Biography Essay

A novelist who writes for a living, says author John Fowles, is an altogether different creature from one whose art is his life. The latter, a "dynamic artist," seeks "to form new images and new methods of describing his world," while his less adventurous cousin, the "static artist," uses the traditional techniques of his craft to ensure the current "market value" of his work. As a novelist, Fowles has managed to succeed in both categories. He has earned international prominence not only as an innovator seeking new methods of describing contemporary reality, but also as the author of works of fiction that have ranked high on best-seller lists in the United States and abroad. In 1972 Fowles's first three novels had sold more than four million copies in paperback reprints alone. Three of these— The Collector (1963), The Magus (1965), and The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969)—have been...