Writing Back The Tempest: An Intertextual Interpretation Of John Fowles's The Magus

The thesis interprets the mutual reference and association between The Magus and The Tempest in the light of intertextuality. It can be found through close reading that there are some overlap in the themes between Fowles's The Magus and Shakespeare's The Tempest. Both are in pursuit of freedom and the protagonists' love is subjected to severe test. Moreover, there are subtle intertextual relations in terms of characters, settings and structure between The Magus and The Tempest.This thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter includes an introduction to John Fowles's The Magus and literature review. The second chapter illustrates the basic theory of this thesis. Firstly, the concept of intertextuality in literature research is defined. Then the main ideas of the representatives of intertextuality theory like Kristeva, Bakhtin, Roland and Genette are expounded and the theoretical framework of the thesis is outlined. The third chapter interprets the intertextual link between The Magus and The Tempest in terms of character. Conchis is the decrowned Prospero, who does not believe in the divinity of magic any more but is curious about the fictional works. Nicholas experiences the change from a Caliban figure to a Ferdinand one. And Julie goes through the degradation like Miranda. The fourth chapter analyzes the correspondence between The Magus and The Tempest in terms of the island setting, the masque and the structure of romance. The fifth chapter is the conclusion. Through the writing-back of The Tempest, Fowles discloses the absurd living conditions of human being in the modern society, and the growing up of a young man is at the mercy of a Conchis-like magus.