The Magus
The Magus
Main * Nicholas Urfe – The main protagonist, 25-year-old Englishman who goes to Greece to teach English and one day stumbles upon the waiting room. * Alison Kelly – Nicholas's girlfriend whom he abandons to go to Greece. * Maurice Conchis – Wealthy intellectual who is a main player in the masques. * Lily de Seitas – Young woman who is involved in the masques and with whom Nicholas falls in love.
Other * Joe – young black man, involved in the masques. * Maria – Conchis's maid. * Demetriades – Fellow teacher at the school. * Lily de Seitas (older) – Lily's mother. * Rose de Seitas – Lily's identical twin sister * Benji de Seitas – the older Lily de Seitas's young son. * Kemp – Unmarried woman who rents Nicholas a room in London. * Jojo – Young girl whom Nicholas pays to accompany him.
The Magus is told from the point of view of Nicholas Urfe, who is bored with life. Having attended Oxford and taught for a year at a public school, he decides to take a position as the English teacher at the Lord Bryon School in Greece, on the island of Phraxos. Nicholas looks up a former teacher there, and is warned to "Beware of the waiting-room," without explanation. Nicholas is not deterred, but during the last few weeks before he leaves, he meets Alison Kelly, an Australian girl who is about to begin training as an airline stewardess. They are both sophisticated about sex and somewhat cynical, but each experiences some regret as they go their separate ways.
During his first six months on Phraxos, Nicholas finds the school claustrophobic but the island beautiful. He realizes that he cannot write good poetry and that he is having difficulty forgetting Alison. In a funk, he visits a brothel in Athens and contracts a venereal disease. He seriously contemplates suicide. The first of the novel's three parts ends at this point.
The mysteries begin as Nicholas goes swimming and someone leaves a book of poems, evidently
Main * Nicholas Urfe – The main protagonist, 25-year-old Englishman who goes to Greece to teach English and one day stumbles upon the waiting room. * Alison Kelly – Nicholas's girlfriend whom he abandons to go to Greece. * Maurice Conchis – Wealthy intellectual who is a main player in the masques. * Lily de Seitas – Young woman who is involved in the masques and with whom Nicholas falls in love.
Other * Joe – young black man, involved in the masques. * Maria – Conchis's maid. * Demetriades – Fellow teacher at the school. * Lily de Seitas (older) – Lily's mother. * Rose de Seitas – Lily's identical twin sister * Benji de Seitas – the older Lily de Seitas's young son. * Kemp – Unmarried woman who rents Nicholas a room in London. * Jojo – Young girl whom Nicholas pays to accompany him.
The Magus is told from the point of view of Nicholas Urfe, who is bored with life. Having attended Oxford and taught for a year at a public school, he decides to take a position as the English teacher at the Lord Bryon School in Greece, on the island of Phraxos. Nicholas looks up a former teacher there, and is warned to "Beware of the waiting-room," without explanation. Nicholas is not deterred, but during the last few weeks before he leaves, he meets Alison Kelly, an Australian girl who is about to begin training as an airline stewardess. They are both sophisticated about sex and somewhat cynical, but each experiences some regret as they go their separate ways.
During his first six months on Phraxos, Nicholas finds the school claustrophobic but the island beautiful. He realizes that he cannot write good poetry and that he is having difficulty forgetting Alison. In a funk, he visits a brothel in Athens and contracts a venereal disease. He seriously contemplates suicide. The first of the novel's three parts ends at this point.
The mysteries begin as Nicholas goes swimming and someone leaves a book of poems, evidently