John Fowles

31 March 1926 – 5 November 2005. British author.

Life

Born 1926 in Leigh-on-Sea, John Fowles grew up as an only child, having only a 15-year younger sister. His parents are Robert and Gladys Fowles (Aubrey 2). From 1939 to 1944 Fowles went to Bedford School, but had to take one semester off when he was 15 due to psychological problems (Aubrey 8). Afterwards he studied one year in Edinburgh, before he joined the Royal Marines in 1945. After a visit from Isaac Foot, the Lord Mayor of Plymouth, who had commented on Fowles’s plan to stay with the Royal Marines that it was preposterous that a man of intelligence should stay in the armed forces (Acheson 4-5), Fowles reorientated himself and enrolled at Oxford University to study French language and literature, graduating in 1950. For the next 14 years he taught at several schools and universities in England and Greece, before his first huge success, the short story “The Collector” allowed him to work as a full-time writer (Thorpe 8). He was married to Elizabeth Whitton and died in 2005 in Lyme Regis in Dorset, England.

Literary Works

Fowles began writing when he started his studies in Oxford. Especially his early works are deeply influenced by his interest in French existentialism, which he developed during his undergraduate years (Acheson 6). Especially the existentialists’ approach on identity fascinated him. The vast majority of his characters develop in the course of Fowles's stories, being forced to face different kinds of challenges and societal pressure (Stephenson 2). An example is Sarah Woodruff, protagonist in the bestselling novel The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1969) that is set in Victorian England. She attempts to live an independent and sexually active life, not following the common gender norms for women of that time (Stephenson 2-3).

Sources

Acheson, James. John Fowles. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1998.

Aubrey, James R. John Fowles: A Reference Companion. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1991.

Stephenson, William. John Fowles. Tavistock: Northcote House, 2003.

Thorpe, Michael. John Fowles. Windsor: Profile Books, 1982.