congratulatory rambling alert!) You've been warned.

I’ve given up “literature” pretty much entirely after grad school. This is true for both Chinese and English literature. I found most modern “serious” literature off-putting and pretentious. Romanticism is dead, we’ll never had another Victor Hugo or Lord Byron. Even if we do, it’d be cheesy in this trivial modern age when everything can be made fun of. and it seems we never get over realism. Nowadays people wrote about common people’s pathetic lives. It’s depressing. And not to mention I have grown from that melodramatic 14 year old. Even I want to like Atticus Finch, my “read-way-too-much-TVTropes.com” brain would tell me he’s a benevolent racist and the book is pretty textbook “white savior” story. I was draw more towards Fantasy books where larger than life heroes battle impossible obstacles, the tropes are worse in these books, but at least they’re fun, they make me feel good, they provide an escape.

So when I picked up John Fowles’ The Magus at the strong recommendation of a friend, I didn’t expect much. The way she put it: the book is fucked up, you’d like it. I promised her I’d read it, I thought, I should at least make an effort.

It started slow, as I expected. I instantly took a dislike of Nicholas the protagonist. He represents the privileged over-educated brooding selfish spoiled white, more specifically, British White man-child I read so much in British books, and I hate so much. But somehow Nicholas had enough self-awareness that kept me going. Everything I want to say about Nicholas, he already said himself.

And just so happen, I flied to China for a business trip. I brought this book with me. I didn’t think I’d read it. I brought book to flight before, never really read much. While you’d think 15 hour flight would be good reading time, in reality, the seats are so uncomfortable, it’s not good anything time. You just suffer through it.

But there’s something special about The Magus. I read half of it on my way to China, 12 hour flight and the rest on my back. All together 24 hours. I don’t want to put it down. When I’m too tired, I put on audio book and rest my eyes. I wanted to know what Conchis would do to poor Nicholas next.

To say the book is entirely unpredictable is an understatement. Just when I thought I know what’s going on, the story took another turn, and throw me off balance. It made tons of literature reference, and yet didn’t follow any of the plot structure I know. I once criticized Jane Eyre about introducing crucial characters in the last 1/3 of the book, while the Magus introduces new character until the very end, and never felt out of place or forced.

Finishing the book, I suddenly realized, the book is actually a very twisted Hero’s Journey. It follows the Hero’s Journey steps pretty closely, and twist every step. Nicholas was propped to be the “chosen one”, he stepped into the other world, thinking this “artificial world”, this “live theater” is set up for him. And I felt for him. Fowles gave me a very unlikeable character, and yet I couldn’t help felt for him. Like Nicholas, I was drawn to Conchis’ world, and every time it seems that I’ll never return that world, it felt like a personal rejection. Like Nicholas, I needed this story to be about me. I wanted to mean something. Like a regular Hero’s Journey, there should be a big bad for me to battle, a truth for me to discover, the trophy for me to win, and the “elixir” to bring back with me.

As much as I hate Chosen one and Hero’s journey, my subconscious still fall for this trope. I mean, that’s the point of Joseph Campbell’s theory, it works because we all subconsciously wanted, needed to be the hero.

And I was utterly thoroughly destroyed. By “I” I mean Nicholas, our poor British over educated brooding man-child. The entire “trial” scene was the deconstruction of chosen one trope. And the most interesting part is Lily (or Julia, or Vanessa) being the “scapegoat”. The symbolism is quite obvious. But how many books, stories, movies… has the kind of self-awareness to say it? As much as I love Romanticism, they’re the least self-aware bunch. Of course, only with such lack of self-awareness, they were able to strike for the ideal, such is the escapism.

There’s no big bad, there’s no truth to discover despite the effort of poor destroyed Nicholas, there’s no closure. The world of Conchis and Lily was forever denied to us, and we’re not worthy of going back there. The world was never set up for us, we’re invited for other people’s amusement and discarded when they’re done and moved on. Still, Nicholas bring something back from that world, his hero’s elixir is his courage to face himself, to be true to himself, to see himself as who he really was.

Funny thing about Lily, through out the book, I never quite come up with a mental image for Lily. I have clear mental image for Nicholas and Conchis, but not the twins. But during the trial, I suddenly had a very clear mental image of her. It almost as if I can see her clearly for the first time. So perhaps Vanessa was how Lily or Julia truly was as a woman. (And in my mind, she looks like Olivia Dunham in Fringe).

I can’t say I love this book. Not the same way I love Victor Hugo and Ninety Three. I admire this book and the enormous self-awareness of Fowles. But more than anything, this book had given me an experience I never had with other books. It is an emotional roller coaster ride. The problem with me is that I was never quite get into a book, perhaps because I read too much TVtropes, perhaps I just way too self-aware (by self-aware I mean egotistic), I was never put myself in the shoes of a book or movie characters. I’ve always read books or watched movies as a spectator. I can’t relate to any of the characters.

But The Magus was different. I still can’t relate to Nicholas, after all, being an over-educated British upper class brooding manchild, he’s so very different from me. But somehow reading the book, I felt for him. I remember distinctly at one point of the plot, Nicholas received a letter from Conchis asking him never to visit the mansion again. I distinctively remember my disappointment. I think I might yelled out “No! you can’t do that to me!” in the airplane. And I flip the pages thinking I’m going to visit the Mansion all the same, and that’s what Nicholas did.

I think that’s what make the book timeless. Nicholas is not a blank character anyone can step into and wear as skin suit (like Bella Swan). He’s a very well established character with his problems. And yet, somehow, it is so easy to “be” him in the book. It’s easy to feel what he felt and eventually become him. I guess at the end of day, there’s something similar between me and Nicholas, are we not the same brooding over-educated young people, who think too highly of themselves, and at the same time depressed about their shortcomings. Am I not like Nicholas, always wanted something more out of life, something magical, and deep down are we not all believe we deserve that out of life?

In that sense, perhaps I’m not that different from that British brooding self-centered man-child.

One interesting fact, the audio book I bought is based on the first version (1965), while the (text) book I bought is the final version published in 1977. There are actually some significant changes between two versions. One thing I notice is Conchis was significantly less friendly, less gentle towards Nicholas than the 1965 version. I like the 1977 version better.