Iris Murdoch was an Irish and British novelist and philosopher. Murdoch is best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. In 1987, she was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature. In 2008, The Times ranked Murdoch twelfth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1997 and died in 1999 in Oxford.
I first became interested in Iris Murdoch after seeing the 2001 film Iris which starred Kate Winslet and Judi Dench as Iris. The movie is about her relationship with her husband John Bayley through her early years and their later life, when Murdoch was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. I would highly recommend it.
The Sea, The Sea published in 1978 won the Booker Prize. The novel tells the story of Charles Arrowby, a retired director and actor, who moves to an old house by the sea called Shruff End to write his memoirs. The house is located on a rocky peninsula and includes an old tower but is without electricity or indoor plumbing. Arrowby likes the location by the sea because it allows him solitude and the time to swim nude in the sea (a very dangerous proposition given he has to climb up the rocks after his swims). When he is first there, he thinks he sees a sea monster in the waves, but is it real or can it be attributed to a bad LSD trip he experienced years ago? And then the house may also be haunted. . .Arrowby sees faces and hears strange noises in the night. He is visited by former friends and lovers but he is obsessed by his childhood sweetheart, Hartley, who makes an unexpected appearance on the scene. Her presence motivates Charles to try to rekindle a romance that died many years ago as he tries to win Hartley back even though she has aged and rejects his pursuits. The novel focuses on Arrowby's egotism and selfishness which he fails to recognize in himself.
This was a rather long novel that I almost gave up on a couple of times. But the story kept pulling me back into it and I was eager to read more as it progressed. The character of Charles Arrowby was not likable; he was a misogynist who treated his past lovers terribly; and he was an egoist who thought only of himself. However, Murdoch's writing was wonderful including her descriptions of the sea and the landscape of the location. The story also brings out a lot of ethical questions and what-ifs. Can one rekindle a love from long ago? Something that I'm sure a lot of older people have thought about. Overall, I did enjoy this and hope to read more of Murdoch in the future.
I first became interested in Iris Murdoch after seeing the 2001 film Iris which starred Kate Winslet and Judi Dench as Iris. The movie is about her relationship with her husband John Bayley through her early years and their later life, when Murdoch was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. I would highly recommend it.
The Sea, The Sea published in 1978 won the Booker Prize. The novel tells the story of Charles Arrowby, a retired director and actor, who moves to an old house by the sea called Shruff End to write his memoirs. The house is located on a rocky peninsula and includes an old tower but is without electricity or indoor plumbing. Arrowby likes the location by the sea because it allows him solitude and the time to swim nude in the sea (a very dangerous proposition given he has to climb up the rocks after his swims). When he is first there, he thinks he sees a sea monster in the waves, but is it real or can it be attributed to a bad LSD trip he experienced years ago? And then the house may also be haunted. . .Arrowby sees faces and hears strange noises in the night. He is visited by former friends and lovers but he is obsessed by his childhood sweetheart, Hartley, who makes an unexpected appearance on the scene. Her presence motivates Charles to try to rekindle a romance that died many years ago as he tries to win Hartley back even though she has aged and rejects his pursuits. The novel focuses on Arrowby's egotism and selfishness which he fails to recognize in himself.
This was a rather long novel that I almost gave up on a couple of times. But the story kept pulling me back into it and I was eager to read more as it progressed. The character of Charles Arrowby was not likable; he was a misogynist who treated his past lovers terribly; and he was an egoist who thought only of himself. However, Murdoch's writing was wonderful including her descriptions of the sea and the landscape of the location. The story also brings out a lot of ethical questions and what-ifs. Can one rekindle a love from long ago? Something that I'm sure a lot of older people have thought about. Overall, I did enjoy this and hope to read more of Murdoch in the future.
