John Fowles | |
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| Born | 31 March 1926 Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England |
| Died | 5 November 2005 (aged 79) Lyme Regis, Dorset, England |
| Occupation | Writer, teacher |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh New College, Oxford |
| Period | 1960–2005 |
| Notable works | The Collector The Magus The French Lieutenant's Woman |
John Robert Fowles (/faʊlz/; 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.