The Ebony Tower: 08/25/07

I'm on schedule to finish Sixteen Short Novels in time for September's BookCrossing meeting. My most recent read was "The Ebony Tower" by John Fowles.

"The Ebony Tower" returns to the theme of mentorship, telling another version a meeting with a roll model. In this case, it's a meeting of artists. David Williams, a frustrated artist detours from his holiday with his wife to interview the cantankerous Henry Breasley who lives in seclusion with two beautiful former art students: Diana (the Mouse) and Anne (the Freak). David spends the weekend being lectured on morality, sexuality and modern art. He is tempted to join this hedonistic lifestyle in the wilderness but does end up returning to his wife saying that he "survived."

The story captures the culture class of the fifties and the seventies, at a time when things were becoming more informal but the era of free love was waxing.

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