intense. Nicholas loses his ability to determine what is real and what is artifice. Against his will and knowledge, he becomes a performer in the godgame. Eventually, Nicholas realises that the re-enactments of the Nazi occupation, the absurd playlets after Sade, and the obscene parodies of Greek myths are not about Conchis's life, but his own. Characters Main Nicholas Urfe – the protagonist, a 26-year-old Englishman who goes to Greece to teach English and one day stumbles upon "the waiting room" Alison Kelly – Nicholas' recent Australian girlfriend, whom he abandons to go to Greece Maurice Conchis – a wealthy intellectual who is a main player in the masques Lily Montgomery / Julie Holmes / Vanessa Maxwell – a young woman who is involved in the masques and with whom Nicholas falls in love Other Joe – a young black American, involved in the masques Maria – Conchis's maid Demetriades – a fellow teacher at the school Lily de Seitas (older) – Lily's mother Rose de Seitas – Lily's identical twin sister Benji de Seitas – the younger brother of the Seitas twins Kemp – an unmarried woman who rents Nicholas a room in London Jojo – a young girl whom Nicholas pays to accompany him Story characters de Deukans Gustav Nygaard Henrik Nygaard Anton Wimmel Ending The book ends indeterminately. Fowles received many letters from readers wanting to know which of the two apparently possible outcomes occur. He refused to answer the question conclusively, however, sometimes changing his answer to suit the inquirer. The novel ends quoting the refrain of the Pervigilium Veneris, an anonymous work of fourth-century Latin poetry, which has been taken as indicating the possible preferred resolution of the ending's ambiguity. Literary precedents John Fowles wrote an article about his experiences in the island of Spetses and their influence on the book. He acknowledged some literary works as influences in his foreword to the 1977 revised edition of The Magus, including Alain-Fournier's Le Grand Meaulnes, for showing a secret hidden world to be explored, and Richard Jefferies's Bevis (1882), for projecting a very different world. In the revised edition, Fowles referred to a "Miss Havisham", a likely reference to the character Miss Havisham in Charles Dickens's Great Expectations (1861). Critical reception "A major work of mounting tensions in which the human mind is the guinea-pig ... Mr. Fowles has taken a big swing at a difficult