In the past, Morgan and Julius dated, though she rejected him for her currently estranged husband, Tallis Browne. For little apparent reason beyond sheer cruelty, Julius makes a bet with Morgan Browne that he can dissolve the loving gay marriage between Axel Nilsson and Simon Foster. According to The New York Times, 'The farcical interludes and the intricacy of the philosophical theme make this one of the most enjoyable and interesting of Iris Murdoch's recent books.' Julius King is an academic biochemist who relishes his own talents for manipulation. Mark Hopwood and Silvia Panizza (eds.Irish author and philosopher Iris Murdoch's thirteenth novel, A Fairly Honourable Defeat (1970) tells the story of a man who makes a cruel bet that he can dissolve a relationship between two of his friends.

Gillian Dooley (ed.), From A Tiny Corner in the House ofįiction: Conversations with Iris Murdoch (University of South Carolina Conradi, A Writer at War: Iris Murdoch 1935-1945 Conradi, Iris Murdoch: The Saint and the Artist Peter J Conradi, Iris Murdoch: A Life (HarperCollins,

Byatt, Degrees of Freedom: The Novels of Iris Gary Browning, Why Iris Murdoch Matters (Bloomsbury,Ī.S. Justin Broackes (ed.), Iris Murdoch, Philosopher John Bayley, Iris: A Memoir of Iris Murdoch Miles Leeson at the University of ChichesterĪnne Rowe at the University of Chichester Visiting Professor at the University of Chichester and Emeritus Research Fellow with the Iris Murdoch Archive Project at Kingston Universityĭirector of the Iris Murdoch Research Centre and Reader in English Literature at the University of Chichester To tell good from bad, though, we would need to see the world as it really is, not as we want to see it, and her novels are full of characters who are not yet enlightened enough to do that.įellow and Tutor in Philosophy at Trinity College, University of Oxford Responding to the horrors of the Second World War, she argued that morality was not subjective or a matter of taste, as many of her contemporaries held, but was objective, and good was a fact we could recognize. In her lifetime she was most celebrated for her novels such as The Bell and The Black Prince, but these are now sharing the spotlight with her philosophy. Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the author and philosopher Iris Murdoch (1919 - 1999).

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