The Magician

2020 Reprint of the 1908 Edition. The Magician is one of Somerset Maughams early novels. Running through it is the theme of evil as personified by Haddo [Aleister Crowley] and other vivid characters. In fin de siecle Paris Arthur and Margaret are engaged to be married. Everyone approves and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves--until the sinister and repulsive Oliver Haddo appears. In this novel the magician Oliver Haddo is a caricature of Aleister Crowley. Crowley wrote a critique of this book under the pen name Oliver Haddo in which he accused Maugham of plagiarism. Maugham wrote The Magician in London after he had spent some time living in Paris where he met Aleister Crowley.