The Possibility Of Overcoming Existential Isolation

John Fowles, once nominated by Nobel Prize in Literature is one of the representatives of post-modern novelists. He has published six novels during his whole life. This paper is about his novel The Magus. The Magus was Fowles's first written but second published novel. He wrote the original draft in the early 1950s, but he continued to rewrite and revise it for decades. Finally in 1978 Fowles published a revised edition of the novel, on which the author is based her discussion. Scholars in western countries have examined it from extensive approaches while researches at home lag behind. This paper intends to enrich the researches on The Magus in China.Existential Psychology is the third trend of modern psychology, which is developed under the influence of Existentialism. "Freedom and responsibility" is one of the key concepts of Existentialism and Existential Psychology. However, two other essentialist concepts, namely, "isolation and intimacy" and "meaningless and meaningness" are neglected by scholars. Therefore, this paper also intends to introduce another concept "isolation and intimacy" and adopt it to explore the behaviors of the literary character, Nicholas, in the fiction.The whole paper is divided into seven chapters. The first chapter is the basic introduction of the British writer, John Fowles, including his life experiences and works and a brief summary of Fowles'fiction, The Magus. Next section is literature review on The Magus by scholars at home and abroad. It also enumerates the significance of the study and presents the general layout. The body of the dissertation is divided into three chapters.Chapter two is an introduction to existential psychology and psychotherapy, the theoretical frame of this paper. Existential psychology and psychotherapy developed in the 1950s under the influence of Existentialism, which enlisted many gurus such as Erich Fromm, Adolf Adler, C. Rogers, Abram Maslow, Karen Horney. The three essential concepts are freedom vs. responsibility, isolation vs. intimacy and meaning vs. meaninglessness. In this paper the author adopts the theories of Erich Fromm and Irvin D. Yasom to explore how isolation and intimacy is reflected in The Magus. Chapter three is entitled "Nicholas'Existential Isolation from the World". His isolation is interpersonal, which refers to his being isolated from his own parents, his colleagues and the women he met, and this isolation can also be interpreted as intrapersonal isolation from his middle-class culture, and from the person he is. Facing absolute freedom is the cause of isolation, which in turn is the reason of his anxiety. In order to overcome isolation, he has lots of affairs with girls. Frustrated by his unsatisfying situation of his work and relationship with women, Nicholas flew from Britain to Greek to experience a different culture.Chapter four deals with Conchis's procedures of Existential Therapies on Nicholas in Greek. He first introduces Nicholas into his villa where he gathers information about Nicholas through talking and observing. Then he shows Nicholas's shortcomings through a beautiful actress, Julie. At the same time, Conchis teaches lessons through his stories. At last, he announces the results of experiments and sentenses Nicholas for his wrong deeds. Then they abandon Nicholas who has to return to London. Lily, who is Conchis's co-analyst and Julie's mother, helps him to understand the essence of experiments there.Chapter five is concerned with Nicholas's life when he is back to London. Nicholas has learned and gained much lessones from Conchis's experiments. He has known what he did to others and himself was totoally wrong. Sexual affairs are the wrong way to overcome isoaltion and only a stable mature love relationship heals. Through acquiring "family" with Kemp, having friendship with Jojo, a young girl and reuniting with Alison, Nicholas achieved intimacy with others and himself. Stable relationship is essential to overcoming isolation.The last chapter is the conclusion which offers a brief summary of the major arguments of the dissertation.