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Iris Murdoch

The Retrospective Fiction

  • Book
  • © 2004

Overview

Authors:
  1. Bran J. Nicol

    1. University of Portsmouth, UK

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xviii
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  2. Revisiting the Sublime and the Beautiful: Iris Murdoch’s Realism

    • Bran J. Nicol
    Pages 1-28

  3. The Insistence of the Past

    • Bran J. Nicol
    Pages 29-48

  4. Narrative as Redemption: The Bell

    • Bran J. Nicol
    Pages 49-63

  5. Author and Hero: Murdoch’s First-Person Retrospective Novels

    • Bran J. Nicol
    Pages 64-86

  6. Reading Past Truth: Under the Net and The Black Prince

    • Bran J. Nicol
    Pages 87-107

  7. The Writing Cure: A Severed Head and A Word Child

    • Bran J. Nicol
    Pages 108-129

  8. The Ambivalence of Coming Home: The Italian Girl and The Sea, the Sea

    • Bran J. Nicol
    Pages 130-149

  9. Philosophy’s Dangerous Pupil: Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals, Derrida and The Philosopher’s Pupil

    • Bran J. Nicol
    Pages 150-166

  10. Postscript: Reading Iris Murdoch

    • Bran J. Nicol
    Pages 167-178

  11. Back Matter

    Pages 179-201
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Keywords

About this book

Iris Murdoch: The Retrospective Fiction traces the preoccupation in Murdoch's fiction with the way the past makes its mark upon us, haunting us and eluding our attempts to grasp it. This argument was given an extra resonance by the death of Murdoch after Alzheimer's disease in 1999, when the book was first published - a curious blurring of life and work typical of the posthumous reassessment of Murdoch. This new edition includes detailed readings of novels not discussed in the original ( The Bell, The Sacred and Profane Love Machine , and The Philosopher's Pupil ) and includes a new preface, an updated bibliography and three new chapters covering Murdoch's most important and popular novels, considering in more depth her relationship with the dominant literary and intellectual currents of her time.

Reviews

'...lucid, insightful and well-documented.' - David Herman, Modern Fiction Studies

'...[Nicol] offers a fresh and valuable perspective on many of [Murdoch's 'retrospective fictions'] distinctive features...an interesting and lucid book about Murdoch's narrators, a subject that has not had proper attention...' - George Soule, The Iris Murdoch Newsletter

'Nicol's is an important voice in Murdoch criticism, at first glance maverick, but essentially original and challenging, and it is very good to have his study with us, brought up-to-date.' - Peter J. Conradi, author of the acclaimed official biography, Iris Murdoch: A Life

Reviews for the first edition:

'...lucid, insightful and well-documented' - David Herman, Modern Fiction Studies

'...[Nicol] offers a fresh and valuable perspective on many of [Murdoch's 'retrospective fictions'] distinctive features...an interesting and lucid book about Murdoch's narrators, a subject that has not had proper attention...' - George Soule, The Iris Murdoch Newsletter

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Portsmouth, UK

    Bran J. Nicol

About the author

BRAN NICOL is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Portsmouth, UK.

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