Iris Murdoch

[LitNetIsGreat]

I'm just about to order some Iris Murdoch novels - I just felt the need, I've never read any of her novels and fancied it. I'm ordering The Sea the Sea, is it is the first one that jumped out at me, any other suggestions? Or anybody read The Sea The Sea?

Thanks.

[Astromaxis]

I'm sorry I haven't read Murdoch before either. However, I was reading her non-fiction lectures The Sovereignty Of Good and it good though I must start all over as it was a philosophical non-fiction which I have slightly lost track off a bit because I procrastinated on finishing with.

[LitNetIsGreat]

OK, thanks.

Anybody else read Murdoch, there must be someone - she's supposed to be good isn't she?

[prendrelemick]

I read her first six novels written and set in the fifties. She is an excellent writer, but her stories are dated and quaint now. I suppose they were written at a time time when society was in genuine flux. The currents she chose to document and go with, have turned out to be backwaters leading nowhere. Her books were revolutionary and cutting edge then, but are now like footnotes of social history.

I don't know about her later stuff (before the dementia) but if she developed from the start she had, then should be good.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Great stuff thanks, have you read that sea one I have ordered?

I don't know why I wanted to read Murdoch, it was just a whim really, probably after reading McEwan, as I see them as similar for some reason - probably way off. The Sea the Sea sounds interesting though from what I have read, maybe it's just because it is about a guy who retreats to the sea to be alone, maybe it's just because it sounds like an attractive idea, the novel is probably just average, I don't know, be OK to take on my holidays anyway.

[Quark]

I read The Black Prince (1973) back when I was an undergraduate. It was written four or five years before The Sea, The Sea (1977-78?) and shares some similar topics like an aging writer obsessing over a woman. I wasn't overly impressed by The Black Prince, though. It's central concept (people are quivering masses of doubt and confusion) is a little thin. I suppose these lines some it up:


When we try, especially in times of pain and crisis, to penetrate the mystery of another mind, we are inclined to picture it as being, not a shadowy mass of contradictions like our own, but a casket containing entities which are clear-cut and definite but hidden. [230]

That's well-put--as is most of the novel--but the flow of content runs dry pretty quickly in the novel, and by page one-hundred I was flipping to the back to see how much I had left to go. The Sea, The Sea is better regarded by critics, however, so you might be more interesting than the previous work. You'll have to let me know how it goes.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Thanks for that Quark, interesting.

Yes I will let you know what I think of it, just a book on a whim, we'll see.

[wessexgirl]

I've only read one Murdoch, The Bell, and it was a long time ago, (for my A level), but I do remember liking it. I think I was in the minority though, no-one else in the class seemed to feel as I did. I found it quite amusing.

[sixsmith]

I've read her first novel, Under the Net, a bildungsroman centering on the artistic and romantic travails of a young writer. My experience was similar to Quark's, in that the narrative and characters, while not wholly uninteresting, were ultimately too thin to sustain an entire (though relatively short) novel. Moreover, I recall the prose being rather more modest than that which Quark reproduces above (and by modest, I mean dull). Still, I have a copy of The Sea, The Sea and I intend to read it at some point.

[mal4mac]

I read a few Murdochs a few decades ago. They don't stand out in memory, unlike several dozen other authors I can think of. They aren't a painful memory, and I did complete them with some enjoyment. But she isn't one I really want to visit again. She's a moral philosopher who tried to be both a Platonic and Shakespearean novelist. Too great ambition resulting in failure? Her characters are not memorable, I can't remember one from my previous readings! In fact she is on record as saying she thinks she's second league, not comparable to Austen, James or Tolstoy, and her main problem is an inability to create memorable characters. So at least she knows herself and has some humility! She makes it into Bloom's "top one hundred" in "Genius" - but he's very ambivalent about her.

[kasie]

I read An Unofficial Rose many years ago but I have to admit I remember the information I gleaned about rose growing and developing new roses rather than the plot or the characters, which must say something about the book (or about me as a reader). I also read The Bell but neither book made sufficient impression to spur me to read further books by Murdoch. Let us know how you get on with The Sea, The Sea, Neely - you could spark a one-man Murdoch revival!

[Scheherazade]

Haven't read any of her work either... If you let me know what you are reading and when, Neely, I might be able to join you so that we can bicker about it.

:D

[LitNetIsGreat]

Let us know how you get on with The Sea, The Sea, Neely - you could spark a one-man Murdoch revival!


Haven't read any of her work either... If you let me know what you are reading and when, Neely, I might be able to join you so that we can bicker about it.

:D

Cool.:cool:

Thanks for all the replies and thoughts, she does seem somewhat out of fashion based upon the responses so far, we'll see.

I am going to read The Sea, The Sea first, starting in about two/three weeks time. I will be on holiday the first week in August so I intend to be reading then, so I'll have to post thoughts on it just after then. Feel free to grab a copy and come for the ride.

I think I will read this one first before ordering more, probably not a good idea to order more before I've read this one eh?

[Scheherazade]

I am going to read The Sea, The Sea first, starting in about two/three weeks time. All right... I will place an order at my library as well to get a copy of it by that time!

[prendrelemick]

I read An Unofficial Rose many years ago but I have to admit I remember the information I gleaned about rose growing and developing new roses rather than the plot or the characters, which must say something about the book (or about me as a reader). I also read The Bell but neither book made sufficient impression to spur me to read further books by Murdoch. Let us know how you get on with The Sea, The Sea, Neely - you could spark a one-man Murdoch revival!



"An Unofficial Rose" is the one I can remember most about.

I got a strong impression that her characters always seem to have happiness within their grasp, but fail to take hold of it, because it would not be the "done thing" or they are too scared to take the plunge. I found this a bit frustrating.

[Pecksie]

I've only read one Murdoch, The Bell, and it was a long time ago, (for my A level), but I do remember liking it. I think I was in the minority though, no-one else in the class seemed to feel as I did. I found it quite amusing.

I read 'The Bell' three years ago. It's a great novel, excellent both in character and plot development. Highly recommended. Haven't read any other of her novels, but that one stuck with me...

[kasie]

"An Unofficial Rose" is the one I can remember most about....

I've never come across anyone else who has read it, plm. :smile5:

[Wilde woman]

I've only read one Murdoch novel, The Green Knight, which is one of her later works. I picked it up because it's something of a modern remake of my favorite medieval romance, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. She did some interesting things with it, but you wouldn't have to know the original to enjoy it.