John Fowles dies at 79; wrote 'French Lieutenant's Woman'

0 Comments | AFP, November, 2005

LONDON (AFP) — The British writer John Fowles, author of "The Magus" and "The French Lieutenant's Woman", has died at the age of 79, his publisher Random House announced.

Fowles died on Saturday at his home in Lyme Regis, in Dorset on England's south coast, after a long illness.

His writing career spanned more than 40 years, but his most famous work remains "The French Lieutenant's Woman," published in 1969 and made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons in 1981.

A former teacher, Fowles published his first book, "The Collector", in 1963 and it was an immediate best-seller. It was followed by "The Magus," which gained cult status in the United States, two years later.

Fowles set the book in seaside Lyme Regis, his home...