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The Enigma of Stonehenge
Enigma of Stonehenge
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1974
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141 people want to read
About the author
John Fowles
115 books3,007 followersJohn Robert Fowles was born in Leigh-on-Sea, a small town in Essex. He recalled the English suburban culture of the 1930s as oppressively conformist and his family life as intensely conventional. Of his childhood, Fowles said "I have tried to escape ever since."
Fowles attended Bedford School, a large boarding school designed to prepare boys for university, from ages 13 to 18. After briefly attending the University of Edinburgh, Fowles began compulsory military service in 1945 with training at Dartmoor, where he spent the next two years. World War II ended shortly after his training began so Fowles never came near combat, and by 1947 he had decided that the military life was not for him.
Fowles then spent four years at Oxford, where he discovered the writings of the French existentialists. In particular he admired Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre, whose writings corresponded with his own ideas about conformity and the will of the individual. He received a degree in French in 1950 and began to consider a career as a writer.
Several teaching jobs followed: a year lecturing in English literature at the University of Poitiers, France; two years teaching English at Anargyrios College on the Greek island of Spetsai; and finally, between 1954 and 1963, teaching English at St. Godric's College in London, where he ultimately served as the department head.
The time spent in Greece was of great importance to Fowles. During his tenure on the island he began to write poetry and to overcome a long-time repression about writing. Between 1952 and 1960 he wrote several novels but offered none to a publisher, considering them all incomplete in some way and too lengthy.
In late 1960 Fowles completed the first draft of The Collector in just four weeks. He continued to revise it until the summer of 1962, when he submitted it to a publisher; it appeared in the spring of 1963 and was an immediate best-seller. The critical acclaim and commercial success of the book allowed Fowles to devote all of his time to writing.
The Aristos, a collection of philosophical thoughts and musings on art, human nature and other subjects, appeared the following year. Then in 1965, The Magus - drafts of which Fowles had been working on for over a decade - was published.
The most commercially successful of Fowles' novels, The French Lieutenant's Woman, appeared in 1969. It resembles a Victorian novel in structure and detail, while pushing the traditional boundaries of narrative in a very modern manner.
In the 1970s Fowles worked on a variety of literary projects--including a series of essays on nature--and in 1973 he published a collection of poetry, Poems.
Daniel Martin, a long and somewhat autobiographical novel spanning over 40 years in the life of a screenwriter, appeared in 1977, along with a revised version of The Magus. These were followed by Mantissa (1982), a fable about a novelist's struggle with his muse; and A Maggot (1985), an 18th century mystery which combines science fiction and history.
In addition to The Aristos, Fowles wrote a variety of non-fiction pieces including many essays, reviews, and forewords/afterwords to other writers' novels. He also wrote the text for several photographic compilations.
From 1968, Fowles lived in the small harbour town of Lyme Regis, Dorset. His interest in the town's local history resulted in his appointment as curator of the Lyme Regis Museum in 1979, a position he filled for a decade.
Wormholes, a book of essays, was published in May 1998. The first comprehensive biography on Fowles, John Fowles: A Life in Two Worlds, was published in 2004, and the first volume of his journals appeared the same year (followed recently by volume two).
John Fowles passed away on November 5, 2005 after a long illness.
Fowles attended Bedford School, a large boarding school designed to prepare boys for university, from ages 13 to 18. After briefly attending the University of Edinburgh, Fowles began compulsory military service in 1945 with training at Dartmoor, where he spent the next two years. World War II ended shortly after his training began so Fowles never came near combat, and by 1947 he had decided that the military life was not for him.
Fowles then spent four years at Oxford, where he discovered the writings of the French existentialists. In particular he admired Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre, whose writings corresponded with his own ideas about conformity and the will of the individual. He received a degree in French in 1950 and began to consider a career as a writer.
Several teaching jobs followed: a year lecturing in English literature at the University of Poitiers, France; two years teaching English at Anargyrios College on the Greek island of Spetsai; and finally, between 1954 and 1963, teaching English at St. Godric's College in London, where he ultimately served as the department head.
The time spent in Greece was of great importance to Fowles. During his tenure on the island he began to write poetry and to overcome a long-time repression about writing. Between 1952 and 1960 he wrote several novels but offered none to a publisher, considering them all incomplete in some way and too lengthy.
In late 1960 Fowles completed the first draft of The Collector in just four weeks. He continued to revise it until the summer of 1962, when he submitted it to a publisher; it appeared in the spring of 1963 and was an immediate best-seller. The critical acclaim and commercial success of the book allowed Fowles to devote all of his time to writing.
The Aristos, a collection of philosophical thoughts and musings on art, human nature and other subjects, appeared the following year. Then in 1965, The Magus - drafts of which Fowles had been working on for over a decade - was published.
The most commercially successful of Fowles' novels, The French Lieutenant's Woman, appeared in 1969. It resembles a Victorian novel in structure and detail, while pushing the traditional boundaries of narrative in a very modern manner.
In the 1970s Fowles worked on a variety of literary projects--including a series of essays on nature--and in 1973 he published a collection of poetry, Poems.
Daniel Martin, a long and somewhat autobiographical novel spanning over 40 years in the life of a screenwriter, appeared in 1977, along with a revised version of The Magus. These were followed by Mantissa (1982), a fable about a novelist's struggle with his muse; and A Maggot (1985), an 18th century mystery which combines science fiction and history.
In addition to The Aristos, Fowles wrote a variety of non-fiction pieces including many essays, reviews, and forewords/afterwords to other writers' novels. He also wrote the text for several photographic compilations.
From 1968, Fowles lived in the small harbour town of Lyme Regis, Dorset. His interest in the town's local history resulted in his appointment as curator of the Lyme Regis Museum in 1979, a position he filled for a decade.
Wormholes, a book of essays, was published in May 1998. The first comprehensive biography on Fowles, John Fowles: A Life in Two Worlds, was published in 2004, and the first volume of his journals appeared the same year (followed recently by volume two).
John Fowles passed away on November 5, 2005 after a long illness.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
September 16, 2022
started off boring but took an interesting turn in the narrative; doesn't pass the Bechdel test, but there's a female character with ✨character traits✨ that actually contributes to the plot
October 9, 2022
“Sparire”
“L’unica cosa che la gente non dimentica sono i misteri irrisolti. Niente dura più a lungo”
“L’unica cosa che la gente non dimentica sono i misteri irrisolti. Niente dura più a lungo”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 1, 2016
As the title itself suggests, The Enigma by John Fowles is a short story that is surrounded by mystery.
I have never read anything by John Fowles before and was interested to see what type of short story writer he is. The Enigma is a modernist short story and revolves around a missing man who is of importance in society - he is a Member of Parliament - he's rich, he's got a stable family, and loves spending time in the countryside.
The first paragraph of this story tells us what the most common type of person to go missing is and lays the foundations of how abnormal it is for John Fielding to go missing.
Throughout the first part of the story, it is written like a case file where we are told the last time that he was seen, where he was supposed to be and the last person to see him. We are also given a list of characters and we as the reader play the game of 'whodunnit' for a few pages.
For the second part of the story, we read from the perspective of Mrs Fielding and are thrown into the chaos that she experiences whilst trying to ring everyone who may have had contact with her husband the day he went missing. Amongst this chaos, we are introduced to a young detective called Jennings, who then becomes the voice for the third and final part of the story.
As the investigation into Mr Fielding's disappearance becomes to a dead end, the case is given to Jennings - a young officer who is just starting out in the field. He is determined to close the case and works on every lead that there is.
The Enigma is such an interesting read because we get to experience the missing person case from different perspectives throughout the different stages of a police case. We get to have a feel of a few different characters and this means that we can play our own guessing game.
I found the perspective of Jennings to be very interesting as - coming from a long line of police officers - he felt as if he had something to prove and that this case could be his winning ticket.
The most interesting part of this story is the ending. Jennings is questioning Isobel Dodgson and Fowles - through Isobel - makes a very interesting point of that the detective has to think about the case as a work of fiction in a mystery novel (see what Fowles is doing here?) and you have to question each character like you would if you were reading a story about them. Isobel then provides a 'hypothetical' storyline as to what could have happened to Mr. Fielding.
Whilst you're reading it, it seems as if this 'hypothetical' reason is what actually happened but we are told to think of it as a piece of fiction - a metaphysical world is being created within a fictional world and through that metafictional world, John Fowles is showing us as the reader the conventional ways of a detective story and the detective genre as a whole.
As good as the ending was in an 'it-was-well-written' sense, it was also a slight let-down. I felt the ending didn't do the story justice and didn't seem to fulfill me as a reader. However, it was still an amazing read and I thoroughly recommend it.
I have never read anything by John Fowles before and was interested to see what type of short story writer he is. The Enigma is a modernist short story and revolves around a missing man who is of importance in society - he is a Member of Parliament - he's rich, he's got a stable family, and loves spending time in the countryside.
