john fowles' "mantissa"

i have a terrible time relegating books to a "top five" category. this is mostly because i have a hard time saying that anything is my favourite book other than danielewski's "house of leaves." however, if i had a top five, john fowles' opus "the magus" would definitely be toward the top.

with that in mind, and having devoured most of the rest of his collection (and found it lacking in comparison to 'the magus',) i found a copy of "mantissa," a book of his i had not yet encountered. it's a quick read, and it is fairly satisfying (if a bit obfuscated), but it in no way compares to 'the magus.' it leaves you with this .. hor d'oeuvre feeling, as though 'mantissa' were simply the first draft.

in brief: a man wakes up in a hospital bed with amnesia. and some other kinds of -nesia. after a very bizarre encounter with a sexual nurse & doctor providing some very unique therapy, the scene abruptly shifts and a new character is introduced ... well, i can't tell you how, or what, because it spoils the plot, the most interesting thing about the book.

lots of writers have written about the theory of the muse, that elusive spirit who seems to grace us with her presence when we're getting into the groove of something, when we reach that near-Dionysian state of total abandonment & immersion into our craft. fowles likes to inject equal does of myth & social commentary in his writing, and 'mantissa' is like the K2 of this exhibition ('magus,' obviously, being Everest.) for those who don't wish to slog through an enormous novel (i can't imagine any on this blog feeling that way, but you never know), 'mantissa' is an adequate little treat for you. i'd recommend it over 'the ebony tower' and maybe even 'the french lieutenant's woman', but really, just read 'the magus,' dammit.

next up!:

'black spring' by henry miller
'rebel without a cause' by robert lindner
'swann's way' by marcel proust (trans. moncrieff)