The Journals

An absolutely compulsive, often stunning and moving read. . . Like his unforgettable fictional characters, John Fowles lived large, and the publication of The Journals: Volume II constitutes an event . . . His two volumes of journals rank among his greatest achievements. [An] elegiac tone, and discursive and digressive sensibility, resonates throughout the detailed entries . . . It's all here. The drink count. The roe deer, bats and spiders. Sales figures and gossip. Complaints and snipes. Serious illnesses and personal triumphs. Grand flights of philosophical reflection and meticulous observations of mice. Real estate prices and the bricks and mortar of literary composition. Famous writers and neighbors down the road . . . The reader of Fowles feels somehow invited to enter a clearing made by language, a privileged and charged place . . . With such access comes an opportunity to understand but also to accompany, to witness. As a result, finally the reader of these journals feels lucky to have been granted entree to the life of a man brilliantly using words to illuminate a life beyond what the words of even a great writer like 'John Fowles' can suggest. <br>-Joseph Di Prisco, San Francisco Chronicle <br> Absorbing, from beginning to end . . . The deepest impression left by The Journals is of how enervating it must have been to be John Fowles . . . There is much pleasure to be had from pursuing the various narrative strands, material and spiritual, of a life laid bare . . . His main inspiration, practically his raison d'etre, is his love of nature and knowledge of 'animals, plants, birds, insects, ' which suffused the first volume and continues here. The sections on filmmakingcontain sharp, often affectionate portraits of Harold Pinter, Michael Caine, Fred Zinnemann and others . . . There is intelligent observation in abundance. <br> - James Campbell, The New York Times <p> From the Hardcover edition.