John Fowles

»En berättarkonstens mästare.« | New York Times »Ett fantastiskt, klarsynt, djupt tillfredsställande konstverk, en bok jag nästan direkt vill läsa om.« | New StatesmanHon syns vandra vid piren i Lyme Regis, med endast det upprörda havet som sällskap: den franske löjtnantens kvinna, övergiven och skandaliserad. Charles Smithson, naturvetenskapsman och darwinist, fångas av hennes öde och försöker närma sig den olyckliga kvinnan. Lika intresserad verkar berättaren själv vara, som bär stora likheter med författaren John Fowles. Den franske löjtnantens kvinna är ett metalitterärt mästerverk, där berättaren gärna griper in i händelsernas gång och där det viktorianska Englands sociala inskränkthet gör även senare tiders verkliga eller inbillade morallagar synliga. Människorna, och särskilt kvinnan vid havet, tycks sitta fast i sociala konventioner, i historisk determinism och, kanske, i romanen själv - såvida det inte är fiktionen som erbjuder den frihet som annars verkar omöjlig. JOHN FOWLES, född 1926, var en engelsk författare som på 1960-talet nådde världsrykte. Den franske löjtnantens kvinna utkom 1969 och var hans tredje roman efter succéerna Samlaren (1963) och Illusionisten (1965, reviderad 1977). Han avled år 2005 i Lyme Regis, den kuststad i engelska Dorset där romanen utspelar sig.

Charles såg sanningen: han stod faktiskt med ena foten över branten. Ett ögonblick tänkte han att han skulle, han måste störta. Han visste att om han sträckte ut armarna skulle han inte möta något motstånd... endast ett passionerat återgäldande av hans känslor. Sedan fördjupades rodnaden på hans kinder, och till slut viskade han: "Vi får aldrig mer träffas på tumanhand igen."En aprildag 1867 promenerar ett ungt par på en pir i en engelsk kuststad. Längst ut mot havet står en orörlig kvinnogestalt. En unge adelsmannen Charles Smithson vet att hon av ryktet utpekas som den franske löjtnantens kvinna. Sarah är olik alla andra kvinnor han mött, självständig både intellektuellt och känslomässigt, och han dras oemotståndligt till henne. Deras stormiga kärleksförhållanden utspelas i det viktorianska England och John Fowles kastar ett skarpt ljus över tidens dubbelmoral och ställer epokens sociala attityder mot vår tids.Med förord av Ola Larsmo

John Fowles gained international recognition in 1963 with his first published novel, The Collector, but his labor on what may be his greatest literary undertaking, his journals, commenced over a decade earlier. Fowles, whose works include The Maggot, The French Lieutenant's Woman, and The Ebony Tower, is among the most inventive and influential English novelists of the twentieth century. The first volume begins in 1949 with Fowles' final year at Oxford. It reveals his intellectual maturation, chronicling his experiences as a university lecturer in France and as a schoolteacher on the Greek island of Spetsai. Simultaneously candid and eloquent, Fowles' journals also expose the deep connection between his personal and scholarly lives as Fowles struggled to win literary acclaim. From his affair with Elizabeth, the married woman who would become his first wife, to his passion for film, ornithology, travel, and book collecting, the journals present a portrait of a man eager to experience life. The second and final volume opens in 1966, as Fowles, already an international success, navigates his newfound fame and wealth. With absolute honesty, his journals map his inner turmoil over his growing celebrity and his hesitance to take on the role of a public figure. Fowles recounts his move from London to a secluded house on England's Dorset coast, where discontented with society's voracious materialism he led an increasingly isolated life. Great works in their own right, Fowles' journals elucidate the private thoughts that gave rise to some of the greatest writing of our time.

John Fowles gained international recognition in 1963 with his first published novel, The Collector, but his labor on what may be his greatest literary undertaking, his journals, commenced over a decade earlier. Fowles, whose works include The Maggot, The French Lieutenant's Woman, and The Ebony Tower, is among the most inventive and influential English novelists of the twentieth century. The first volume begins in 1949 with Fowles' final year at Oxford. It reveals his intellectual maturation, chronicling his experiences as a university lecturer in France and as a schoolteacher on the Greek island of Spetsai. Simultaneously candid and eloquent, Fowles' journals also expose the deep connection between his personal and scholarly lives as Fowles struggled to win literary acclaim. From his affair with Elizabeth, the married woman who would become his first wife, to his passion for film, ornithology, travel, and book collecting, the journals present a portrait of a man eager to experience life. The second and final volume opens in 1966, as Fowles, already an international success, navigates his newfound fame and wealth. With absolute honesty, his journals map his inner turmoil over his growing celebrity and his hesitance to take on the role of a public figure. Fowles recounts his move from London to a secluded house on England's Dorset coast, where discontented with society's voracious materialism he led an increasingly isolated life. Great works in their own right, Fowles' journals elucidate the private thoughts that gave rise to some of the greatest writing of our time.