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| Plot Summary of The Magus |
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"This is a three-ring-circus of a novel which either enthralls or infuriates its readers. Some find its technique delightful sorcery, others maddening trickery. A young Enghlishman named Nicholas Urfe escapes a romance and goes to a small Greek island to teach at a private school but soon finds himself caught up in the stories and live-action plays overseen by a mysterious, wealthy man named Conchis. This "magus" tells Nick stories about himself, reenacts or reproduces some of those stories with live actors, and in general utterly flummoxes both the hero and the reader of this book -- apparently to teach both something about life and literature."
David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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"The young protagonist of this story, who is meant to be an educated "every man," dumps his loving girlfriend (because of his aversion to commitment) and goes off to a Greek island to teach at a prep school. There he makes the acquaintance of "Conchis" -- a mysterious and brilliant guru figure, reminiscent of Carl Jung -- and becomes the victim of horrendous psychiatric experiments and tortures, while becoming enthralled and sexually involved with a beautiful woman, Lilly, who may be two women. The experiments performed on him allude to myths, fables and to philosophical themes. In the end, he seems much worse off than before -- and without the mysterious woman whom he realizes that he loves and for whom he must return to England. "
Juan Galis-Menendez, Resident Scholar
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"Nicholas, a teacher and a recent Oxford graduate meets Alison at a party. She is an Australian stewardess, quite experienced with men. They have an instant attraction and begin an affair. Alison falls deeply in love and wants marriage, but, while Nicholas loves her, he is not "in love". He has a British sense of class consciousness, and feels she is beneath him. He leaves London for a teaching job in Greece and once there his arrogance causes him some problems. He meets a mysterious Greek tycoon, and through him, also meets a beautiful young English woman with whom he becomes completely enchanted.
The story is about Nicholas's coming of age as the love triangle plays out. Alison is often in tears, as she tries valiently to sustain the relationship, as Nicholas begins to feel more bored, guilt-ridden and trapped. There are many on-lookers who continue to give Nicholas advice. The advice falls on deaf ears until he realizes, too late, that all those upon whom he looked down on knew more, in some ways, than he did.
The descriptions of the Greek scenery are awesome, and the plot is quite suspenseful. "
Susan T, Smith, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of The Magus |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of story
- 1930's-1950's
Romance/Romance Problems
Yes
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Lover is
- extremely shy
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- teacher
Age:
- 20's-30's
Ethnicity/Nationality
- British
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 60's-90's
Profession/status:
- mastermind
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Physique
- average physique
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 6 ()
Europe
Yes
European country:
- England/UK
- Greece
Misc setting
- fancy mansion
Style
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
- touching of anatomy
- actual description of hetero sex
Unusual Style:
- a lot of flashback and forwards
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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