Dave's Book Blog: "The Magician" by W Somerset Maugham

Thursday, 26 March 2026

"The Magician" by W Somerset Maugham

An early novel by a master story-teller, inspired by WSM's encounters with Aleister Crowley, the occultist whose biography I reviewed, in Paris in the early 1900s. It's an entertaining story, though very Victorian Gothic horror in style, occasionally straying into Grand Guignol. WSM himself, in a prologue to my copy, states: “The style is lush and turgid, not at all the sort of style I approve of now, but perhaps not unsuited to the subject; and there are a great many more adverbs and adjectives than I should use today. I fancy I must have been impressed by the ‘Écriture artiste’ [a highly mannered and impressionistic style favoured by, among others, Edmond de Goncourt] which the French writers of the time had not yet entirely abandoned.”

Arthur Burdon, a young British surgeon, is engaged to his ward, Margaret, who is presently living in Paris, sharing a flat with her friend Susie, to study art. At a restaurant, they encounter Oliver Haddo, a self-styled magician whom animals instinctively fear. Arthur is sceptical of Haddo's claims and, when Haddo kicks a dog who bites him, thrashes Haddo. Humiliated, Haddo vows revenge ... and what could be sweeter than to seduce Margaret.

Selected quotes:

“The formal garden reminded one of a light woman, no longer young, who sought, with faded finery, with powder and paint, to make a brave show of despair.” (Ch 1)
“The eyes of most persons converge when they look at you, but Oliver Haddo’s, naturally or by a habit he had acquired for effect, remained parallel. It gave you the impression that he looked straight through you and saw the wall beyond.” (Ch 3) This is more or less repeated in chapter 6. WSM, in his prologue, remarks that it was a characteristic of Aleister Crowley, whom he knew.
Elemental forces, such as the wind, have an existence which depends upon “the continuance or some natural object, and hence for them there could be no immortality. They must return eventually to the abyss of unending night, and the darkness of death affected them always.” (Ch 3)
“Magic is no more than the art of employing consciously invisible means to produce visible effects. Will, love, and imagination are magic powers that everyone possesses; and whoever knows how to develop them to their fullest extent is a magician. Magic has but one dogma, namely, that the scene is the measure of the unseen.” (Ch 3)
“Magic ... may be described merely as intelligent utilization of forces which are unknown, contemned, or misunderstood of the vulgar.” (Ch 3)
“If the adept is active, pliant, and strong, the whole world will be at his command. He will pass through the storm and no rain shall fall upon his head. The wind will not displace a single fold of his garment. He will go through fire and not be burned.” (Ch 3)
“No well-bred sorcerer is so dead to the finer feelings as to enter a room by the door.” (Ch 4)
“If he sought for gold it was for the power it gave him, and it was power he aimed at when he brooded night and day over dim secrets.” (Ch 7)
“Only he who desires with his whole heart will find, and to him only who knocks vehemently shall the door be opened.” (Ch 7)
“Naked and full of majesty he lay, the outcast son of the morning.” (Ch 8)
“The hours passed with lagging feet.” (Ch 15)

Notes:
Mackenzie Crook, the writer of the BBC TV sitcom Small Prophets must have been inspired by The Magician (or both WSM and Crook were inspired by the same original source) since this description is growing homunculi is very close to the instructions given by Michael Palin in the sitcom: “There were ten homunculi - James Kammerer calls them prophesying spirits - kept in strong bottles, such as are used to preserve fruit, and these were filled with water. ... The bottles were closed with a magic seal. The spirits were about a span long, and the Count was anxious that they should grow. They were therefore buried under two cart loads of manure, and the pile daily sprinkled with a certain liquor prepared with great trouble by the adepts. The pile after such sprinklings began to ferment and steam, as if heated by a subterranean fire. When the bottles were removed, it was found that the spirits had grown to about a span and a half each; the male homunculi were come into possession of heavy beards, and the nails of the fingers had grown. In two of the bottles there was nothing to be seen save clear water, but when the Abbé knocked thrice at the seal upon the mouth ... the water turned a mysterious colour, and the spirits showed their faces.” (Ch 7)

This is an enjoyable and entertaining read but it is not in the first league of WSM books.

March 2026; 233 pages

First published by Heinemann in 1908

My Vintage paperback edition issued in 2000