I’ve read The Ebony Tower many, many times and will read it many times more. This short but deeply absorbing and intelligent tale reminds me why I am fascinated by art and why great art, and indeed great artists, can never be measured by conventional standards. A brilliant work of art is not reasonable or polite and should never aspire to be.
Fowles’s philosophical and labyrinthine story describes the meeting of two very different kinds of artists, Henry Breasley and David Williams. Breasley, an old man, gruff and inarticulate, lives a reclusive life in France when Williams, a young, successful and rather well-behaved artist and critic, visits him.
Their encounter lasts only two days, but the impact on Williams is severe, as his life, character and beliefs are brutally deconstructed and exposed.
The content of Fowles’s work reminds me of those wonderful continental philosophers and intellectuals in the 20th century, who looked back to medieval Catholicism for inspiration and in order to criticise contemporary life.
Stylistically, Fowles’s craftsmanship is exquisite – one senses that every word, every sentence, holds a deeper meaning.
It is not possible to work Fowles out completely – this mystery is part of his appeal – and The Ebony Tower is packed full of symbolism that is open to a myriad of different interpretations.
This too reminds me of the immense enjoyment I have in interpreting art in a variety of ways to a wider audience as part of my role at the Barber.
Tess Radcliffe is the learning and access officer at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham
Fowles’s philosophical and labyrinthine story describes the meeting of two very different kinds of artists, Henry Breasley and David Williams. Breasley, an old man, gruff and inarticulate, lives a reclusive life in France when Williams, a young, successful and rather well-behaved artist and critic, visits him.
Their encounter lasts only two days, but the impact on Williams is severe, as his life, character and beliefs are brutally deconstructed and exposed.
The content of Fowles’s work reminds me of those wonderful continental philosophers and intellectuals in the 20th century, who looked back to medieval Catholicism for inspiration and in order to criticise contemporary life.
Stylistically, Fowles’s craftsmanship is exquisite – one senses that every word, every sentence, holds a deeper meaning.
It is not possible to work Fowles out completely – this mystery is part of his appeal – and The Ebony Tower is packed full of symbolism that is open to a myriad of different interpretations.
This too reminds me of the immense enjoyment I have in interpreting art in a variety of ways to a wider audience as part of my role at the Barber.
Tess Radcliffe is the learning and access officer at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham
