Francis King

A Very Greek Affair

John Fowles: A Life in Two Worlds

By

Jonathan Cape 510pp £25 order from our bookshop

SAM GOLDWYN NOTABLY remarked: ‘Folks shouldn’t write autobiographies until they are dead.’ He might have added: ‘Folks shouldn’t write biographies until their subjects are dead.’ If, in addition, the biographer has not merely been a friend of the been the subject’s choice for the task, then the odds on an absolutely truthful, and therefore worthwhile, biography are even longer.

Sign Up to our newsletter

Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.

Follow Literary Review on Twitter

  • Last Tweets

    • 'The physical courage he demonstrated as a young man [...] gave way to intellectual power; radical thought, gifted… ,
    • 'While Jane Austen didn’t perhaps achieve the full recognition that she deserved in her lifetime, even then she out… ,
    • 'All I have is a voice To undo the folded lie, The romantic lie in the brain Of the sensual man-in-the-street And t… ,
    • 'You are interested in a particular subject; basic research hardens this interest into an obsession, after which th… ,
    • 'Keynes predicted that future generations would enjoy such an improved standard of living that they might work just… ,
    • 'Various dislocations ... emerge, iceberg-like, out of a troubled sea of unconscious motivation and confront Eisenb… ,
    • Today is the first today of the – they've got some excellent events coming up over the next two weeks.… ,
    Follow Us