The Journals: Volume II: 1966-1990

The second and concluding volume of John Fowless eloquent revelatory journals the first of which was widely greeted as a literary landmark (The book is gripping and one cant help feeling that Fowles was writingwith a dogged passion and almost inadvertentlywhat may come to be seen as one of the very best of his works Literary Review). Commencing in 1966 after the author had already achieved international renown with the publications of The Collector and The Magus these journals chart the rewards and struggles of Fowless continuing career and the inner life of the often-reluctant celebrity. Bravely forthright and honest Fowles writes in his journals about the attention and wealth that accrued to him with each new bookamong them The French Lieutenants Woman in 1969 (a film version of which was released to international acclaim in 1981) The Ebony Tower in 1974 Daniel Martin in 1977 A Maggot in 1985and about his deep ambivalence toward his growing fame. He chronicles his move from London to a remote house on Englands Dorset coast near the town of Lyme Regis the increasingly isolated life he cultivated there his disenchantment with what he saw as an unrelenting materialism at the center of contemporary society and his unwillingness to adopt a public persona for his readers and fans. He describes the strains that grew between him and his wife Elizabeth and tells about the challengesillness depression lossof the passing years. But he describes as well the pleasure he found in his ten-year post as curator of the small Lyme Regis historical museum and the great solace he took in gardening in books and in his impassioned study of the flora fauna and fossils of the countryside around his home. Fiercely candid and as ardent gripping and beautifully written as his novels Fowless journals illuminate the complex life and mind of one of the most important writers of our time.