The French Lieutenant's Woman
is a Victorian novel written in the 1960s. Author John Fowles not only
doesn't conceal his mid-20th-century vantage point but inserts
his opinions and even occasionally himself as a character. From
observations about the repression and conformity of Victorian England
to discussion of 19th-century thinkers like Darwin, Fowles ranges over
myriad aspects of that paradoxical era.
Charles Smithson, a descendant of aristocrats who dabbles in
paleonthology and admires Darwin, is engaged to marry Ernestina
Freeman, a conventionally charming young woman whose family acquired
its wealth by trade. Both of them accept their shallow interaction as
the way things are between the sexes — until Charles meets
Sarah Woodruff, a mysterious, intriguing woman who was jilted by a
French lieutenant. Her reputation ruined, the penniless Sarah is not
considered a desirable candidate for employment. Charles tries to help
her and in the process becomes smitten with her and the possibility of
a freer, more natural, more passionate life.
Sarah remains hard to grasp even after delivering lengthy explanations
of her behavior, and her calculated anticipation of how Charles will
act is hard to believe. But many people love this novel, and it
certainly does offer a survey of Victoriana, whatever the failings of
its plot — which, by the way, comes with two possible endings
for the reader to choose between.
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