John Fowles Dies at 79

John Fowles died this week. Here is the New York Times obituary. He wrote "The French Lieutenant's Woman," which is one of my favorite books. Here is the original 1969 New York Times review. I like historical fiction, and The French Lieutenant's woman is a novel about Victorian England as told by a writer who is not afraid to butt in and give a digressive lecture, on about any topic, right in the middle of things. The lectures/digressions are excellent-- there are several on the nature of the Victorians, and there are others on the nature of writing, and on the interpretation of history, and on Darwin. The book is great; don't be put off by all of the highfalutin' literary criticism of it as "postmodern;" the clarity and frankness of the writing is George Orwell quality.