The first paragraph of this story tells us what the most common type of person to go missing is and lays the foundations of how abnormal it is for John Fielding to go missing.
Throughout the first part of the story, it is written like a case file where we are told the last time that he was seen, where he was supposed to be and the last person to see him. We are also given a list of characters and we as the reader play the game of 'whodunnit' for a few pages.
For the second part of the story, we read from the perspective of Mrs Fielding and are thrown into the chaos that she experiences whilst trying to ring everyone who may have had contact with her husband the day he went missing. Amongst this chaos, we are introduced to a young detective called Jennings, who then becomes the voice for the third and final part of the story.
As the investigation into Mr Fielding's disappearance becomes to a dead end, the case is given to Jennings - a young officer who is just starting out in the field. He is determined to close the case and works on every lead that there is.
The Enigma is such an interesting read because we get to experience the missing person case from different perspectives throughout the different stages of a police case. We get to have a feel of a few different characters and this means that we can play our own guessing game.
I found the perspective of Jennings to be very interesting as - coming from a long line of police officers - he felt as if he had something to prove and that this case could be his winning ticket.
"Nothing is real. All is fiction. Somewhere there's someone writing us, we're not real. He or she decides who we are, what we do, all about us."
- John Fowles, The Enigma
The most interesting part of this story is the ending. Jennings is questioning Isobel Dodgson and Fowles - through Isobel - makes a very interesting point of that the detective has to think about the case as a work of fiction in a mystery novel (see what Fowles is doing here?) and you have to question each character like you would if you were reading a story about them. Isobel then provides a 'hypothetical' storyline as to what could have happened to Mr. Fielding.
Whilst you're reading it, it seems as if this 'hypothetical' reason is what actually happened but we are told to think of it as a piece of fiction - a metaphysical world is being created within a fictional world and through that metafictional world, John Fowles is showing us as the reader the conventional ways of a detective story and the detective genre as a whole.
As good as the ending was in an 'it-was-well-written' sense, it was also a slight let-down. I felt the ending didn't do the story justice and didn't seem to fulfill me as a reader. However, it was still an amazing read and I thoroughly recommend it.
January 11, 2015
John Marcus Fielding, agiato membro conservatore della Camera dei Comuni, marito e padre integerrimo, uomo di un certo successo, scompare improvvisamente nel pomeriggio del venerdì 13 luglio del 1973, letteralmente senza lasciare traccia. Dopo l’iniziale smarrimento, la famiglia (la moglie e i tre figli) e le autorità cercano in tutti i modi una spiegazione a questo inaspettato evento. La vita del deputato viene passata al setaccio, ma non emerge nulla che dia un qualche appiglio per formulare la benché minima ipotesi. Il caso viene affidato al giovane e brillante Jennings, sergente di Scotland Yard, che razionalmente esamina tutte le ipotesi e riprende ad interrogare parenti, collaboratori e amici di Fielding, finché intravede una piccola luce nel grande enigma… riuscirà a capire cos’è accaduto?
Fin dall’inizio – in cui Fowles descrive il candidato ideale alla scomparsa – si comprende che il complicato enigma che circonda un essere umano sfida qualsiasi ipotesi standard di soluzione: bisogna andare oltre il dato razionale, oltre la logica aristotelica, oltre il gioco classico dei moventi, degli alibi e della tempistica. L’esclusione di tutte le ipotesi e l’azzeramento completo di ogni tentativo di risoluzione viene effettuato da Fowles con cura certosina, complice la levigatissima prosa essenziale (non c’è una parola di troppo in tutte e cento le pagine del libro) e un certo gusto per l’asciutta analisi sociologica.
Anche in questo lungo racconto (appartenente alla raccolta The Ebony Tower del 1974, e pubblicato da Passigli in questa elegante edizione) Fowles propone molte soluzioni differenti – dell’enigma e della vicenda –, non necessariamente contraddittorie. Particolarmente appassionante è il lungo dialogo che oppone Jennings a Isobel, la potenziale nuora del deputato, e dal quale sembra che alla fine la verità potrà emergere: a tratti sembra che il colloquio sia concepito per confondere le idee al lettore, ma invece è un’interessante dichiarazione d’intenti letteraria. Uno scrittore deve essere consapevole che i suoi personaggi potrebbe decidere di fare qualcosa di inaspettato o inspiegabile – dice Isobel – lasciandolo senza un finale; replica Jennings che gli scrittori non possono andare contro le “irreali regole letterarie”… preferisco lasciare a chi vorrà leggere questo piccolo gioiello letterario la scoperta dell’esito della ricerca di Jennings.
Consigliato a chi ha apprezzato il giallo spezzato di Dürrenmatt.
Sconsigliato a chi non vuole uscire dal giallo regolamentare stile Agatha Christie.
Fin dall’inizio – in cui Fowles descrive il candidato ideale alla scomparsa – si comprende che il complicato enigma che circonda un essere umano sfida qualsiasi ipotesi standard di soluzione: bisogna andare oltre il dato razionale, oltre la logica aristotelica, oltre il gioco classico dei moventi, degli alibi e della tempistica. L’esclusione di tutte le ipotesi e l’azzeramento completo di ogni tentativo di risoluzione viene effettuato da Fowles con cura certosina, complice la levigatissima prosa essenziale (non c’è una parola di troppo in tutte e cento le pagine del libro) e un certo gusto per l’asciutta analisi sociologica.
Anche in questo lungo racconto (appartenente alla raccolta The Ebony Tower del 1974, e pubblicato da Passigli in questa elegante edizione) Fowles propone molte soluzioni differenti – dell’enigma e della vicenda –, non necessariamente contraddittorie. Particolarmente appassionante è il lungo dialogo che oppone Jennings a Isobel, la potenziale nuora del deputato, e dal quale sembra che alla fine la verità potrà emergere: a tratti sembra che il colloquio sia concepito per confondere le idee al lettore, ma invece è un’interessante dichiarazione d’intenti letteraria. Uno scrittore deve essere consapevole che i suoi personaggi potrebbe decidere di fare qualcosa di inaspettato o inspiegabile – dice Isobel – lasciandolo senza un finale; replica Jennings che gli scrittori non possono andare contro le “irreali regole letterarie”… preferisco lasciare a chi vorrà leggere questo piccolo gioiello letterario la scoperta dell’esito della ricerca di Jennings.
Consigliato a chi ha apprezzato il giallo spezzato di Dürrenmatt.
Sconsigliato a chi non vuole uscire dal giallo regolamentare stile Agatha Christie.
February 4, 2021
My first read of anything by John Fowles. I like to read all books aloud and his language had a consistency that gives it an easy aural rhythm. It's a missing person procedural that morphs into a turning point when a professional persona only takes you so far in life and makes you face your true humanity irrespective of consequences. There's a point where you do a double take as the story veers away from its original viewpoint and opens up the philosophical chasm of real versus fictitious. Satisfyling clever with one beautiful passage describing the profound effect of the most alive and present person in the story. It also has a poke at the prison inhabited by a lumbering, slumbering establishment that can turn the fortunes of one of its own upside down in an instant. Not sure I could read one of his major works. This story probably summarises his main themes in a bite size chewy bar.
August 24, 2012
Trama originale ambientata nella Londra degli anni '70.
Denuncia della vacuità dei valori alto borghesi e del conservatorismo british ha una ironia deliziosa e garbata. Come molti romanzi postmoderni decostruisce in modo brillante ma non si affanna nel proporre alternative.
Da leggere alternandolo con opere letterarie di sapore e periodo differenti per evitare quel senso di noia profonda che nasce dalla troppa post-modernità, qui sarebbe svilimento dato che il prodotto nel suo genere è buono.
Denuncia della vacuità dei valori alto borghesi e del conservatorismo british ha una ironia deliziosa e garbata. Come molti romanzi postmoderni decostruisce in modo brillante ma non si affanna nel proporre alternative.
Da leggere alternandolo con opere letterarie di sapore e periodo differenti per evitare quel senso di noia profonda che nasce dalla troppa post-modernità, qui sarebbe svilimento dato che il prodotto nel suo genere è buono.
February 14, 2019
Highly postmodern—just as the title suggests, it’s bloody enigmatic. A love story? A whodunit? A mystery? Allah knows which walla...
BUT—YOU CANNOT JUST STOP READING IT AND THAT’S GOTTA BE THE POINT
BUT—YOU CANNOT JUST STOP READING IT AND THAT’S GOTTA BE THE POINT
December 5, 2022
My wife picked this up probably some 25 or 30 years ago at the Enoch Pratt Free Library’s annual December book sale in downtown Baltimore. She shelved or stored it somewhere, and I think forgot about it until recently, when 3 rooms of our condo had to be cleared of all contents due to water damage to floors and walls and she came across it. I decided to read it for a couple of reasons—Stonehenge is located in my mother’s home county of Wiltshire in southern England and I visited once decades ago and have maintained a distant interest, and also because John Fowles was one of my favorite authors during my time in Southeast Asia and I felt that because of the content of some of his novels he would have an interesting take on the ancient monument. He has such and recounts the stones’ history (as much as can be known or surmised based on archaeological and other endeavors), mystery (where did the stones come from and how and when and who brought them and for what purpose?—certainly not the Druids for druidical rites, he maintains), and the attraction to scholars over centuries of plumbing these mysteries. He can interestingly tie these changing interests and theories over time to concurrent changing philosophies and intellectual conditions. Some 60 full-page photographs, both black and white and color accompany Fowles’ text and reveal interesting angles, close up and from a distance, and at various times of day and night under different light and atmospheric conditions. A nice find.
