50
Used, New, and Out of Print Books - We Buy and Sell - Powell's Books
Cart |
|  my account  |  wish list  |  help   |  800-878-7323
Hello, | Login
MENU
  • Browse
    • New Arrivals
    • Bestsellers
    • Featured Preorders
    • Award Winners
    • Audio Books
    • See All Subjects
  • Used
  • Staff Picks
    • Staff Picks
    • Picks of the Month
    • Bookseller Displays
    • 50 Books for 50 Years
    • 25 Best 21st Century Sci-Fi & Fantasy
    • 25 PNW Books to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Books From the 21st Century
    • 25 Memoirs to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Global Books to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Women to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Books to Read Before You Die
  • Gifts
    • Gift Cards & eGift Cards
    • Powell's Souvenirs
    • Journals and Notebooks
    • socks
    • Games
  • Sell Books
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Find A Store

Don't Miss

  • Scientifically Proven Sale
  • Staff Top Fives of 2022
  • Best Books of 2022
  • Powell's Author Events
  • Oregon Battle of the Books
  • Audio Books

Visit Our Stores


Kelsey Ford: From the Stacks: J. M. Ledgard's Submergence (0 comment)
Our blog feature, "From the Stacks," features our booksellers’ favorite older books: those fortuitous used finds, underrated masterpieces, and lesser known treasures. Basically: the books that we’re the most passionate about handselling. This week, we’re featuring Kelsey F.’s pick, Submergence by J. M. Ledgard...
Read More»
  • Kelsey Ford: Five Book Friday: Year of the Rabbit (0 comment)
  • Kelsey Ford: Powell's Picks Spotlight: Grady Hendrix's 'How to Sell a Haunted House' (0 comment)

{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##

French Lieutenants Woman

by John Fowles
French Lieutenants Woman

  • Comment on this title
  • Synopses & Reviews

ISBN13: 9780316291163
ISBN10: 0316291161
Condition: Standard


All Product Details

View Larger ImageView Larger Images
Ships free on qualified orders.
Add to Cart
$6.95
List Price:$18.99
Used Trade Paperback
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
QtyStore
2Burnside
1Hawthorne

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

As part of Back Bay's ongoing effort to make the works of John Fowles available in uniform trade paperback editions, two major works in the Fowles canon are reissued to coincide with the publication of Wormholes, the author's long-awaited new collection of essays and occasional writings.

Perhaps the most beloved of Fowles's internationally bestselling works, The French Lieutenant's Woman is a feat of seductive storytelling that effectively invents anew the Victorian novel. "Filled with enchanting mysteries and magically erotic possibilities" (New York Times), the novel inspired the hugely successful 1981 film starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons and is today universally regarded as a modern classic.

In A Maggot, originally published in 1985, Fowles reaches back to the eighteenth century to offer readers a glimpse into the future. Time magazine called the result "hypnotic....A remarkable achievement. Part detective story, part crackling courtroom drama....An immensely rich and readable novel".

Synopsis

Perhaps the most beloved of John Fowles's internationally bestselling works, The French Lieutenant's Woman is a feat of seductive storytelling that effectively invents anew the Victorian novel. Filled with enchanting mysteries and magically erotic possibilities (New York Times), the novel inspired the hugely successful 1981 film starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons and is today universally regarded as a modern classic.

About the Author

John Fowles (1926-2005) was educated at Oxford and subsequently lectured in English at universities in Greece and the UK. The success of his first novel, The Collector, published in 1963, allowed him to devote all his time to writing. His books include the internationally acclaimed and bestselling novels The Magus, The French Lieutenant's Woman, and Daniel Martin. Fowles spent the last decades of his life on the southern coast of England in the small harbor town of Lyme Regis.

4.5 4

What Our Readers Are Saying

Share your thoughts on this title!
Average customer rating 4.5 (4 comments)

`
lukas , December 22, 2014 (view all comments by lukas)
"But I live in the age of Alain Robbe-Gillet and Roland Barthes; if this is a novel, it cannot be a novel in the modern sense of the word." English writer re-imagines the Victorian novel for the modern era. While remaining faithful to the form and themes of 19th century novels, he also inserts what could not be part of those novels, namely sex and characters discussing controversial subjects like Darwin, the fossil record, socialism, and evolution. Marx and Tennyson provide many of the chapter's epigraphs. Fowles, like a good post-modernist, addresses the reader, which astute readers will know is actually an old device that goes back to the roots of the English novel (Fielding, Smollett). Unlike many post-modernists, this works both as a conventional novel and as a play on a novel. If you've seen the film (Harold Pinter did the screenplay), which added a present-set storyline, the book is far more creative, provocative, and absorbing. Also check out "The Collector" by the same author.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No

(1 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment

`
techeditor , October 24, 2011 (view all comments by techeditor)
It’s the 1860s. An English couple, Ernestina and Charles, walk together along a beach. He is a member of the aristocracy; she is spoiled and rich. They see from afar a mysterious woman standing still, staring out to sea. Ernestina tells Charles that the woman is variously called “the French lieutenant’s whore” and “Tragedy”; she had an affair with a French lieutenant who went home and was never heard from again. Charles becomes curious. The mysterious woman, Sarah, will keep you guessing throughout, right to the very end. You’ll think she’s pitiful, then you’ll wonder if she’s crazy, then you think she may be mean, and round and round. THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT’S WOMAN by John Fowles, written in 1969, is a Victorian-sounding novel. Fowles mimics the style of, maybe, Jane Austen or maybe Charles Dickens. At the same time, he interjects his own voice and compares the Victorian age with modern (1969) times. This book is, although long, not long enough. When you read it, get very comfortable; you won’t want to put it down. And you’ll hate to see it end.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No

(1 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment

`
Book Cat , April 12, 2011 (view all comments by Book Cat)
John Fowles' book is more than just a beautifully written Victorian love triangle. When I first read this book in my twenties, I was disappointed that the writer didn't stick to the formula, and kept "interrupting" with a modern view of the era's social mores. Now that I'm rereading the book, I am fascinated with the author's balancing act. If you read this -- perhaps as a school assignment --and dismissed it like I did, give it another try!

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No

(2 of 6 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment

`
sarahlynn , March 08, 2007 (view all comments by sarahlynn)
The first half of this novel struck me as a more forward version of "The End of the Affair." A man in a strict society is engaged to the perfect woman produced by aforesaid society but his heart is stolen by a fallen woman who stands for everything society disdains but who appeals to us as readers because of her beauty and independence. Same reason she appeals to him. But anyway. This book does proceed very much like "Affair" except that it does it in a much more critical manner. It seems as if all through the novel, Fowles is taking a scientific look at just what made the Victorian Era click and what was wrong with it. Or what was right with it in some cases. Sometimes the scientific aspect got to be just a little much for me. I couldn't tell what was Charles talking and what was the author and what was Dr. Grogan. Fowles makes no bones about how hard it is to control characters if you want them to be truly realistic and often complains about how much trouble he has writing about Charles and Sarah. He even goes so far as to insert himself as a character in the book so he can examine his characters "in person." This brings him to the conclusion that he cannot tell what would really happen with his characters, so he provides three separate endings for the novel. And if you ever read this book, I'd be interested in hearing your opinion on which would be most likely to be the truest ending.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No

(7 of 11 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment

View all 4 comments


Product Details

ISBN:
9780316291163
Binding:
Trade Paperback
Publication date:
09/01/1998
Publisher:
HACHETTE BOOK GROUP
Series info:
French Lieutenant's Woman
Pages:
480
Height:
1.25IN
Width:
5.52IN
Thickness:
1.25
Series:
French Lieutenant's Woman
Series Number:
1
Number of Units:
1
Copyright Year:
1998
Series Volume:
1
UPC Code:
2800316291165
Author:
John Fowles
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Subject:
Psychological fiction
Subject:
Triangles (Interpersonal relations)
Subject:
Fiction
Subject:
Historical fiction
Subject:
Man-woman relationships
Subject:
Lyme Regis (England)
Subject:
England

Ships free on qualified orders.
Add to Cart
$6.95
List Price:$18.99
Used Trade Paperback
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
QtyStore
2Burnside
1Hawthorne

More copies of this ISBN

  • New, Trade Paperback, $17.99
  • Used, Trade Paperback, $9.95

This title in other editions

  • Used, Book Club Hardcover, $3.95
  • Used, Hardcover, Starting from $8.95
  • Used, Mass Market, Starting from $0.95
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram

  • Help
  • Guarantee
  • My Account
  • Careers
  • About Us
  • Security
  • Wish List
  • Partners
  • Contact Us
  • Shipping
  • Transparency ACT MRF
  • Sitemap
  • © 2023 POWELLS.COM Terms

{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##