SOURCE: "John Fowles's The Ebony Tower: Unity and Celtic Myth," in Twentieth Century Literature, Vol. 28, No. 3, Fall, 1982, pp. 302-18.
In the essay below, Wilson argues that a "Grail Quest theme" links the stories of The Ebony Tower, citing literary precedents and structural and technical similarities to The Magus.
In the opening and title story of John Fowles's The Ebony Tower, David Williams meets a girl named Diana, finds himself falling in love with her, and at the crucial moment hesitates to consummate that love sexually, remembering his loyalty to his wife, Beth. There may well be an implication that David has failed himself and failed Diana because fear had prevented him from accepting the challenge of the quest.1 While there is reason for adopting this view, other factors suggest the possibility that David's hesitation should be judged in light of the sexual ambivalence of the Celtic Quest myth that underlies the story, a point of view that leads to further speculation: that the Grail Quest theme, as modified by T. S. Eliot, connects the stories of The Ebony Tower and hints at its relation to the circular narrative structure and allusive technique of The Magus.
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