Introduction & Overview of The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles

The French Lieutenant's Woman Introduction

One morning, in 1966, at his home on the outskirts of Lyme Regis, John Fowles awoke with a vision of an enigmatic, solitary woman, standing on the Cobb, staring off into the distant sea, a woman who clearly belonged to the past. In an article for Harper's Magazine, he writes, "The woman obstinately refused to stare out of the window of an airport lounge; it had to be this ancient quay." The image of the woman haunted him. He notes that she had "no face, no particular degree of sexuality. But she was Victorian." In his vision, she always had her back turned, which to him, represented "a reproach on the Victorian Age. An outcast." He claims, "I didn't know her crime, but I wished to protect her. That is, I began to fall in love with her. Or with her stance. I didn't know which." This mysterious woman would...
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