Marginalization And Carnivalization:a Study Of John Fowles’s The Magus

John Fowles is a representative novelist of British postmodernism. The Magus is Fowles’s virgin novel in which he has invested enormous efforts. After its publication, he spent almost ten years rewriting it. When it was republished in1977, we find that the book changes both in plot and in narrative mode, which indicates that the author has acquired a new understanding of novel writing. With thematic and narrative complexity, The Magus has aroused widespread concern. Critics at home and abroad have approached this novel from quite a number of perspectives:feminism, postmodernism, psychoanalysis, existentialism, and narratology. However, few researches have been conducted in carnivalesque horizon to reveal the themes of freedom and dialogue.The Magus depicts the growth of the protagonist Nicholas’s. The story is set in Phraxos, a mysterious island far away from the continent. Thanks to its remoteness, Phraxos becomes a quasi-carnival square permeated with spirit of freedom and equality. In this topside-down world, Nicholas is entitled to challenging the authority of Conchis, the shadowy controller of the island and the director of the god-game. Also, he is allowed an opportunity to re-examine his emotional entanglements with the heroines. Eventually Nicholas manages to decrown his former self and acquire new recognition of the subversive potential of women.The main body of the thesis consists of three chapters.Chapter One analyzes the metaphoric meaning of the carnivalized Phraxos. Nicholas, a man of middle-class origin, exiles himself to the remote island of Phraxos. Living on this extraterritorial island, especially after participating in the Masque play directed by Conchis, Nicholas gradually extricates himself from the fear, piety and prejudices that take shape in the outside hierarchical society. As a result, he eventually realizes the dual decrowning of his former self and Conchis’s authority.Chapter Two explores the subversive energy of women. Women are conventionally depicted as Other, as men’s accessories. But in The Magus, Alison and Julie, two marginalized girls, are embedded with subversive powers. Their mystery and sexual bodies gradually help Nicholas reassume a sense of life and subjectivity. Chapter Three focuses on the carnivalization of language and text. Fowles blends into the novel a large number of sexual scenes and obscene words as well as private letters and news reports. The Magus, therefore, becomes an arena of diverse voices, which further strengthens the effect of equal dialogue.In short, the research on The Magus from the perspective of marginalization and carnivalization is significant to expand horizons of domestic study on Fowles.