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Profiles

Within 15 months of moving to Lyme Regis, John Fowles began to write what was to become his most famous novel, The French Lieutenant's Woman, gathering inspiration from the landscape around him.

His life story now has an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 

His interest in nature and unique geology of the landscape meant he acquired another role which was as important to him as his writing - that of curator of Lyme Regis Museum.   

Early life

John Robert Fowles was originally from Essex but spent time as an evacuee in Devon before being called up at the end of World War Two. After his military service he spent four years at Oxford University before taking several teaching jobs including one in Greece.

There his talent for writing developed so that by the time he arrived in Lyme Regis he was already an established author, apparently chosing the town as his home because of the beautiful views.

Landslip

He initially took up residence with his wife Elizabeth at Underhill Farm, and shut himself in his study where he would hammer away on a manual typewriter, working on likes of the cult novel The Magus.

The Cobb

Like many other parts of Lyme Regis, the land his home was built on was vulnerable to landslips. When part of the garden fell into the sea he moved to an impressive Georgian property, Belmont House.

This had fine views of The Cobb which features so graphically in The French Lieutenant's Woman.

In 1969, the famous novel was published. It won critical acclaim and remained on the New York Times best seller list for more than a year.

In 1981 the book was turned into a film starring Meryl Streep as heroine Sarah Woodruff, a wronged woman who scandalised Victorian Lyme Regis by having an affair with a gentleman after she was jilted by a French officer.

The character would spend time staring out to sea on The Cobb and it's this imagery which has made the stone jetty so famous.

Two more of his novels the Collector and the M

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    • John Fowles

    English novelist (1926–2005)

    John Robert Fowles (; 31 March 1926 – 5 November 2005) was an English novelist, critically positioned between modernism and postmodernism. His work was influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, among others.

    After leaving Oxford University, Fowles taught English at a school on the Greek island of Spetses, a sojourn that inspired The Magus (1965), an instant best-seller that was directly in tune with 1960s "hippy" anarchism and experimental philosophy. This was followed by The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969), a Victorian-era romance with a postmodern twist that was set in Lyme Regis, Dorset, where Fowles lived for much of his life. Later fictional works include The Ebony Tower (1974), Daniel Martin (1977), Mantissa (1982), and A Maggot (1985).

    Fowles's books have been translated into many languages, and several have been adapted as films.

    Early life

    Birth and family

    Fowles was born in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex, England, the only son and elder child (a sister, Hazel, was born fifteen years later) of Robert John Fowles and Gladys May, née Richards. His father had trained as a lawyer—"clerking and reading in a barrister's chambers"—but worked for the family business, tobacco importer Allen & Wright, as his father Reginald had been a partner in the company; at Reginald's death, Robert was obliged to run the firm as his brother had died in the Battle of Ypres and there were young dependent half-siblings to provide for from his father's second marriage. Gladys was daughter of John Richards, a draper, and his wife Elizabeth, who was in service. They came from Cornwall to London, where John became chief buyer for a department store, and gave their daughter a "comfortable upbringing in Chelsea", but they relocated to Westcliff-on-Sea in Essex on account of the healthier climate following the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. On returning from the Firs

    John (Robert) Fowles Biography

    Nationality: British. Born: Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, 1926. Education: Bedford School, 1940-44; Edinburgh University, 1944; New College, Oxford, B.A. (honors) in French 1950. Military Service: Served in the Royal Marines, 1945-46. Career: Lecturer in English, University of Poitiers, France, 1950-51; teacher at Anargyrios College, Spetsai, Greece, 1951-52, and in London, 1953-63. Awards: Silver Pen award, 1969; W.H. Smith Literary award, 1970; Christopher award, 1981. Honorary fellow, New College, Oxford, 1997. D. Litt., Exeter University, 1983; University of East Anglia, 1997.

    PUBLICATIONS

    Novels

    The Collector. London, Cape, and Boston, Little Brown, 1963.

    The Magus. Boston, Little Brown, 1965; London, Cape, 1966; revised edition, Cape, 1977; Little Brown, 1978.

    The French Lieutenant's Woman. London, Cape, and Boston, LittleBrown, 1969.

    Daniel Martin. Boston, Little Brown, and London, Cape, 1977.

    Mantissa. London, Cape, and Boston, Little Brown, 1982.

    A Maggot. London, Cape, and Boston, Little Brown 1985.

    Short Stories

    The Ebony Tower: Collected Novellas. London, Cape, and Boston, Little Brown, 1974.

    Plays

    Don Juan, adaptation of the play by Molière (produced London, 1981).

    Lorenzaccio, adaptation of the play by Alfred de Musset (producedLondon, 1983).

    Martine, adaptation of a play by Jean Jacques Bernard (producedLondon, 1985).

    Screenplays:

    The Magus, 1968.

    Poetry

    Poems. New York, Ecco Press, 1973.

    Conditional. Northridge, California, Lord John Press, 1979.

    Other

    The Aristos: A Self-Portrait in Ideas. Boston, Little Brown, 1964;London, Cape, 1965; revised edition, London, Pan, 1968; Little Brown, 1970.

    Shipwreck, photographs by the Gibsons of Scilly. London, Cape, 1974; Boston, Little Brown, 1975.

    Islands, photographs by Fay Godwin. London, Cape, 1978; Boston, Little Brown, 1979.

    The Tree, photographs by Frank Horvat. London, Aurum Press, 1979;

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    • A Biography of John Fowles

    John Fowles was born on March 31, 1926, in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England. In his youth, Fowles discovered the work of Richard Jefferies and attended Bedford School in 1939. In 1944, Fowles left the Bedford School and enrolled at the University of Edinburgh's Naval Short course. In 1947, after completing two years at the Okehampton Camp, Fowles enrolled at New College, Oxford. There, he studied French and German, but mainly focused on French. While at Oxford, Fowles explored the literature of Existentialists such as Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre. He was also introduced to anarchy.

    Fig. 1- John Fowles was born in Essex, England.

    In 1951, Fowles went to teach English in the Peloponnese, located in Greece. Fowles would use his time in Greece as inspiration for his novels, such as The Magus (1965) and various poems. In 1953, Fowles was asked to leave the school after attempting to institute a series of reforms. Fowles returned to England and taught English at St. Godric's College for about ten years. In 1960, while also working to complete his novel, The Magus, Fowles began work on The Collector (1963) which he would publish in 1963.

    The Collector was so successful that Fowles was able to fully devote his time to writing and quit teaching. In 1965, the novel was adapted into a film. In 1964, Fowles published a collection of philosophical essays titled The Aristos. Fowles moved to an isolated home in Dorset in 1965. The isolation proved too much for Fowles, and in 1968, he moved to Belmont with his wife, which would serve as inspiration for the setting in The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969). When The French Lieutenant's Woman was published, it was extremely successful and cemented Fowles' reputation as a critically acclaimed author.

    Controversy surrounded Fowles after his death when his diaries, written between 1965 and 1990, were published. In the diaries, Fowles wrote cruel, homophobic, anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim