The Magician (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

W. Somerset Maugham (Author), Robert Calder (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 27, 2007 | Series: Penguin Classics

Maugham’s enchanting tale of secrets and fatal attraction

The Magician is one of Somerset Maugham’s most complex and perceptive novels. Running through it is the theme of evil, deftly woven into a story as memorable for its action as for its astonishingly vivid characters. In fin de siècle Paris, Arthur and Margaret are engaged to be married. Everyone approves and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves—until the sinister and repulsive Oliver Haddo appears.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Maugham tells his tale of the weird and the horrible with simple sincerity and a constant matching of the unhallowed practices with the clean, sweet things of common life that make its effect uncommonly impressive. (The New York Times)

About the Author

W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) was a successful playwright and the celebrated author of short stories and novels, including Of Human Bondage.
Robert Calder is a professor of English at the University of Saskatchewan and the author of numerous nonfiction books, including two biographies of Somerset Maugham.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (February 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143104896
• ISBN-13: 978-0143104896
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #486,608 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Spell-binding, December 22, 2009

By 

reader 451 - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Magician (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

The Magician is an early work of the still young(ish) Maugham. A compulsive attraction for a person unworthy of it stands between its protagonist and happiness: it shares a similar subject with works such as The Painted Veil, Theatre, and of course Of Human Bondage. But Maugham seems to have been still grappling with the implications of this interesting premise, and while in later works its development is psychological, here the attraction is excused as hypnotic. This makes for less analysis, but a faster-paced plot. Action begins in the artistic and occult demi-monde of 1900 Paris and takes the reader to a climax in the magician's lair in Yorkshire. Good is pitted straightforwardly against evil. Cliffhangers take place in suitably exotic settings. And though The Magician's storyline is mono-dimensional, Maugham weaves skilfully between the supernatural and the still explainable. Unlike other reviewers, or indeed the author himself as his introduction hints, I don't find his style has aged or that it was less effective in this earlier phase of his career.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Maugham Guilty Pleasure, February 20, 2009

By 

K. S. Prockovic - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Magician (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

I'm a sucker for Maugham, so I know I usually read his books and short stories through rose-colored glasses. I enjoyed The Magician and was taken with Oliver Haddo, but the ending left me mildly disappointed. Without giving anything important away, I have to say Maugham really falls short by weaving a corny "dawning day" metaphor into the closing scene. So overall I'll remember Haddo and even Margaret, but will promptly forget the plot.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Read, Disappointing Ending, May 31, 2008

By 

hauntedpen "hauntedpen" (The South) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Magician (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

I picked up this book because I had heard that Maugham had based his title character on Aleister Crowley, and Oliver Haddo is a well-drawn and imagined character. The plot and prose are terrific too for the first two-thirds of the novel, then a surprising event happens and it suddenly becomes melodramatic and clichéd with a B-movie ending. In retrospect, at the end of the book, it is easy to see how Maugham layered the work for the ending he wrote, but ultimately it robs the character of becoming magnificently evil and the novel of having the haunting power it could have had.