Aphorisms
The picture is of the English novelist John Fowles (1926-2005). Amongst other works, he wrote "The Collector", "The Magus" and "The French Lieutenant's Woman". I thought he had so much merit as a writer that in early 1977 I picked him to be the main subject of my degree dissertation. I even wrote to him and very kindly he responded helpfully to the various questions I posed. By that time, he was already living on the edge of Lyme Regis - a seaside town in the county of Dorset. By all accounts, there he lived a quiet life - immersed in his reading and writing. For several years, he was also the voluntary director of the town museum but mostly he kept himself to himself. Unlike some published writers, he was not a natural socialite and did not enjoy blowing his own trumpet. Following the success of his first book, "The Collector" (1963), John Fowles's next published book was entitled "The Aristos: A Self-Portrait in Ideas" (...