'Puffing and Bloviing' SIR, —Thank you for Mr Byrom's review (May
6) of four novels, headed 'Puffing and Blowing? The only one I've bought is Mr. Fowles's The Magus, and I agree with Mr Byrom's condemnation.
None the less. I am still hoping that Mr Fowles will turn out to be a genius. By a pure fluke. I once visited his small but perfect house in Highgate, which he was trying to sell; my son was thinking of taking it. Mr and Mrs Fowles gave us tea.
Neither Aldous Huxley nor Norman Douglas, both of whom I knew slightly, could have created the atmosphere of that house, which wasn't merely a matter of good taste, about which I can claim to know something; there was also something more, about which I'm sure his publishers are better judges than 1 am. It may only be that Mr Fowles will continue to be a successful novelist, of course.
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