Iris Murdoch

Jean Iris Murdoch DBE (July 15, 1919 – February 8, 1999) was an Anglo–Irish writer and philosopher, best known for her novels, which combine rich characterization and compelling plotlines, usually involving ethical or sexual themes.

Novels

Murdoch was strongly influenced by Plato, Freud and Sartre. Her novels are by turns intense and bizarre, filled with dark humor and unpredictable plot twists, undercutting the civilized surface of the usually upper-class milieu in which her characters are observed. She often included atypical gay characters in her fiction, most notably in The Bell (1958) and A Fairly Honourable Defeat (1970). She also frequently wrote about a powerful and almost demonic male "enchanter" who imposes his will on the other characters — a type of man Murdoch is said to have modeled on her lover, the Nobel laureate, Elias Canetti.

Related Topics:
Plato - Freud - Sartre - Gay - Nobel - Elias Canetti

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Although she wrote primarily in a realistic manner, on occasion Murdoch would introduce ambiguity into her work through a sometimes misleading use of symbolism, and by mixing elements of fantasy within her precisely described scenes. The Unicorn (1963) can be read and enjoyed as a sophisticated Gothic romance, or as a novel with Gothic trappings, or perhaps as a brilliant parody of the Gothic mode of writing. The Black Prince (1973) is a remarkable study of erotic obsession, and the text becomes more complicated, suggesting multiple interpretations, when subordinate characters contradict the narrator and the mysterious "editor" of the book in a series of afterwords.

Related Topics:
Ambiguity - Symbolism - Fantasy - Gothic - Romance - Erotic - Obsession

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Several of her works have been adapted for the screen, including the British television series of her novels An Unofficial Rose and The Bell. J. B. Priestley dramatized her 1961 novel, A Severed Head, which was directed by Richard Attenborough in 1971, and starred Ian Holm. Richard Eyre's film, Iris (2001), based on her husband's memoir of his wife as she developed Alzheimer's disease, following her death in 1999. The film starred Dame Judi Dench and Kate Winslet respectively as the old and young Murdoch.

Related Topics:
J. B. Priestley - Richard Attenborough - Ian Holm - Richard Eyre - Iris - Judi Dench - Kate Winslet

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