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John Fowles was born in Essex, England, in 1926. He attended the University of Edinburgh for a short time, left to serve in the Royal Marines, and then returned to school at Oxford University, where he received a B.A. in French in 1950. Fowles taught English in France and Greece, as well as at St. Godric's College in London. Although the main theme in all Fowles's fiction is freedom, there are few other similarities in his books. He has deliberately chosen to explore a different style or genre for each novel: The Collector, his first novel, is an intellectual thriller; The Magus is an adolescent learning novel, tracing the emotional development of the central character; Daniel Martin tries, in the modernist style, to depict psychological reality; Mantissa is a comedic allegory that takes place entirely inside the narrator's head; Maggot combines mystery, science fiction, and history; and The Ebony Tower is a collection of short stories. Fowles explored yet another genre, historical fiction, with his best-known novel, The French Lieutenant's Woman, which received the W. H. Smith Literary Award in 1970 and was made into a movie, starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons, in 1981. An intriguing feature of this novel is that it has three different endings. Fowles's nonfiction includes Aristos: A Self Portrait in Ideas; Poems; and Wormholes: Essays and Other Occasional Writings. In addition, he has written the text for several books of photographs, including The Tree, for which Fowles received the Christopher Award in 1982. He died on November 5, 2005 at the age of 79. (Bowker Author Biography) — biography from The French Lieutenant's Woman… (more)
The French Lieutenant's Woman 6,410 copies, 105 reviews
The Collector 4,905 copies, 121 reviews
The Magus: a revised version 4,750 copies, 89 reviews
The Magus 1,410 copies, 29 reviews
A Maggot 1,371 copies, 18 reviews
The Ebony Tower 1,218 copies, 8 reviews
Daniel Martin 1,139 copies, 7 reviews
Mantissa 686 copies, 8 reviews
The Aristos 358 copies, 6 reviews
The Tree 310 copies, 8 reviews
The Enigma of Stonehenge 120 copies, 3 reviews
Islands 61 copies, 1 review
The Book of Ebenezer Le Page (Introduction, some editions) 924 copies, 33 reviews
The Penguin Book of Modern British Short Stories (Contributor) 418 copies, 2 reviews
After London: Or, Wild England (Introduction, some editions) 346 copies, 13 reviews
Midaq Alley / The Thief and the Dogs / Miramar (Introduction) 310 copies, 3 reviews
Ourika (Translator, some editions) 235 copies, 4 reviews
Granta 86: Film (Contributor) 203 copies
The Pleasure of Reading (Contributor) 186 copies, 7 reviews
Sixteen Short Novels (Composer) 171 copies
The French Lieutenant's Woman [1981 film] (Original book) 126 copies, 2 reviews
Trees: A Celebration (Contributor) 13 copies

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Information from the Dutch Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
John Fowles, geboren in 1926, studeerde aan de universiteit van Oxford, waar hij later Frans doceerde. Op zesendertigjarige leeftijd werd hij plotseling beroemd door het succes van zijn eerste roman The Collector (1963). Zijn faam werd nog bevestigd door de verfilming van dit eerste boek en door de twee lijvige romans die volgden: The Magus (De magiër, 1966) en The French Lietenant’s Woman (Het liefje van de Franse luitenant, 1969). Vooral dit laatste boek bezorgde Fowles in de Verenigde Staten een ongekend grote populariteit. In 1974 verscheen Fowles’ tot nu toe laatste boek, de novellenbundel The Ebony Tower (De ebbehouten toren). Fowles woont tegenwoordig in de Zuid-engelse badplaats Lyme Regis, waar zich ook een groot gedeelte van Het liefje van de Franse luitenant afspeelt (flaptekst).
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