The Magician

The Magician
William Somerset Maugham
ISBN 4-480-03008-5



Actually, I bought this book about 15 years ago. But, I forgot that and lent
a mass market paperback version of the book at a library. :o

I bought the Maugham's book just because I love Fantasy and Sci-Fi originally,
but the book is not just a simple fantasy.
There appears a strange guy who says himself as an alchemist (a magician?)
in the book. Almost in the end of the story, it turns out that the guy
was not just a big mouth, he succeeded to create homunculus.
In short, he succeeded to create life!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homunculus

Here, Maugham let us think what magic is...

In history, phenomena which cannot be explained by science were
treated as magic. But, what does a man 100 years ago think about
a cell phone? It must be a magic for him.


BTW, there appears an old French doctor from the beginning of the story.
It's true that the doctor was studying alchemy after retirement,
but still he embodies common sense and contemporary science of the day
in the story, I think. What I thought ironical was that the doctor conducted
a seance and exchanged words with the heroine after she died.
Actually, it was the most impressive scene for me...