764. A Maggot

A Maggot
John Fowles

1985

Around 460 pages

John Fowles is quick to assure us in the prologue that we won't have to deal with actual maggots. He's using the archaic sense of the term, which means a "whim, quirk, or obsession." Kind of weird to choose a title you immediately have to clarify. But John Fowles is a weird guy.

So this brings me back to my early days of doing the List, when I wore a younger man's clothes. The novels in the 1700s often were formatted as epistolary works. This is a technique that I really liked, so it's nice to get back to it as we near the end of the project. Fowles begins with a narration about five travelers in rural England, then the rest of the novel consists of interview transcripts, newspaper articles, and facsimiles surrounding a hanging near where the travelers were staying.

This is what we have come to expect from Fowles at this point. He offers several endings and explanations of events, so it's open for endless interpretation. To me, that just feels like he's making it easier on himself. Many writers consider different endings, and then they, you know, choose one. In this instance, I can get what he was going for, with having the reader question the veracity of what we are told in the media. But it's just not a choice I love.

So our last Fowles novel on the List. I won't miss him, but we have definitely had more intrusive guests on this blog. Here's my official ranking:

1. The French Lieutenant's Woman

2. The Collector
3. The Magus

4. A Maggot

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Following Fowles' death in 2005, his unpublished diaries from 1965 to 1990 were revealed to contain racist and homophobic statements, with particular ire towards Jewish people. That's disappointing, although maybe we shouldn't be reading people's unpublished diaries.

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