Customer Reviews

The Aristos: A Self-Portrait in Ideas

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was Fowles second book. It is a work inspired by Heraclitus and the 'Pensees' of Pascal. Instead of the kind of multiple- narrative and complex speculative fiction this is a work of ideas, straightforwardly presented. But it is at times profound in its analysis of the human situation. Essentially Fowles contrasts the aristos, the few who are the great creative figures with the masses. He claims to be a democratic socialist who would contend with the gross inequalities in the economic world. But he also sees the modern worship of Money as a sign of cultural decline.
The thought of the work is presented ordinarily in short paragraphs. The problem with the work as I understand it is that it lacks irony and humor. Though Fowles reserves highest praise for Poetry his work is without much poetry. It lacks a kind of resonance which poetic thought at its best has.
Still it is a work of someone who has thought very seriously about major questions and offers interesting suggestions in regard to many of them.

When I read this at 19 years of age I was thoroughly moved by it. It opened my thinking from teenager to grown-up. Now, 20 years later, I will probably find it naive or pretentious, but the 5 start stars are well deserved it you read this at the right moment in life.