July 26, 2018
John Fowles is an excellent writer, a classic traditionalist, but whoever designed this book ensured that his writing was difficult to read. The paragraphs are huge and the book's layout is landscape, ensuring that a footlong ruler has to be used to keep one's eyes from drifting off the text.
As for the content, it 'does what it says on the tin': various theories about the how and why of Stonehenge are discussed, the conclusion being …… an enigma.
As for the content, it 'does what it says on the tin': various theories about the how and why of Stonehenge are discussed, the conclusion being …… an enigma.
February 6, 2022
Il racconto di John Fowles non manca di attrattiva, è ben congegnato e raccontato, ha la giusta suspense e se il finale lascia un po' l'amaro in bocca d'altra parte bisogna ammettere che la spiegazione finale non fa una piega.
April 20, 2024
Libro perfetto da leggere in treno o in aereo , carino e scorre veloce, ma niente di ché
May 27, 2024
Libro molto breve, si legge in un pomeriggio e a mio parere lo si dimentica ancora prima. L'inizio è interessante, anche se non particolarmente originale, ma lo sviluppo è noioso e inconcludente. Probabilmente sono io che non sono riuscita a capirlo, ma non ho trovato alcun elemento che mi potesse invogliare a una lettura più attenta.
January 26, 2022
I read it as I progress through The Penguin Book of British Short Stories (1988) edited by Malcolm Bradbury. There are some great stories in this anthology. Bradbury was certainly the man to put something like this together, and his inclusion of Fowles' The Enigma, in my view, is fully justified. I have hitherto read nothing by Fowles, though I know much about him. I'll probably read more now, because I think The Enigma is very, very good. In fact I'm going to read it again straight away. It grabbed me from the start and had me skim reading to try to find out quickly what happened. I want to read it properly, and absorb more of it. At over twenty thousand words it's comparatively long. It could easily have become a novel. The writing is exceedingly good. Fowles is in exalted company in this anthology, but he easily holds is own. I recommend The Enigma to others. Read it.
July 21, 2013
Libro che all'inizio sembrava promettente, con vari elementi che potevano creare una lettura interessante...invece si e' rivelato insipido e deludente...l'indagine scorre piatta, senza sviluppi, mentre il finale, che sarebbe stato meglio concentrare sulla figura dello scomparso, e' dedicato ad una avventura erotica dell'investigatore con una delle testimoni...
February 28, 2015
The story The Enigma in extended pages trying to fin what happened of a person who seemed to dissapear didn't end with some surprising ending. Sometimes people are putting up appearances and you never even get to know how they really feel: "So at the end there's no freedom left. Nothing he can choose. Only what the system says."
October 1, 2015
Raffinata elaborazione sul tema abbastanza classico della scomparsa di un personaggio insospettabile. Più che l'evoluzione della trama, colpisce l'abilità di Fowles di disegnare l'intreccio delle relazioni tra i personaggi e il folgorante crescendo delle ipotesi. Molto efficace anche il tratteggio di una certa società londinese.
November 27, 2024
It was nothing really revolutionary, but I enjoyed reading it and wanted to eventually know how it resolves. Though, it doesn't resolve at all huh. I've read it for my British literature classes. And it seems that all Isobel's are mysterious women...
Want to read
March 20, 2016So... some doctor in the 1700s ate a lot of the people's skulls from Stone Henge for medicinal purposes. Okay, I think I'm finding that more disturbing than anything else so far.
February 28, 2020
Me ha gustado...... más de lo que me esperaba y estoy shockeada
March 1, 2020
The ending came out of nowhere for me, I did not get much enjoyment out of the story and I didn't think it was great either, so...
Read
June 9, 2020The ending was incongruous with the first two thirds of the book. It is more of the wanton than an enigma - a bit out of Flowle's style.
November 9, 2023
isobel carried
June 10, 2025
L'enigma ★★½☆☆
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews