As If By Magic
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
A bold and satirical novel from one of Britain's most celebrated postwar writers, As If By Magic chronicles the intertwining journeys of two characters — Hamo Langmuir, a geneticist whose revolutionary strain of rice promises to solve world hunger, and his goddaughter Alexandra, a young woman adrift in the countercultural movements of the early 1970s. Wilson presents a sweeping, globe-trotting narrative that takes both characters from England through India, Japan, and Africa, using their odysseys to dissect the grand illusions of the era — scientific utopianism, sexual liberation, and the romanticization of Eastern spirituality. The tone is sharp and ironic, as Wilson illustrates how the idealism of the age repeatedly collides with the messy, often brutal realities of the wider world. Rich with social commentary and darkly comic in its observations, the novel argues that the transformative magic sought by its characters — whether through science, love, or enlightenment — is far more elusive and morally complicated than any of them dare to admit.
Author: Angus Wilson
Format: Hardback
Published: 1973, The Viking Press
Genre: Modern fiction
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
A bold and satirical novel from one of Britain's most celebrated postwar writers, As If By Magic chronicles the intertwining journeys of two characters — Hamo Langmuir, a geneticist whose revolutionary strain of rice promises to solve world hunger, and his goddaughter Alexandra, a young woman adrift in the countercultural movements of the early 1970s. Wilson presents a sweeping, globe-trotting narrative that takes both characters from England through India, Japan, and Africa, using their odysseys to dissect the grand illusions of the era — scientific utopianism, sexual liberation, and the romanticization of Eastern spirituality. The tone is sharp and ironic, as Wilson illustrates how the idealism of the age repeatedly collides with the messy, often brutal realities of the wider world. Rich with social commentary and darkly comic in its observations, the novel argues that the transformative magic sought by its characters — whether through science, love, or enlightenment — is far more elusive and morally complicated than any of them dare to admit.