Nicholas Urfe, a disaffected young Englishman, takes a teaching post on a remote Greek island and falls under the spell of Maurice Conchis, a wealthy recluse who ensnares him in an ever-shifting psychological 'godgame' of masques, staged illusions, and erotic deceptions that leave him unable to tell performance from reality.
Books mentioned in The Magus (12)
Les Infortunes de la Vertu by Marquis de Sade: “(epigraph) 'Un débauché de profession est rarement un homme pitoyable.' — De Sade, Les Infortunes de la Vertu”
The Tempest by William Shakespeare: “It was not, given the end of The Tempest, difficult to guess why. (Prospero/Miranda/Ferdinand/Caliban recur throughout.)”
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare: “'She is acting, amusing herself with you. Playing Olivia to your Malvolio.'”
Othello by William Shakespeare: “'If you had seen him play Othello, you would not say that. He is a very accomplished young actor.'”
Hamlet by William Shakespeare: “'Shall I get me to a nunnery?' 'I never felt less like Hamlet.'”
Huis Clos by Jean-Paul Sartre: “'What was that Sartre play we saw?' 'Huis Clos.' 'This is Huis even closer.'”
Lysistrata by Aristophanes: “'Well, last November they put on Lysistrata.'”
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: “For the second time that day I felt like Robinson Crusoe.”
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame: “'The Wind in the Willows. He was an Italian who came and tried to teach us the piano...'”
The Golden Bough by James George Frazer: “Disembowelled corpses? Or Frazer … The Golden Bough?”
Little Gidding by T. S. Eliot: “a page where four lines had been underscored in red ink; from 'Little Gidding'. 'We shall not cease from exploration...'”