by Magusbob on Sun Feb 08, 2009 9:11 am
The most obvious "technical difficulties" involved in making Conchis a woman would have to do with his backstory, which is a key part of the novel. Not too many women served in battle in World War I, and I seriously doubt the Nazis would have chosen a woman to be mayor of Phraxos during the World War II occupation. Add to that the fact that you have no relationship with Lily if a young Conchis is a woman (unless they're both lesbians!). I would guess that Fowles may have thought about the character of Conchis as a woman very early in his thought process prior to writing The Magus, but probably never seriously considered it.