Gothic Healing under the Mediterranean Sun: The Magus by John Fowles as a Gothic Novel

Abstract

The present paper aims at interpreting the novel The Magus by John Fowles within the framework of the Gothic genre. The argument shall be founded on a close analysis of chosen characteristics of the Gothic convention which can be identified within the text, such as the theatricality, the motif of insanity, as well as the issue of repressed sexuality. It shall also be argued that the novel presents the therapeutic role of fear, intrinsically linked to the Gothic mode of expression. The boundary between the rational and the irrational is suspended to the point that the protagonist is unable to tell whether the apparitions he sees in the Magus’s shadowy estate are of supernatural provenance or they constitute mere figments of his imagination deluded by the elements of the Mediterranean ambience. Remarkably, it is the experience of terror that ultimately heals Nicholas, an embittered and disillusioned young man, from the state of apathy and emotional handicap.